Despatches - News Views & Case Studies

Stuart Amory jumps into Blue Peter

Ex-RAF Falcons parachute team member, Stuart Amory, has added a Blue Peter badge to his wings by training presenter Zoe Salmon for this year’s London Marathon. Making regular appearances on the show, he has been putting her through her paces, including a beep test live in the studio. His celebrity client base also now includes Beth Cordingly and Angelica Bell as regulars.

He decided to leave the Services in 2005 and completed the Premier Training International Diploma in Personal Training in September 2005. His reputation and personal training business has grown rapidly since then and he was approached by Blue Peter earlier this year. ‘Being asked to work with Zoe was a fantastic opportunity and I have enjoyed every minute of it,’ he reports. ‘Educating children on the benefits of exercise is an important subject.

‘I had heard about Premier Training International through colleagues and the three-month course covered all the practical skills and theory I needed to become a qualified personal trainer. It was split into three modules that covered the basics of fitness training, techniques needed to be a personal trainer and a comprehensive module on sports massage therapy.’

As well as training celebrities and a growing client list, Amory is an instructor with the British Military Fitness Ltd organisation. ‘Health and fitness have always been important to me and I offer personal training to a wide variety of people and bespoke training programmes to suit individual needs.’

To learn more about opportunities in the fitness industry should call Premier Training International on 01225 353535 or visit the website at www.premierglobal.co.uk.

GRW Buy-Lines offer logistic and supply chain qualifications

GRW Buy-Lines run learning and development programmes for people who have Service skills in logistics and supply chain management. They offer to deliver ‘opportunities for professional development that will help to translate them into nationally recognised, civilian professional qualifications.’

They operate the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport’s (CILT) professional assessment development service giving experienced practitioners the chance to demonstrate their competence against CILT’s qualifications and standards. It is based on accreditation of prior experience and learning and/or assessment and verification in the workplace. An initial competence analysis assesses individual skills and competence, and takes account of accredited military courses as well as Service career details.

Under the scheme, the company offers CILT’s :

• Level 3 Certificate
• Level 5 Professional Diploma
• Level 6 Advanced Diploma.

Their ‘occupationally competent and qualified assessors and internal verifiers’ can assess and verify vocational qualifications in:

• supply chain management
• distribution and warehousing
• functional assessor and verifier units.

Students are offered such services as e-assessment, electronic portfolios and on-line support through a student area on the company’s website, together with an on-line library of supporting documentation, including learning materials and user guides. By using these processes, GRW Buy-Lines promise a ‘fast track to professional qualifications in logistics and supply chain management which will enable you to enhance your career prospects for a civilian role in the logistics sector.’

For further information contact Geoff Warren on 0870 765 3456, e-mail: info@grwbuylines.com or visit the website at www.grwbuylines.com

Antarctic opportunities - working in one of the world’s most unique environments

Imagine working in a place where the temperature can drop to -52 degrees centigrade, where there is total darkness for three months of the year and where your nearest neighbours are a colony of emperor penguins. Welcome to Antarctica, the world’s coldest, most isolated and sometimes most unforgiving of continents; a place unlike any other – daunting, mesmerising and outstandingly beautiful.

The British Antarctic Survey (BAS) has been working in such conditions for more than 50 years, undertaking research with a vital impact on our understanding of the past and our predictions for the future.

A record of past climate going back one million years is locked in the four kilometre-thick ice sheet othat is Antarctica. Bubbles trapped in the ice form a natural archive of atmospheric gases, while evidence of levels of global pollution is frozen into the ice. The scale and scope of Antarctic science is immense – from insects and microbes to the continent-sized ice sheet best appreciated from space. Antarctic science is crucial for understanding how our global system operates, and our ability to predict and safeguard the future.

There are few more remarkable or challenging places to be for people with a spirit of adventure. BAS activities in the Antarctica need a diverse mix of people from electricians to engineers, and from drivers to chefs. Stations comprise close-knit communities, with team work being absolutely critical. People share a common goal and enjoy making a difference. They can also explore and enjoy a unique experience.

Work at BAS is vital with members playing a crucial role in maintaining station life, supporting scientific teams, and safeguarding the continent’s future. It is a challenge but one on which people with Service experience can thrive.

