THE North East business community is pulling together to put on an event to support people who have been affected by the recent collapse at Thomas Cook.

Connect Health, in association with Newcastle College and supported by the North East CIPD along with other businesses, will offer free sessions to support former Thomas Cook staff in finding new roles and careers in the North East.

Out of the 9,000 UK staff impacted, around 4,000 were employed in Thomas Cook’s 563 retail outlets and a number of these are based in the North East.

Kelly Ates, deputy manager at the Gateshead branch, spent 27 years at Thomas Cook. She said: “We’re all obviously heartbroken that it has come to this and I’ll miss the team so much. We put so much into our jobs because we loved it at Thomas Cook. This event is a great gesture by the local HR community and I know people will get a lot from it.”

The event will be held at Newcastle College on Thursday, October 3 from 10am to 2pm.