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)

Last Minute Blog Time...

Agggh... where has the week gone?

This has been a very busy week for us all...in a good way :0)

We have had Alex, our work experience student with us from South Devon College - what a credit to herself and her tutors...a great girl with, I am sure, a great future. Thank you Alex for all you have done for us.

Our group participating in the Graduate Teachers Programme accompanied Bill Callaghan, our Education Specialist, on visits to the Torquay Job Centre for a“customer journey” as well as Connections and the Town Hall. The visits were part of the 6 week training course the Teachers are undertaking to learn about the UK Education system and application process.Thank you to Torquay Job Centre, Connections and the Town Hall for allowing us the opportunity to visit!

The week started with a vist to St Loyes in Exeter - a really great place with some fantastic people and opportunities. we are very pleased to be working with them and feel sure that the students who are going to ejoy their placements there will have a marvelous time.

Tuesday saw another really good network meeting at the Grand Hotel - such a good group of people and a lovely view of the bay to enjoy with a hearty breakfast.

Wednesday brought a Lupton House in Brixham... what a great place. Met Janet and Francis, placed a student with them and discovered an exciting new venue for our student meetings - and all thanks to 'Brixham' Bill Callaghan from Palletopia - Thank you Bill.

Thusday was student meeting day and all our students enjoyed a bit of Torbay culture at the Torquay Museum - thanks once again to the museum staff for a very enjoyable afternoon

And now its Friday... 3rd Friday at Ivybridge, huge thanks to Michael Clark from Clark Jennings Solicitors. He gave a very informative talk on the perils of Social Media and steps we could all take to protect ourselves and our businesses.

New couour printer arrived today so chaos in the office as we had to install and find the thing - not sure why we couldnt 'find' it as we could all see it! :0) However, thanks ti Kornel from 1-zero-1 and Nick our 'copier' guy... everything works - woo hoo!

Have a wonderful weekend...Radio 1 visiting Paignton and the Olympic Torch making it's way accross the Bay... in addition to the usuall fun stuff available to everyone lucky enough to be in Tornay this weekend.

See you next week :0)

Manic May....

What a great start to the month of May...we have just finished installing our new server and computers for all of the office - excellent! However this did cause a little stress as we were nearly two days without e-mail, then a Bank Holiday which was 5 days in total...when my Blackberry finally got its act together it just sat there pinging for about 20 minutes as it caught up with all the mail!!! If I missed anyone or you sent me something and got no reply please re send and we will get back to you.

However, it's now all done and working well, huge thanks for all the work done by 1-zero-1 in Torquay - thanks Chris, Mark and the guys! Even in the midst of all the chaos of the upgrade we still found an amazing coincidence...Kornel, one of the 1-zero-1 team was one of our students!... in 2005 he came here for his work placement experience and then last year applied for a job with 1-zero-1 ... and 7 years after his placement he arrived at our offices to upgrade our computer system...brilliant news! Well done Kornel, proof indeed that the Leonardo mobility projects really work...

Meanwhile....

I have been out and about calling at several businesses and shops in Paignton looking for, and finding, some new opportunities for a group of students coming over to enjoy 3 weeks working in shops and offices...thank you to all those businesses who welcomed the idea and have given so many young people the opportunity to visit Torbay... so big thanks to, in no particular order... Scoops, Sugazone, Riviera Gifts, Mainline, Bijou B, Bay Fashions and many many more.

Thursday saw our weekly student meeting at the lovely Dots Pantry...cream tea and coffee, absolutely brilliant - the shop was completely full with our students and all had a fantastic time, and to cap it off it was a year to the day that Dots Pantry first opened - Happy first birthday, may you have many many more. Thank you to Dot, John, all your staff and a special thank you to the two lovely ladies who were sitting having a quiet coffee in Dots when about 50 young European students arrived in a way that only young Europeans can...noisily! Thank you both for your understanding.

