Providing care since 1943

Finchale Training College (FTC) is a community enterprise. Founded in 1943 in County Durham, it is recognised for its distinguished history of providing dedicated support to the Armed Forces Community and those with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) over the last 80 years. FTC was initially opened as a resource centre for retraining wounded soldiers in WW2 and assisting their reintegration into civilian life through various rehabilitation, re-training and vocational support programmes. Over the years FTC continued developing to fulfil the needs of the forces families and the local communities to which these soldiers returned to.

Today FTC retains its core values of assisting those with special needs and service families. It has also evolved into a platform for social mobility uplift and community welfare services for service civilian communities. We currently work with schools to help young people develop confidence and life skills, aspects that build character and make the participant a more rounded individual. We also offer community learning programmes and personal and social development in a safe and trusted environment. These programmes enable people to progress to the next stage of their endeavours, whether it is through acquiring new skills, education & training or supporting them through welfare issues, health and wellbeing.

Our aim is to serve the local communities where we operate and assist others who we can reach online. For people interested in up-skilling, FTC offers professional qualifications, skills and training services to civilians and the Armed Forces community. Training is delivered in person or online. Courses are being developed all the time with the expertise and guidance of students, academics and the local civilian and services communities we serve. Please visit our current courses page for further information on this. 

With our current community i-Hubs located on or near Armed Forces bases, we are in an ideal position to serve the Armed Forces Community in a civilian capacity by working in partnership with serving personnel, veterans and likeminded organisations to fulfil the needs of the forces community. We facilitate this by working with partner agencies (other charities, councils and universities and colleges), exploring opportunities and offering solutions to issues which may be unique to the forces community and may only be better understood by those who have lived experiences of such issues. Thus, in addition to delivering training qualifications and up-skilling we combine these lived experiences with research based outcomes to develop an in-depth understanding of the issues at hand and as such we are best placed to provide appropriate assistance to help our service users (military or civilian) overcome any issues or adversity.

Our holistic approach and combining service delivery between the civilian and services community makes our programmes more interesting, varied and versatile. It improves cohesion and understanding between the services communities and diverse civilian Diasporas in the communities we operate in and offers veterans the opportunity to better re-integrate into civilian life. Indeed we support the Commonwealth community and recognise and appreciate the support and contribution of the Commonwealth to the wider cause of Great Britain. As a direct result of our intervention methods there has been a reported increase in sense of wellbeing and belonging to the local communities and everyone feels more valued and better engaged.