NVQ's for Operators and Slinger Signallers

Hello everyone, Just thought I'd let all tower crane operators and slinger signallers who have a red trained operator card know that we now have government funding to complete the NVQ and take you to the blue competence card. You will only be required to pay the registration and admin fees, the rest is fully funded. Ring 01709 836 700 for details.

We have also decided to reduce the price of the course during these difficult times so now could be an ideal time to be trained and qualified.

For full information on the course and the new prices just send me an e-mail to: bobby@towercranetraining.co.uk or complete the contact page on the web site.

Kind Regards, Bobby Beveridge.

30th July 2008

Hi everyone, not been on here for a while. The reason is simply that we have been so busy. The email I received this morning from Rory Cummins has prompted me to update. It has really lifted my spirits and makes everything we do worthwhile.

All is going well with the courses and we have another lady operator on a course in September. I'll let you know how she does. Warm Regards, Bobby.

30th July 2008

To Bobby and Ian,

Thank you for the beginning of a wonderful journey, one that is still not finished.

In the year 2000 I only had 10 pounds in my pocket and I was living in a hostel for the homeless. I knew I had to do something to get out of the gutter I was in, so I managed to get a loan off a family member to pay for my course. This is when I met Bobby and had a life changing experience. Bobby took me in under his family’s roof and I will be forever grateful to one of life’s true champions. After I finished my course I went to London where I met Ian. Ian secured me a job on a site in Nottinghill for one of the major players and like father like son; he let me stay at his house until I found some digs. After about two months I packed it all in and went to Austria because I had fallen in love with an Austrian girl. My heart was saddened because I felt I had let Bobby and Ian down by leaving so early, after them helping me so much. However after 6 months the relationship did not work and I was back in Great Britain. For the next 5 years I worked for Select, HTC, Falcon, and City lift cutting my teeth as a Crane driver, working in what I could only describe as one of the most demanding and rewarding construction industries in the world.

After 5 years I returned to my birthplace, Australia. I was fortunate enough to get a job in the Offshore Oil and Gas Industry. Over the last three years I have operated cranes on various vessels such as Cable Layers, Dive Support doing sub sea installations and I am now currently on a FPSO (Floating Production Storage Offtake) called the Front Puffin in the Timor Sea. The cranes varied in size up to 400T.

My name is Rory Cumins; I now live on a Tropical island called Christmas Island in the Indian Ocean. I own my house, I own my car, I own a Game fishing boat, I have freedom to go on holidays, I work for only 4 months of the year and get paid for 12, I have financial security and a beautiful wife and 4 children, but most of all I have happiness. What do I do, I am proud to say, A CRANE DRIVER.

Are these some of the things you would like in your life? Well congratulations because you have already taken the step to success by being on the course. Over the coming months you will experience highs and lows. Every crane driver before you, respects you for facing the challenges that lay ahead, there will be times when you want to give up, but like in a rodeo the longer you stay in the saddle, the less the horse will buck. Remember this when you maybe feeling down, WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCIEVE AND BELIEVE, THE MIND CAN ACHIEVE. We all have to start somewhere and it is usually at the bottom working our way up. In no time you will be proficient at driving a crane, Talented Drivers are made not born.

I hope through my life experiences I can inspire at least one of you to achieve the true riches in life, for it would not have been possible without Team Beveridge. So I would like to again take this opportunity to say THANK YOU to Bobby and Ian for helping me achieve success in all aspects of my life. SUCCESS IS A JOURNEY, NOT A DESTINATION.

Hello Bobby and Ian,

I hope you can put this up on the wall for the trainee’s to read. I know all is going well for you both and keep up the good work.

Kind Regards

Rory J

rorycumins@gmail.com

2nd March 2008

Hi everyone, not been on for a while, work has been crazy and the high winds have been giving me nightmares. We still got there though and all the courses have finished on time. We normally like the trainees to experience the wind at sometime during the course just to feel the effect that it has on the control of the machine. (or the lack of control). This last course has experienced all the elements - including snowstorms on the first day and at the end of it we have produced six excellent operators.