Went to another great 2nd Friday network meeting at Cockington Court this morning...very interesting discussion re Foxy Lingerie by Nicola Fox. Sad and very enlightening story of how the global financial problems impact on small business. Hope to see you all at the next meeting. On that subject the next Breafast Networking Club meeting is next Tuesday 15th May at the Grand Hotel (07.15 am). Hope to see you there :0)

Well there we are...another busy week and the start of what will become a manic month...we have a great many students arriving and loads to do to ensure they enjoy their time here in Torbay. So from a week that started with torrential rain I am sat here getting ready for the weekend with sun shining throughj the window...it will be a good weekend in Torbay - get out there and enjoy it, perhaps even grab an ice-cream from one of Paigntons newest businesses, Scoops! Have a great week-end all...Ciao !

A Third of the Year Gone Already!

Here we are at the end of April… in what can only be described as the wettest drought I have ever experienced! Where did the time go?

Here at TTPL we have experienced the busiest year to date in our 16 year history – so firstly, a huge THANK YOU to all of our many Work Placements that continue to support our students and provide really top quality working experiences to our students. Thanks also go to our wonderful Host Families who welcome and take care of all of their students…THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU – without you we could not continue providing the service that we do.

The big office news is that Gemma has got the keys to her house…very best of luck to both Gemma and Kris who have been spending every spare moment immersing themselves in the joys of DIY! We all hope that you will be very happy in your new home.

Bide, a German teacher has been in Torbay to visit his group of students at their Work Placements and given a very positive reaction to the level of the placements and the satisfaction of his students. Good reports always make us happy :0)

We have also had a ‘Conversational English’ course for the group this was delivered by Gian, one of our brilliant tutors who reports that the group are making excellent progress, which is great news.

Bill (Callaghan)and Sabina (Rademacher) have also been continuing their programme with the group of German teachers who are with us for another couple of weeks. This weeks sessions were held in the conference room at Dots Pantry    – what a great local venue (with excellent coffee and cakes)

We have been interviewed by Katina Read who is producing some publicity material for the South West Innovation Centres – we are looking forward to seeing that. I have been to the Energess networking meeting at The Paignton Club  …It’s a ladies only breakfast club so I am very privileged to be invited to speak there…a great group of ladies who made me very welcome and a very good breakfast too…a good start to Friday and a great end to April. Keep a look out for the Energess ladies great Gig Wig or Wig Gig ... (and remember, you heard it here first!) it will be an amazing sight.

On Monday morning I will be at Riviera FM   talking to Kev Starr about The Training Partnership and all that we do in Torbay, have a listen and spread the word! Wednesday evening Wendy and I will be going to the Devon International Trade Forum  at South Devon College, a great organisation that helps and supports businesses who are, or who plan to, export or import…well worth a look. I spoke at one of their meetings last year in Exeter and can honestly say they are a really good group of people.

On Friday evening I am due at the Riviera Centre   to bid ‘farewell’ to Jenny Thompson, their Operations Manager, she is moving on to pastures new and will be sorely missed – good luck Jenny and thank you for all you have done for us.

So... have a great weekend, get out and do something interesting - even if it just a cup of coffee and something calorific at one of the many excellent coffee shops in Torbay.

Busy busy busy...

So much to tell, so little time.

We really are very busy at the moment and are currently building another record year (on top of last years record year!)

Apart from the sheer volume of students choosing to enjoy their work placements in Torbay we also seem to be a very popular choice for delegate visits...

We are currently hosting a group of German teachers who are interested in the integration of SEN students into mainstream education...we have arranged training sessions with a number of local providers - huge thanks to Bill Callaghan and Sabina Rademacher who have (and will continue) deliver some excellent course content. We also took the group out to South Dartmoor Community College in Ashburton...what an inspiring school - they hosted our German group for a morning and arranged for them to spend time in classrooms with their students - fantastic! Then they (the delegate group) enjoyed an hour or two walking around Hay Tor.

