HIS Royal Highness the Duke of Kent will be in Redditch this morning to officially open a manufacturing and engineering training academy.

HRH will be visiting Heartbeat UK, a design and manufacturing company specialising in retail display.

Three generations of the family that owns Heartbeat UK, will be at the Arthur Street site to welcome the Duke, the Queen’s first cousin, to show him the facilities at the new, dedicated training academy.

The company has invested £250,000 in the Academy, which has developed a 16-week pre-employment training programme for up to 40 learners covering a range of skills, including: carpentry, shop fitting, warehouse and logistics training, engineering and manufacturing, fabrication and welding.

James Pritchard, group managing director of Heartbeat UK, said he is thrilled that the Duke is taking time to officially launch the academy.

"For us, The Training Academy is a way of celebrating the heritage of manufacturing in the region, and across the UK, and we are pleased that our courses are paying off, with people successfully completing their courses and going on to the workplace,” he said.