Four of the lads go straight to work tomorrow, Wayne from Sheffield goes to Leeds for Falcon. Ken from London is on for MPS in that fair city. Steve from Bristol is in Bristol for "Wombat" and lucky lucky Smiler Mark is in Bedford for, would you believe £20 an hour on a pedestrian crane!! I have to tell you that is a one off but good luck to him.
I hope to hear from the other two lads shortly and good luck to them all. It goes to show that work is out there if you make yourself busy and sell the qualifications gained here. I can't give you or guarantee work but I can certainly train and qualify you to do the work safely and competently.

Looking forward to tomorrow. Six new lads, three from the UK, one from Nigeria and two young men from Brazil.

I'll come back on soon and let you know how they all got on.

Bye.

4th January 2008

Happy New Year to everyone!!

This is just a quick post to explain that the training dates on the main page need to be updated and this will be done in the next week.

In the meantime the dates we now have available are as follows:

28th April to 9th May 08 - 2 places left.

12th to 23rd May 08 - 4 places left.

27th May to 6th June 08 - 5 places left

Courses are then run every two weeks.

The industry is very robust at this time and we have been inundated with orders.

For anyone booking our first available dates there is a chance that they could be brought forward should we receive any cancellations for the earlier course dates.

Regards, Bobby.

13th December 2007

Hi everybody,

Not been on for a while due to pressure of work. Been busy finishing off this last course before the holiday. We test the guys tomorrow then it's all over till the 7th January.

The last course went very well and three of the lads went into work in the port of Rotterdam. Seemingly a lot is going on over there. I've not heard from the rest so I'm assuming all are ok.

The work will start to slow up now towards Christmas although there will be a lot of holiday cover work with the agencies. There will be good money to be earned for those who are up for working over the holiday.

The feedback I get is that it will all kick off again in January. Happy Days!!

We've had a lot of high winds during this course but fortunately it hasn't held us back. We like to have at least a couple of days with wind during the course so that the lads can experience it and it leaves no surprises when they reach site.

I'll be in touch again soon. Bobby.

Thursday 14th November

Hello everyone, I'm late with this post as the computer was accidentally wiped out!!! (you know who you are!).

We finished the last one on 2nd November and five of the lads are now in work. The remaining man has had three job offers but has not taken any up yet.

Jon Arkley from the Isle of Wight dropped very lucky and went on to a long term job at St Bartholomews hospital in London. He is operating a brand new 25 tonne Jaso and is a very happy man!! He tells me that he's made a video and when he sends it I'll post it on here.

Mick May from Coventry is currently working in Sheffield on a Pedestrian Operated Crane and is back staying in the Fox & Duck. He has been invaluable to the lads on the current course as he's been able to tell them of his experience getting in to work, how to go about it etc.

Mark Edwards from Liverpool has an agency job in that city. He's phoned me for a bit of advice and to tell me he's sorted.

Garry Mallet from Newquay hasn't contacted yet but he was going to work for an agency in Bristol.

I have to tell you that in the real world not everyone is going to get long term work to start with. I always advise the lads to take the first job offered and start to get some hours into the logbook.
As they are working they will still take calls and ask around the industry. Hopefully the right job for them will eventually come along.

I've said before that we are not employers, I wish I could give everyone a job but it's not the business we're in, however, we do not leave the candidates at the gate and say goodbye, we point them in the direction of work and help where we can.

Our main aim is to prepare candidates for the workplace and to try to ensure that there are no big surprises when they sit in their first crane. I know we do this well.

Our current course has gone well and we test tomorrow. Two of the lads are from a company and already have a crane. I sent an email out to the industry yesterday for the other four lads and within one hour they were taking calls. I'll let you know how they all get on with the jobsearch. Bye.