Flying Colours!
Archive - Originally posted on "The Horse's Mouth" - 2011-09-28 07:18:40 - Graham Ellis
Congratulations to Rachel, who completed her final exam of her apprenticeship at the tail end of last week. She's passed the course with flying colours and, I understand, in something of a record time.A year ago, I wouldn't have considered that we're big enough to employ apprentices, nor that we could provide an environment conducive to someone learning the "tools of the Trade" for the hotel and catering business with us. However, Swindon College's workplace based courses, and a candidate who's very much self-motivated and able to concentrate on the studies made a big difference, and we found ourselves involved in the scheme. Ian and Sam have popped in as mentor and college tutor from time to time, but beyond that it's been down to Rachel who deserves the credit at "our end" for making this work.
Rachel's now with us full time, permanently, and filling a vital role far beyond that implied by an apprenticeship. She has been for quite a while - a key member of our full time hotel team. As I write this article, from the village of Snailwell in Cambridgeshire, I'm secure in the knowledge that the breakfast shift at Well Hosue Manor in Melksham, Wiltshire is running to plan and in capable hands. And I owe the most enormous "Thank You" to our team - all of our team - for making that possible. The customer comes first, our team not far behind - and it's great to have customers like we do and a team that takes things on in such a way that it gives Lisa and myself a breathing space to do our work, our works (such as the Chamber of Commerce stuff last night) and get the occasional break too.