Newbury College was delighted to welcome Olympian and Commonwealth Gold Medallist, Julie Bradbury, to deliver a badminton coaching session recently which was attended by students and members of the local community.
Julie Bradbury is a sporting icon in Badminton having won Gold at the 1994 Commonwealth Games in Victoria, Canada and representing Great Britain at both the Barcelona Olympics in 1992 and the Atlanta Olympics in 1996. Along with those sporting achievements she is only the second person to hold all five titles in all three disciplines of badminton (mixed, single, doubles) at the English Nationals.
Julie Bradbury spent the session giving coaching tips to those who attended and said, "It was great to present the badminton masterclass at Newbury College and hopefully inspire a few members of staff to encourage badminton to be played by students at the College".
The event was organised by Joe Pegg, Sports Maker at Newbury College who said, "To have a visit from Julie Bradbury is fantastic. Her combined experience of playing and coaching is outstanding and I am sure all aspiring Badminton players will have learnt a great deal from Julie during the Masterclass."
Graduate Engineering students from the Science and Technology Facilities Council (Rutherford Appleton Laboratories) were presented with certificates by Principal Dr Anne Murdoch after successfully completing the first part of a graduate skills training programme at Newbury College.
As part of the graduate skills training programme the students undertake a specialised four week welding course which familiarises them with the practical skills needed to carry out Manual Metal Arc welding, Gas welding and MIG welding as well as learning the types of welding deflects that may occur.
Business Executive, Martin Russell, who organised the programme, said, "Newbury College have a long standing relationship with the Science and Technology Facilities Council at Rutherford Appleton Laboratories and this is the third graduate skills training programme the College has undertaken on behalf of STFC".
The graduate programme offers further development of their skills when the graduates will take part in a 20 week machining programme, which will enable them to improve their skills in various types of machining and fitting such as lathes, milling and bench fitting. These skills courses can be adapted to suit any organisation.
Children at Mary Hare Primary School were treated to an Easter egg hunt and craft day arranged by students from Newbury College.
The event was organised by students studying Health and Social Care Level 3 who had been set an assignment to carry out a voluntary project in the community, which will be marked towards their final grade.
The primary school children created Easter baskets in which to put any eggs they had discovered on the hunt. The eggs were donated by local supermarkets and other materials for making the baskets were provided by the Thatcham Garden Centre.
Newbury College Health and Social Care student Elisha Lees-Smith, aged 24, said "It went absolutely brilliantly and everything went according to plan. This project is all about giving back to the community and we are really happy with all of the help, support, goodwill that the supermarkets have shown us".
The children thanked all of the College students for arranging the events by giving them Easter eggs of their own.
Highclere Castle, the home of Downton Abbey, has seen an increase in visitors recently and is keen to invest in its staff to ensure that they have all the training required to meet new demands of the spectacular venue. They contacted Newbury College to deliver the CIEH Principals of Manual Handling Awareness course on site at the Castle.
Keen to maintain strong links with its local community College at Newbury, Lord Carnarvon joined 12 of his team to participate in the one day course which updated their skills and qualification in safe manual handling.
Julia Morgan from Highclere Castle organised the training and was pleased with the day's sessions and said, "Newbury College have delivered First Aid Courses to Highclere Castle for a number of years and we were pleased to contact them again for a course on Safe Manual Handling. They are very helpful, efficient and the process of arranging the course was straightforward. I am sure we will be contacting them again in the future."
Highclere Castle is one of England's most beautiful Victorian Castles set amidst 1,000 acres of stunning parkland. The Carnarvon family has lived at Highclere since 1679, and the current Castle stands on site of an earlier house, which in
turn was built on the foundations of the medieval palace owned by the Bishops of Winchester for some 800 years.
Emily Chandler, Business Development Executive from Newbury College said "Newbury College have a long-standing relationship with the team at Highclere Castle and we were happy to work with them to develop this day and deliver the training at the castle to meet their needs".