Business Breakfast: Harrogate bus operator launches skills drive for engineers

The Stray Ferret Business Club’s next meeting will take place on Thursday, November 30. 

The Business Club provides monthly opportunities to network, make new connections and hear local success stories.

Transdev, the Yorkshire company that owns the Harrogate Bus Company, has teamed up with one of the North’s leading apprenticeships providers to tackle the shortage of expert engineers.

The bus operator and Manchester-based Total People have launched SkillUp, a pioneering joint initiative to both attract newcomers and to encourage those already in other roles – including bus drivers – to retrain as qualified engineers.

It’s hoped the new engineers will lead Transdev’s drive towards electric power, by gaining specialist knowledge needed to maintain the latest battery-powered buses.

SkillUp is also offering semi-skilled people who already have workshop experience the opportunity to complete a fast-track one year course to boost their knowledge and skills.

Harrogate-based Owen Baxter is already in the third year of a four-year Mechelec Engineering Apprenticeship. He said:

“The joy of it for me is in fault-finding – the ability to look at something that doesn’t work, find the cause, and fix it. I love that feeling of achievement when you return a bus to the road, and I’m lucky to be learning from the best in the business.

“Everyone here specialises in a particular area, including electrical, mechanical and bodywork. That means I’m getting wide experience in an apprenticeship leading to an exciting future, just as we prepare to switch over to 100 per cent electric bus operation.”

Total People managing director Mel Nicholson said:

“This is a really exciting opportunity. Not only can we start people off on their new career in automotive engineering, we also get to help those already in the industry to take the next step in their careers. We can’t wait to see all the new faces, and maybe some familiar ones!”

Full details of the opportunities are available online.

Writing workshops in Knaresborough

Harrogate funeral company Full Circle will be running a series of writing workshops over the next six months, designed to help people express their feelings following personal loss.

The 10 sessions, to be held at Gracious Street in Knaresborough, will be split into two separate ‘circles’ and facilitated by writer, educator and celebrant Stephen Mckenzie, who was a secondary school teacher of English, Literature and Drama for over 30 years.

Full Circle said:

“Writing can be a powerful tool for processing and expressing complex emotions and we are delighted to be hosting a series of workshops for anyone who is interesting in exploring the benefits of creative writing for those experiencing grief and loss.

“There are many ways we might choose to write about people we have lost. These sessions will explore how we might use any form of text or writing to remember and celebrate our loved ones.”

For more information about the sessions’ content and to book a place at any of the workshops, visit Full Circle’s website.

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