An Excellent Week....

Well here we are again, Friday already :0)

The week started with student work placement starts, always an exciting and busy time, for us and the lucky students meeting their placements for the first time. We also formally welcomed Jo Bridges to TTPL, she has joined us as a part time Work Placement Officer so I'm sure many of you will meet her in due course.

Tuesday was another great Breakfast Meeting at The Grand Hotel then on for more student starts! So much easier with a good healthy 'Full English' to start the day. The day also brought an interesting meeting with Quen at Q-Ball Media who has done a great job of our folder upgrade...delivered ahead of time AND folded :0) Excellent ... Also went to see Colin at Duchy Foods, he has expressed an great interest in what we do and we are currently trying to find a suitable student for him - I would have included a picture of the gorgeous lemon muffin I had with my coffee there but to be honest it didn't last long enough to photograph!!!

Following our brilliant visit from a group of French nurses Debbie and I went to visit two of our guest speakers, Carol and Corinne at Brixham Hospital...we are hoping we can arrange a reciprocal visit by some uk nurses to the Quimper Training Hospital in France. 

Thursday saw Jo and I going out to visit two GP surgeries who had recieved a recommendation about ourv students and have since agreed to host a student... Jo's fist placement which was really good, for us and her!
Thursday afternoon is STUDENT MEETING TIME!  This week was a great visit to Paignton Zoo ...the students (and staff) always love the Zoo visits. Three of our students are currently studying to be surveyors in Italy and we have to give a huge thank you to Andy Coleman from DEA Torbay who came down and spoke about his business and how it impacts on many aspects of the surveying industry. Thank you Andy!

We also had to say Good Bye to two of our Italian groups, they were presented with their certificates and will return home this weekend. They all enjoyed their time here and pass on their thanks to everyone who made their visit as fantastic as it could be.

A final good bye is to Wolfgang... he has spent 15 weeks with us and has been helping Torre Abbey with their documenting and categorising of their exhibits at their temporary location in Paignton...the special thing about Wolfgang, he is, I will not say oldest but will say, the 'most senior' student we have hosted here at TTPL...he is 63 years young and has been an absolute joy to have with us...good luck Wofgang and we look forward to seeing you next year when you come back to visit.

So, another week over and another weekend arriving...have a good one and see you again next week!

Students, Delegates and Work Placements

Students, Delegates and Work Placements...oh, and a Jubilee

Well, been a bit slow in getting this blog written...office has been very busy and most of us have spent a great deal of time out of the office - this must be a good thing as we are all still very busy.

Since my last ramblings... we have had the Olympic Torch run through Torbay, The Queens Diamond Jubilee long weekend, a cycle race and loads of students!
The torch was a great event that our students thoroughly enjoyed...a great opportunity for all our visiting groups to see what we do best - flag waving pagentry :0), and on that subject - The Jubilee, well what a weekend, parties and events all around the country and here in Torbay. The weather was, how to put this kindly... damp! However, in true Bulldog spirit, everyone was outside enjoying the extra day and the events put on to celebrate QE 2s 60 years as our Monarch.
The Halfords cycle race arrived...in the rain, but several of our students made the effort to go and watch.

We were also delighted to welcome a group of nurses from Quimper, in France. We organised a three day conference, mostly held at The Riviera Centre which included the NHS, Rowcroft and Paignton Hospital. The 35 nurses had a great time and at the end of their visit we presented a cheque to Paignton Hospital to thank them for their support. Have a look at page 46 in this weeks (21st June) Herald Express.

They also brought their mascot 'Babette' with them...here she is enjoying a Cream Tea...

This week we have a group of lecturers from The Romanian American University in Bucharest - 6 ladies who teach English in its many forms including Business English, Legal and conversational. They have had a few 'delivered' sessions and some social time too. On Wednesday I accompanied the group on a tour around South Devon College University building - thanks to Jon Hall for organising and guiding the tour for us. While I am talking about SDC a moment to send hearty congratulations to Pat Denham, VP at the college, on her OBE - really well deserved...Congratulations Pat.  We also went to Brixham and climbed aboard The Golden Hind - thank you Simon for once again welcoming us. For once it was even sunny!

Here at TTPL towers we have had some great news...we are shortlisted in the Women of Achievement Awards 'Business of the Year' category, such an honour to be one of the four on that list! While we are talking about Women of Achievement,  On the 16th of May our Jayne... Jayne Stroud, Director and founder of The Training Partnership Ltd was invited to speak at the Enterprising Women event at the Riviera International Conference Centre organised by Outset Torbay

Jayne has been at the forefront of EU student placements in this area for over 16 years and has grown TTPL from her kitchen table at home to a suite of offices in Torquay employing 10 people and has helped thousands of students enjoy a life changing experience in Torbay.

 We also have an office full of students helping us... Melina is busy working on our Facebook account, which is great, and trying to give us a slightly 'younger' outlook for our student contact. Thank you Melina.
Also in the office are Elias, Gulia and Guliana...all of them doing great work for us.

The student meeting this week was at the AMF bowl and all had a great time. It is always good to see our groups having such a good time.We are also trying to put together a team for the SOS Global Challenge in Exeter next month - should be fun. Another visitor to our meeting was Matt from The Super Weekend, he is trying to find some students to help give the event weekend a continental flair.

So, thats all for now...note to self "get organised and write blog every week!"

Ciao :0)