KILWINNING travel agent Thorne Travel is celebrating this week after being awarded gold status as Investors in Young People.

The company took part in the Investors in Young People rigorous assessment process and achieved gold status in its first year. Very few companies achieve this level.

Investors in Young People is an internationally recognised accreditation held by thousands of organisations across the world.

Councillor Marie Burns, Cabinet Member for Economy and Employment, said: “I would like to congratulate Thorne Travel on achieving gold status for Investors in Young People, it’s a huge achievement and they should be very proud.”

Over the last few years, Team North Ayrshire partners North Ayrshire Council and Skills Development Scotland have funded five Modern Apprenticeship programmes at Thorne Travel including Scotland’s first Digital Marketing Modern Apprentice.

Craig Hume from Dreghorn, started with Thorne Travel last summer as its Digital Marketing Modern Apprentice and is working on developing the company’s social media presence.

Owner Shona Thorne said: “We were amazed that on our first attempt to gain Investors in Young People we were successful in gaining the top award.

“As a team of 17 we have five young people at various stages of their careers. They bring such diversity to the team as well as challenging procedures and using friendly, cost effective digital solutions that we can offer customers and our suppliers.”