My Career Story 1979 - 1997
I started my career back in September 1979 having studied Geography, Education and Music at St Mary's University College in London. My first job as a qualified teacher took me to Purley in Surrey, where I taught Geography, Music and Religious Education at comprehensive school. Whilst teaching at the school, I was able to develop my interest in outdoor education and music performing, using these as a means of engaging with young people and broadening their horizons.
After four years and having helped to run an air experience flying operation as a volunteer, the world of aviation beckoned me and I left teaching to become an Airport Traffic Officer at London Gatwick, progressing over the next four years through Load Master, Flight Despatcher and finally Duty Officer and Duty Manager at London Stansted. Stansted was a growing airport at the time and the primary diversion airport for hijack and aircraft incidents, this was my first exposure to major incidents and emergency planning & management on a large scale.
Whilst at Stansted and following various climbing expeditions abroad, some ex-colleagues and I decided to set up an outdoor adventure and education centre in Llanberis, North Wales to run in our spare time. The vision was very simple: to enable vulnerable and disadvantaged children from urban areas and those with other challenges, to enjoy a break away, to experience the great outdoors and to spend time engaged in adventure activities and outdoor learning. With a great team of volunteers we were able to make a significant difference to the lives of many young people over the eight years of the project.
Having spent 4 years working in airport operations, I took an opportunity to gain experience as a General Manager at one of Wales largest tourist attractions, it was only for eight months to cover the open season but to cut my teeth at a large site with shops, food and beverage outlets, heritage attractions and transport tours was just too good to miss.
As the season drew to a close, I was approached by some of my aviation colleagues who had set up an aviation management training company, to become their Operations Director. They had secured a large contract with the International Lesiure Group Plc and the Airlines of Europe Group to provide aviation management and operations management training to their rapidly expanding business. This was a growth time in British aviation in the late 1980's with new destinations and passenger numbers increasing. It was against this background of industry growth that I was able to manage a new concept in business co-operation. Through some mutual contacts we met up with another growing consultancy business that specialised in travel, leisure and tourism marketing and realising that our skills could be mutually compatible, we entered into a strategic alliance to work together in the interest of both companies. Not a take over, merger or acquisition, just working co-operatively and collaboratively as a team, to develop our businesses and to gain a broader experience of the industry. This led to some high profile assignments, including a multi-national campaign to promote Tenerife as a business tourism destination. It is not many 30 years olds who would have the opportunity to write speeches for a President!
After nearly two years, and having made a large number of contacts within the Aviation, Travel, Leisure & Tourism industry, I was headhunted by another growing company to set up and manage their Training and Personnel function, this was a time of new european directives, changes to employment legislation and a recognition that excellent training led to a competitive advantage. So with a free hand from the Board I was able to bring both innovation and best practice to what was to become the UK's 4th largest independent travel retailer.
Then two years into the job with everything going well and my career developing, fate intervened and I was seriously injured, through no fault of my own, in a motorway accident. The next months were to be one of the greatest challenges of my life, initially being totally dependent on others and having to come to terms with the injuries whilst having to accept that my recovery was going to take some time. With this in mind and and recognising that my mobility was going to be limited for a time, I decided to leave the fast moving world of travel and was offered a job as Head of Faculty at a College of Further Education, which was pioneering the new general national vocational qualifications. It was a good fit for me as it was the Faculty of Travel, Leisure & Tourism and it meant further developing my teaching/lecturing experience.
So for nearly three and a half years I was at the forefront of new course design, student development and bringing new innovations to the world of travel, leisure and tourism in further education. My work at the College led to many great opportunities including: working with the BBC as a consultant on their 'Learning for Work' and 'Learning for Life' series on TV and radio. It was during this time and through much negotiation, that my students took on the running of a rural railway station close to a major heritage tourist attraction and developing it, to include food and beverage outlet, tourist information and for outside events, as well as selling railway tickets. This attracted significant interest at the time, and tragically as a result of one of the worst UK rail accidents which took place a few miles from the station. The students, many of them only 17 years old, got selflessly involved in helping rescue teams and looking after the families of those involved. Suddenly our rural railway station was the centre of national media attention. There is a theme here, because it confirmed my belief in the power of humanity, in that innate gift to act selflessly when others are at their most vulnerable. These students would probably not have been described as outstanding academically but what they showed was the ability to care and undoubtedly their willing involvement in that incident taught them much about themselves. Every one of those students succeeded in getting got jobs in the industry when they left the college.
My next career move took place not long after I was cleared fit enough to return to the faster paced world of business and the opportunity to take on an Interim post as Group HR Manager, (although it was still known as Personnel at that time). Again it was an expanding business, who as part of their acquisition plans and aim to become a Plc, needed to set up a dedicated HR and Learning & Development function. This gave me the chance to prove that I could still work in a fast moving business environment and to refine the skills I had developed previously in managing organisational change.
