"I am sixty in April this year, and I have taken the decision to step down from my post of Learning Centre Manager in Kilchoan, with effect from the end of May.
"I took up the post in 2009 and in that first year I think I must have had about 100 students on maybe 10 courses. Most were funded by Highlife Highland, but there were a couple of 'commercial courses' and a standard Gaelic evening class as well. At the end of the first year my one and only UHI student got through her exams.
"Like topsy, it all just grew from there. In 2013, that first UHI student graduated with a first class degree. By then I had six students engaged in higher education of one form or another. Another one graduated last year, and the next one will finish this year. One student successfully completed a networked FE course too. Literally hundreds of vocational qualifications have been gained by local people from a huge range of certificated vocational courses in everything from 'Basic Butchery' to 'Willow for Waste Water Management', and there have been well over 1,000 participants on countless Highlife Highland funded adult learning courses, classes and workshops.
"I am very keen to ensure that all the progress we have made at the centre over the last six years does not get lost, so I have spent December and January working to ensure that the college will replace me; and most importantly that the replacement will work from Kilchoan. I am as confident as I can be that I have succeeded in this aim, and I have had a conversation with the college’s HR team about where the job should be advertised such as De tha Dol and various websites.
"As some readers will know, I put in more hours at the centre than I am paid to work - currently 2 days a week - which I think might make my job seem rather unappealing to possible candidates. For that reason the college has decided to keep me on as a facilitator for the next few months. The facilitator’s job is to act as deputy to the manager when the manager is not available, which should make the hours required to do the manager’s job a bit more reasonable. So, when there is a booking in the evening or at the weekend it is quite likely to be me who opens up the centre and does the boring paperwork, and so on. I don’t want to have this role forever, and I don’t expect the new manager will want me to be around forever either, but it will allow for a smooth handover, and it will make sure that none of the contacts and contracts I currently have get lost in the transition.
"As some readers will know, I put in more hours at the centre than I am paid to work - currently 2 days a week - which I think might make my job seem rather unappealing to possible candidates. For that reason the college has decided to keep me on as a facilitator for the next few months. The facilitator’s job is to act as deputy to the manager when the manager is not available, which should make the hours required to do the manager’s job a bit more reasonable. So, when there is a booking in the evening or at the weekend it is quite likely to be me who opens up the centre and does the boring paperwork, and so on. I don’t want to have this role forever, and I don’t expect the new manager will want me to be around forever either, but it will allow for a smooth handover, and it will make sure that none of the contacts and contracts I currently have get lost in the transition.
"I would like to thank everybody who has helped to make the Kilchoan Centre such a success, by studying at the Centre, by attending classes and workshops held here, or by helping me to run courses in other locations across Ardnamurchan, Moidart, Morvern and Sunart".
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