Updates & Messages

NVQ's for Operators and Slinger Signallers

2009-03-11T05:32:00.000-07:00

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

2008-07-30T01:00:00.000-07:00

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

2008-07-30T00:53:00.000-07:00

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

2008-03-02T03:05:00.000-08:00

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

2008-01-04T05:35:00.000-08:00

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

2007-12-13T03:42:00.000-08:00

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

2007-11-15T01:37:00.000-08:00

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.

2007-10-20T06:07:00.001-07:00

20th October 07

2007-10-20T05:59:00.000-07:00

Hi everybody, Just finished a very busy course. The weather was with us and again everyone achieved. Two of the candidates had a start for Monday even before they left here and I'm hopeful for the rest!

Emailing 42 companies with their details is certainly proving to be a big help but don't forget they also have a lot of work to do by phoning the companies and selling their qualification.

Also, the fact that we achieve 85 hours over the course instead of the required 72 means that everyone is really comfortable and ready to go to work.

We start another course on Monday and I'll come on to let you know how everyone did on the course.

2007-09-28T06:13:00.000-07:00

27th September 07

Hi Everybody, Just got time to give you an update on the last course. Again everyone achieved and I'm very pleased to say that five of the candidates had work lined up even before the course finished. They went to all areas of the country working for Heyrods, Lancsville, HTC and MPS. The last lad wanted a short time off before looking for work and he's told me this morning that he's had an offer of work in Liecester.

I've also been contacted this morning informing me that there is a job offer in Manchester with Heyrods. As yet I've no one for it so it's looking good on the work front.

Debbie Showell, our lady operator is working in Cambridge for MPS and I'm also very happy about that. As I tell everyone, we are not an employer but we do not leave our people at the gate and try our best to point them in the direction of work.

The current course has kicked off and this time we have another first!! We have a father and son , that's Ian and me, training a father and son from Whitehaven, Cumbria. We also have 2 brothers from South Africa, one lad from sheffield and a lad from Leeds. I'll let you know how it all goes.

Next weekend is very busy as we're running a Sliner course over the weekend. Never mind - soon be Christmas!!!

7 September 2007

2007-09-17T06:39:00.000-07:00

Hi everybody,
We had a good course again and everyone went away happy, two of the guys were already in work and we managed to point another two in the direction of an immediate start. I should hear from the remaining two shortly.
We've another good bunch of lads here and again five of them are staying at the Fox & Duck. We're on day two and already they're getting control of swings.
Some of them are staying for the weekend so we'll come in and give them a few hours extra practice, it all helps.
We're now booked up to the 3rd of December to 14th. After that we'll have a break and start a new course on the 7th January 08.
On the slinger side we've still got a few paces left for the November course. The photo is of Alfie, 19 from London who is celebrating passing the Tower Crane Operator Course.
Speak to you all soon.

28 August 2007

2007-09-17T06:38:00.000-07:00

Hi everybody,
Finished another course on Friday and again, we all had a good time. Debbie Showell, the lady operator passed out with flying colours, as did the others. She has now gone on holiday and when she comes back we hope to help her get her first crane.
Here she is celebrating passing her Health & Safety Test.
Two of the lads started work today and the others are all in contact with potential employers.
Over the weekend we also completed a Slinger Signaller course. I've high hopes for these lads. One started in Newcastle this morning and the others should have no problem finding a place. The industry is very robust at this time.
We started a ten day course today, six lads. One from Dublin. The rest are from: Bradford, Widness, Heckmondwike, Essex and Sheffield. All are very keen to learn and again, five of them are staying at the Fox & Duck.
I'll let you know how they all get on.

13 August 2007

2007-09-17T06:36:00.000-07:00

Hi everybody,
Finished a two week course last Friday. Six successful candidates left us. Two brothers went to work in London, two lads went to work in Liverpool (their home town), the fifth man is from Dublin and went straight to work in Kilkenny. The remaining man is from Swansea and we're waiting to hear that he is starting work next week. It was another great course and we all enjoyed ourselves!!
We've started another course today and on this one we've got a first! We have a lady candidate. Her name is Debbie Showell and I'm sure you'll all hear more of her. She is from Bradford and I'll let you know how she fares. The others are from Manchester (2), Norwich, Sheffield, and London. Five of them are staying at the Fox & Duck Hotel across the road, £20.00 per night with a lovely evening meal. Not the Ritz but good clean digs and the lager's not bad!!
I'll come back on here again with an update at the end of the course.