Learning to cook from scratch

Set on the edge of Dartmoor, Ashburton Cookery School offers a ‘fresh approach to cookery’ with courses that emphasise hands-on involvement and fresh Devon produce. All training is based around fundamental cookery techniques and methods that can be applied whether students are working in a professional kitchen or entertaining at home. Its teachers have extensive experience working in the catering industry and so bring knowledge and expertise to ‘hands-on’ the tuition in small classes.

Captain A T Edwards is a senior postal and courier instructor at the Defence Logistics and Supply School. He has recently attended Ashburton’s Basic Cookery Diploma as part of his resettlement training package after 24 years’ service. He is emigrating to Canada and wants to ‘open a soup and sandwich style café with potential to expansion into outside catering.

‘The four-week basic cookery course is aimed primarily at individuals with little or no prior catering experience who wish to enter the catering industry in a self-employed role and therefore do not necessarily require formal qualifications, but desperately need a broad knowledge base and a good level of confidence. The course is taught by Darrin Hosegrove, a vastly experienced and gifted chef.’ (Hosegrove began his career working under the guidance of Michelin-starred chef Shaun Hill. Aged 25 he gained two AA rosettes as a head chef before returning to Exeter College as a lecturer in food studies.)

‘This course far surpassed my expectations leaving me with a wealth of catering knowledge that will allow me to follow my aspirations with great confidence. It may not as yet provide a nationally accredited qualification but, for a mature and enthusiastic student, it arguably offers more in depth hands on experience in four weeks than some other similar courses provide in a year or more.’

For more information contact Ashburton Cookery School on 01364 652784, e-mail info@ashburtoncookeryschool.co.uk, or visit the website at ashburtoncookeryschool.co.uk

Australian Institute of Fitness campus in Alicante, Spain

The fitness industry is booming with many and varied career routes for well-qualified people. The Australian Institute of Fitness offers a fast-track residential course in an idyllic setting on the Costa Blanca in Spain. They offer an International Master Trainer award which ‘offers registration with both REPs in the UK and Fitness Australia with recognition in many other countries around the world. Graduates are guaranteed at least an interview with Fitness First; some have then have been successful in opening and running their own PT studios, operated as a mobile PT instructor, and worked as sports conditioning, weight management and rehabilitation therapists.

Civilian life as a qualified, motivated and successful trainer can have many benefits. It can offer an individual good income, control over their working hours, doing something they love as a job, and to be able to combine their experiences in the Armed Forces with the skills and knowledge learned as they acquire a professional certificate.

For more information see www.uk.aif.edu.au or call their careers office on 0845 056 0237

Balfour Beatty Civil Engineering

Balfour Beatty Civil Engineering Limited (BBCEL) has a vision is to be ‘the contractor of choice. We take pride in our proven and extensive civil engineering and project management skills, delivering excellence through cost-efficient, customer focused solutions, from minor works through to major infrastructure projects.

From its pool of 1,500 ‘qualified’ employees, BBCEL provides a wide variety of services to its customers, ranging from construct-only civil works to complex asset-based service driven solutions. ‘We value our customers, our supply chain and our employees. We are committed to customer satisfaction, first-class service, safety and a responsible approach to the environment. As a business, we are committed to continual improvement in everything we do.’ It also stresses that this emphasis is to the fore in its health, safety, environmental and quality performance.

The company currently has opportunities for all categories of staff within civil engineering and quantity surveying, and is also looking for project based administration staff throughout the United Kingdom.

Windscreen Repair UK– a van-based franchise with a difference

Anyone who has ever needed a replacement windscreen knows that this can be a costly procedure for both the individual and for the insurance company. However, many windscreen replacements can now be avoided by the repair of chips and cracks before they extend and new screens are required. Windscreen repairs can save both the private individual (no excess is charged for repairs) and the motor insurance industry millions of pounds every year.

Appreciating the growing demand for this service within the industry, Kevin Haswell, the managing director of Windscreen Repair UK, has established the company as a glass repair franchise in the UK. Having created and developed both the concept and the business, he fully understands the pressures and challenges associated with starting out in this field. Knowing that buying a franchise is, for most people, their first experience of owning and running their own business, he has developed a training program and ongoing support system that, he says, ‘ensures all Windscreen Repair UK franchisees are running profitable businesses from day one – and are enjoying the process.’

There are more than 30 million cars on the road in Britain today (a number that continues to increase). Not surprisingly, insurance companies are keen to promote windscreen repairs rather than costly replacements, so a franchise that provides this service may be worth a look if the idea of being a franchisee appeals.

For further information visit www.wruk.co.uk