Bank Holiday Blog

Here it is...the last Bank Holiday before Christmas! This year is flying by but there is still so much more to do and so many exciting things going on - but first:

Today we said good by to two of our office students Kim, from Paris, has been with us for the past 8 weeks and produced some great work and been involved in a project to invite Engineering partners to the MTI  event in October - we will really miss his him, his great humour and of course, his work.  We are also saying 'kvedja' to Rut from Iceland - she has only been in our office for a week but has a larger than life character that we will all miss. We will also say a very big TTPL 'goodbye' to the other 15 students from Germany, Italy and Spain who are returning home this weekend - cheers guys.

It is also the start of Torbay Regatta week, with loads of events around the bay, not least the amazing Red Arrows display on Wednesday evening at 6.00.

This is a big Bank Holiday weekend for England which means that

for most of us it is a three day weekend (wooohooo) so make sure you enjoy it. We also had another fantastic barbecue on Ilsham Green for our Thursday student meeting. Sam arranged for football, fun and of course burgers...he even managed to keep the rain away although it was a little chilly!!! Next week is a visit to Living Coast and the opportunity to see the new baby seal - awwwwwww! 

So have fun, stay safe and enjoy the fun and festivities across Torbay in the next 7 days. Next weeks Conversation night will be at the Rock Garden on Tuesday at 8.00 pm...Sam will see you there.
See you all soon
Ciao for now :0)

Blog – Sam’s Summer Madness

Hello World,

It’s been a while but I’m back – it’s Blog time again!!

As you may know I’m the Student Support Officer here at TTPL – I manage the welfare of our students and organise our social and cultural activities. This summer has been crazy – since June we have had over 150 students with us each week…and the numbers are staying like this until November (we must be doing something right!).

It’s been great to see so many faces over the summer enjoying their time here, I feel like an ambassador for Torbay! However it has been a real challenge to find interesting activities to accommodate our large groups but one I’ve thoroughly enjoyed!

Our students meet us every Thursday afternoon to socialize, relax and to see the different attractions Torbay has to offer. We have had some fantastic meetings this summer from trips to Splashdown Waterpark (making most of the sun), visits to Paignton Zoo, amazing BBQ’s on Ilsham green with sports and slip and slide activities; the 10^th Torbay Sea Scouts even came to cook our burgers! We’ve had cream teas at Cockington, a football tournament for the World Cup, an educational experience at Kents Cavern and even the odd Bowling match. I know I know it’s a hard life organising events for students – but someone has to do it!

As well as Thursday meeting’s we have had a host of extra activities on offer for our students this summer. It all started with the weekly Conversation nights here in Torquay – the night is aimed at students using and practising their English speaking and listening skills. It gives them a chance to meet others in a friendly safe environment whilst improving their confidence to speak out loud. We meet in local restaurants/pubs each Tuesday, and spend the evening chatting; it also gives me a great chance to learn more about their experience and time spent here with us. The nights have become really popular with over 70 students attending last week and I have now just started them in Exeter too on Wednesdays – I will be at The Imperial Exeter next Wednesday @8.00pm if you want to join me! 

As if that hasn’t been enough for our hard working bunch they all manage to squeeze in time to attend the Disco Boat Parties. Tell me more, I hear you say… well it’s a 2 hour tour of the lovely bay on a private boat with a DJ and licensed bar – trust me this is a must for the summer and proved very very popular. We have also organised private discos at Mambo’s Torquay too – which was great to see our students dancing and singing together! I’ve tried to promote Torquay United and get a group up to watch a match… however for some strange reason this has proved rather difficult, instead our students have preferred karaoke nights at JD’s and watching live bands at the Spinning Wheel. Finally we have been part of the Riviera Fringe Festival and even had an excursion to London!! M&M world was amazing – but don’t go crazy with the pick n mix.

What a summer!

Our next excursion is planned for 30^th August - London, Bath, RoundRobin or Thorpe Park; Get voting!  VOTE

Well thanks for reading; We had a great Boat Party last night with 160 students (see our Facebook page for the pictures) – and the rain stayed away!!! Keep tuned for my next blog!

Adios, Au revoir, auf Wiedersehen, Ciao, Shalom, Zai jian & Goodbye!!!

Its not all about young students!

You could be forgiven for thinking that here at TTPL we only deal with young people, students and work placements - however, one of the other programmes that we offer is Delegate visits, and this is what we have been doing for the past week with a group of Engineers from the German company FELSS , the five delegates, Claus, Siegbert (Siggi), Sabine, Dennis and Monica spent 3 weeks at Riviera English School and then a week visiting a selection of local Engineering companies.

I never cease to be amazed at the level of engineering and technology that is local to us and so would like to take this opportunity to highlight just a few, and acknowledge the support that is available and offered.

Firstly, thank you to the TDA (Torbay Development Agency) Jason Buck and Dan Newman not only invited us to the Hi Tech Forum last Friday, including a tour of the South West Energy Centre and the Passivhause, but also came to our offices and gave an interesting presentation on the TDA and the local economy.

A visit to Bay Light Vehicle really highlighted the incredibly high level of development going on in Paignton, a level that was further emphasised during a guided tour and presentation at Spirent Technology - exciting technology! As if we needed any more evidence, a short trip to Totnes to visit Valeport. An informative and very interesting tour of the facility from Jeremy Law followed by a very enjoyable lunch left our visitors in no doubt that this corner of south Devon has far more than beautiful scenery to offer!

No delegate visit to Torbay is complete without a visit to the ever inspiring South Devon College - Martin Guille from the SDC Engineering department gave us a very thorough tour of the college and demonstrated the high standard of training available here in Torbay.

The 'working' week finished with a visit to Pyropress in Plympton, an interesting tour of the factory and a presentation by Operations manager, Stephen Burns.

We finally said Auf Wiedersehen to Claus, Sabine, Dennis, Monica and Siggi at the ever popular and always amazing Paignton Zoo during our weekly student meeting - a good lunch and a walk around the zoo before heading home at the end of a four week programme - what a fantastic experience.

Monica, Me (Ian), Claus, Sabine, Siggi and Dennis at Paignton Zoo

So...Thank You, thank you to all those who have given their time and resources to help us show off our area, to those who have met our delegates (and all the other students we host), and to everyone who helps us make Torbay and South Devon the destination of choice for so many students and delegates from across Europe.