We are also looking forward to hosting a group of French Nurses, more about that when they are here but we already have a great programme planned with more training sessions and talks from Healthcare Professionals from around the area.

Debbie and Sue have just returned from the “Pre-Departure Training Seminar” in Rome to meet with the next trainees from the Safari Job Project co-ordinated by Eurodesk.

The trainees met with Debbie and Sue on Saturday 21^st April for a “Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Your Stay (But were Afraid to Ask)!” session and there was lots of questions and laughter! The trainees are already becoming friends and we look forward to extending a warm welcome to them when they arrive in May.

Just had a great meeting with Katina Read from Splash Publicity , she is doing some work for the TDA and SWIC and is visiting us to get some 'good news' stories to promote business in Torbay...Should be interesting.

As always we are actively seeking new work placements - we have about 50 young Italians arriving in June/July who will be getting out into the Bay and working with local businesses, shops, retailers etc...will your business be one of them? and on a similar note...does anyone fancy becominig one of our Host Families? Each of our students will need a warm, friendly host to accomodate them.

We are also looking forward to our annual Romanian group, very high quality students with a great attitude to work and self improvement, this year we have an added bonus of a group of Lecturers from the RAU (Romanian American University) in Budapest who will be here to enjoy a programme of events and training...exciting times.

Oh, one final point...Sue is still a non-smoker, well done Sue! Mia has lapsed, just a little, and is currently down to just 20 per week...Keep on going Mia, you'll get there eventually!

Thats all for now...see you all soon!

Happy Easter

Here we are again, another busy week at TTPL…loads happening as usual and plenty of good news.

The begining of the week saw the publication of This Is Business, a new free Business to Business magazine from Business Hub in Paignton, it is available all over the bay and is a good read (especially the centre pages). Tuesday morning saw another Breakfast Networking Club meeting at The Parkers Arms, great people, great breakfast and a really useful networking event.

Easter is on its way and we are all looking forward to a nice long weekend…we decided to have a ‘bright’ day in the office and Wendy excelled with a bright fluorescent pink top and I just had to dust off my ‘Sh1te Shirt’ … sunglasses required even on such a dull day :0) It isn nice be able to brighten up the world and would reccomend a loud shirt to make you feel good all day!

Jayne and Wendy, our Directors, came into the office this morning and presented us all with an Easter Egg and a bottle of Fizz…fantastic. This was in celebration and thanks, for  a record breaking first quarter! Great news.  We could not achieve this without our excellent Work Placements and Host Families. So a huge ‘Thank You’ to all our placements, hosts and of course Jayne and Wendy. While we are talking about Host Families, we are still looking for host families in Exeter who are able to accommodate ‘self catering’ students… contact Sue on 01803 321214 for more details or go to the Host Family tab at the top of this blog.

 I had a great meeting with Clr Dave Thomas regarding EU funding and ways in which we can work together… some really great opportunities there I think so will have to stay in touch - another Thank You to Dots Pantry for the coffee during our meeting:0) We have also re-established our connections with both The Grand and The Imperial hotels in Torquay, both of which have new contacts. Chris, the new GM at the Grand and Jenny the new HR Manager at The Imperial; belated congratulations to both of them on their appointments. Wendy and I also had a great meeting with Julian Reiman from World Host, we have been looking at Customer Service training for our students and are looking to set something up in conjunction with our Work Placements to benefit their employees too…it is a great opportunity for the whole bay, especially during 2012 with the Olympics and hopefully extra visitor numbers.

On the ‘Quit Smoking’ front … Sue has now gone a whole week without a ciggy and Mia is 4 days in… stick with it Ladies! Mia also has next week off, hmmm, not sure who authorised that... but I hope she has nice relaxing week.

Sue and Gemma are just about to go and meet our students for their ‘Thursday Meeting’… a walk through Cockington was planned but because it is soooo cold there may well be a hot coffee in The Grand instead. Much more civilised!

A little Easter Funny for you...

That’s it from TTPL for this week… don’t eat too much chocolate and enjoy the long weekend.