When a large furniture manufacturer in Lancashire closed overnight, throwing 120 workers into unemployment, the local jobcentre sent one adviser to deal with it.

But the ACT Centre in Accrington, which puts Catholic social teaching into action in the world of employment, sent six members of staff and worked with the local parish priest to open the church hall as a temporary advice centre. ‘We focused on what was going to happen next for people, and we helped them with writing their CVs, with looking for job vacancies, with IT training and with literacy and numeracy skills,’ says David Flanagan, who helps run the ACT Centre.

‘We ran that centre for several months after the closure, and we really were able to provide a lifeline to people at an incredibly difficult time in their lives.’

We really were able to provide a lifeline to people at an incredibly difficult time in their livesThe tragedy of the closure was that there had been no warning whatsoever. ‘It was a complete nightmare for the workers. They went along to work as usual one morning, and found the gates were closed and the administrators had been called in.

‘Worse, most people who worked there were from two small villages in Lancashire – so you got some families where both husband and wife had been laid off.’

Melissa Griffiths, who worked alongside David on the project, says the worst thing for many of those made redundant was the shock of it. ‘They had never, ever expected to be in this situation. Many of them had worked for that employer for 10, 20, even 30 years. They’d never applied for another job, they’d never written a CV. They didn’t have a clue how to re-skill and how to position themselves for the 21st century jobs market.’

The furniture firm’s closure wasn’t the only time the ACT Centre has been on the frontline in helping when an employer goes out of business, with heavy job losses. When Asda closed its George depot in Wigan in 2010, with the loss of 300 jobs, and when more than 100 people lost their jobs at DHL near Warrington last year, David and Melissa and the rest of their team were again on hand to support those who had lost their livelihoods. ‘Sometimes when a company closes there’s a period of time, usually 90 days, when they’re still in employment but when they know they’re going to be made redundant,’ explains David. ‘That’s very valuable, because there’s a lot we can do to help people in that time. And they’re allowed time off work for retraining and for sorting out their priorities when the job comes to an end.’

The ACT Centre, he says, has had plenty of success stories. ‘We’ve been able to help lots of people to re-skill and to find their way through the maze of possibilities when they’re made redundant,’ he says. ‘Sometimes you get someone who moves on to do something completely different – for example, we had a guy who was a fork-lift truck driver. He was a big bloke, with loads of tattoos – and when he said he wanted to become a cake decorator, I was a bit surprised.

‘But now he runs his own business doing just that, and very successful it is too. Often, what people most need is support, and someone to believe in them and to help them realise their ambitions. And that’s how we see our role.’

The ACT Centre is one of five satellite centres across Lancashire run from the hub of the St Antony’s Centre for Church and Industry in Trafford Park, Manchester. The St Antony’s Centre, which opened in 1979, was the brainchild of David’s dad Kevin Flanagan, a former member of the Young Christian Workers’ movement who has gone on to devote his life to putting the Catholic Church’s messages on the world of work into practice.

Often, what people most need is support, and someone to believe in them and to help them realise their ambitionsKevin was born into an Irish Catholic family in Old Trafford, a mile or so away from Trafford Park in Salford, and got a job in a brewery after he left school. There, he quickly rose through the ranks – and discovered he had a gift for talking to both bosses and shop-floor workers, and to helping to iron out difficulties between them.

He went on to study at Plater College in Oxford – the so-called ‘Catholic workers’ college’ – in the 1970s, at the same time joining the Young Christian Workers. ‘Their philosophy – ‘see, judge, act’ – has been the basis for all I’ve done, right through my life,’ he explains. ‘It was all about understanding the love of God in the world of work. It was about being a true apostle of Christ in the workplace: that’s what I learned back then, and that’s what I’ve tried my hardest to do, ever since.’

After leaving Plater College, Kevin returned to his old stomping-ground in Salford, setting himself up as an industrial relations consultant in Trafford Park, then in its heyday as the first-ever industrial park in Europe. But Mrs Thatcher had just become Prime Minister, and a decade of union strife and job losses was on the horizon – a time when St Antony’s was to prove its worth time and again.

‘We were seen as a neutral ground, a place where company directors and union leaders could meet and talk,’ says Kevin. ‘But given the times, from the start it was clear that we had a big mission to those who were unemployed. We started to provide training and job creation programmes, and we were at the centre of a number of industrial disputes.’

The role of the Church is to speak out for social justice, wherever that might lieAt various points in the history of Trafford Park, St Antony’s ran soup kitchens and was a nerve-centre for workers’ struggles against company closures. ‘Sometimes when we got involved in these sorts of disputes, employers would phone me up and say “I thought you were neutral?”,’ remembers Kevin.

‘And I’d say to them, I don’t know what Gospel you read, but the Gospel isn’t neutral. Of course we can provide a place where both sides of a dispute can talk, and we can do all we can to sort things out before they become too difficult. But when things get hot in the kitchen, the role of the Church is to speak out for social justice, wherever that might lie.’

In 1986 Trafford Park was given development corporation status, which brought new sources of funding into the area, including for St Antony’s, which renewed its place as a leading centre of training in the area – a role that continues to the present time, although these days training is mostly located in the five hubs including the Accrington Centre. Paul Callaghan, who is the contracts manager for the centre, says about 400 people a year receive training under the auspices of St Antony’s. As ever, finding fresh sources of funding is always a challenge for the centre’s staff – but in the midst of the current economic downturn, Paul says he’s certain that the centre is as relevant now as it was more than 30 years ago when it first opened.

For more information see www.stantonyscentre.org.uk