After four years and having helped to run an air experience flying operation as a volunteer, the world of aviation beckoned me and I left teaching to become an Airport Traffic Officer at London Gatwick, progressing over the next four years through Load Master, Flight Despatcher and finally Duty Officer and Duty Manager at London Stansted. Stansted was a growing airport at the time and the primary diversion airport for hijack and aircraft incidents, this was my first exposure to major incidents and emergency planning & management on a large scale.
Whilst at Stansted and following various climbing expeditions abroad, some ex-colleagues and I decided to set up an outdoor adventure and education centre in Llanberis, North Wales to run in our spare time. The vision was very simple: to enable vulnerable and disadvantaged children from urban areas and those with other challenges, to enjoy a break away, to experience the great outdoors and to spend time engaged in adventure activities and outdoor learning. With a great team of volunteers we were able to make a significant difference to the lives of many young people over the eight years of the project.
Having spent 4 years working in airport operations, I took an opportunity to gain experience as a General Manager at one of Wales largest tourist attractions, it was only for eight months to cover the open season but to cut my teeth at a large site with shops, food and beverage outlets, heritage attractions and transport tours was just too good to miss.
As the season drew to a close, I was approached by some of my aviation colleagues who had set up an aviation management training company, to become their Operations Director. They had secured a large contract with the International Lesiure Group Plc and the Airlines of Europe Group to provide aviation management and operations management training to their rapidly expanding business. This was a growth time in British aviation in the late 1980's with new destinations and passenger numbers increasing. It was against this background of industry growth that I was able to manage a new concept in business co-operation. Through some mutual contacts we met up with another growing consultancy business that specialised in travel, leisure and tourism marketing and realising that our skills could be mutually compatible, we entered into a strategic alliance to work together in the interest of both companies. Not a take over, merger or acquisition, just working co-operatively and collaboratively as a team, to develop our businesses and to gain a broader experience of the industry. This led to some high profile assignments, including a multi-national campaign to promote Tenerife as a business tourism destination. It is not many 30 years olds who would have the opportunity to write speeches for a President!
After nearly two years, and having made a large number of contacts within the Aviation, Travel, Leisure & Tourism industry, I was headhunted by another growing company to set up and manage their Training and Personnel function, this was a time of new european directives, changes to employment legislation and a recognition that excellent training led to a competitive advantage. So with a free hand from the Board I was able to bring both innovation and best practice to what was to become the UK's 4th largest independent travel retailer.
Then two years into the job with everything going well and my career developing, fate intervened and I was seriously injured, through no fault of my own, in a motorway accident. The next months were to be one of the greatest challenges of my life, initially being totally dependent on others and having to come to terms with the injuries whilst having to accept that my recovery was going to take some time. With this in mind and and recognising that my mobility was going to be limited for a time, I decided to leave the fast moving world of travel and was offered a job as Head of Faculty at a College of Further Education, which was pioneering the new general national vocational qualifications. It was a good fit for me as it was the Faculty of Travel, Leisure & Tourism and it meant further developing my teaching/lecturing experience.
So for nearly three and a half years I was at the forefront of new course design, student development and bringing new innovations to the world of travel, leisure and tourism in further education. My work at the College led to many great opportunities including: working with the BBC as a consultant on their 'Learning for Work' and 'Learning for Life' series on TV and radio. It was during this time and through much negotiation, that my students took on the running of a rural railway station close to a major heritage tourist attraction and developing it, to include food and beverage outlet, tourist information and for outside events, as well as selling railway tickets. This attracted significant interest at the time, and tragically as a result of one of the worst UK rail accidents which took place a few miles from the station. The students, many of them only 17 years old, got selflessly involved in helping rescue teams and looking after the families of those involved. Suddenly our rural railway station was the centre of national media attention. There is a theme here, because it confirmed my belief in the power of humanity, in that innate gift to act selflessly when others are at their most vulnerable. These students would probably not have been described as outstanding academically but what they showed was the ability to care and undoubtedly their willing involvement in that incident taught them much about themselves. Every one of those students succeeded in getting got jobs in the industry when they left the college.
My next career move took place not long after I was cleared fit enough to return to the faster paced world of business and the opportunity to take on an Interim post as Group HR Manager, (although it was still known as Personnel at that time). Again it was an expanding business, who as part of their acquisition plans and aim to become a Plc, needed to set up a dedicated HR and Learning & Development function. This gave me the chance to prove that I could still work in a fast moving business environment and to refine the skills I had developed previously in managing organisational change.