Issue #03
Autumn 2019
Escape magazine world number one! Rebecca west wins gold in beauty therapy
Cook up a storm
New apprenticeship opportunities in Rye
Pimp my ride
Students transform 1986 Robin Reliant
Humans of ESC Natalie Mann tells her incredible story about coping with sight loss
Escape Magazine
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.Welcome
CEO, East Sussex College
EDITORIAL TEAM:
Issue #03
Zara Baker
Ashley Chapman
Have a story? Contact me zara.baker@escg.ac.uk
Have a story? Contact me ashley.chapman@escg.ac.uk
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Read our interview with Rebecca on page 5.
Clive Cooke,
“This will change my life. It is just amazing!”
Over the summer we’ve been busy creating our brand new course guides - which you’ll find at your school or available from any of our campuses. We’ve been celebrating with a world champion beauty therapist
That’s just a flavour of what’s been happening, so sit back and enjoy issue 3.
in Kazan, Russia earlier this year.
Last issue we ended the year in style with our Mini Festivals, chatted to chart-topper Amelia Lily, and helped our students to de-stress before their exams.
who won the gold medal in Russia (page 5), creating new catering opportunities in Rye (page 6), transforming a 1968 Robin Reliant - a rally-ready tribute to Darth Vader (page 9), and hearing about one of our student’s incredible journey with sight loss (page 10).
‘The World’s Best Beauty Therapist’
Welcome to the third issue of Escape, your essential guide to everything that’s happening at East Sussex College.
Rebecca West celebrating winning gold at the World Skills championships
News, events, and interviews from East Sussex College, the world of FE, and beyond...
.contents
Beauty students going for gold at UK Skills (p7)
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News...
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Rebecca West is OFFICALLY the best young beauty therapist in the world
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New hospitality apprenticeships launched to encourage more people to work in the industry
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Catch up with the rest of the goings on at ESC with News in Brief
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Students transform 1986 Robin Reliant so that it can compete in charity rally across Europe
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Humans of ESC Natalie Mann tells us about her incredible journey of sight loss and how she has renewed hope of finding work
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Don’t miss our #Fearless Open Events this Autumn (p13)
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Escape plans
Check out some important dates for your diary including the Battle of Hastings re-enactment, our ESC Live open events, and the return of Vegan Festival Lewes
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Winter warmer Have a go at making a delicious, easy, and cheap recipe to warm you up this winter
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Competition time Win a pair of tickets to see Blood Brothers on its opening night at Eastbourne’s Congress Theatre this December
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.Cover Story
.world champion! Former Lewes student, Rebecca West, became the world’s best beauty therapist in August after winning gold at the WorldSkills championships in Kazan, Russia. It’s the second consecutive win in the WorldSkills finals for East Sussex College beauty therapy students, following the success of Kaiya Swain, who took gold in Abu Dhabi in 2017. The WorldSkills championships take place every two years and the UK Team is made up of the country’s top young students and apprentices. Team UK flew home on Wednesday 28th August in a cloud of gold and glory, and among them, was former Blatchington Mill student, Rebecca West.
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The talented 22-year-old was crowned the world’s best young beauty therapist in a spectacular closing ceremony which saw more than a quarter of a million people gather at the Kazan International Exhibition Centre and included an address by President Vladimir Putin. The opening and closing ceremonies were also televised in the UK for the very first time. Celebrating her win, Rebecca told WorldSkills UK, “This will change my life. It is just amazing! I am so proud to say that I am the best in the world. This means everything. Over the past 20 weeks I’ve done nothing but train, but all the hard work has paid off and now I intend to celebrate.” Rebecca’s tutor, Shelli Simpkin, says: “Rebecca was always a model student: hard working, committed and an absolute pleasure to teach. She showed a natural flair for competition work, and her skills went
from strength to strength throughout her time at college. The team and myself are all so proud of Rebecca’s success, and cannot wait to see what the future holds for the world’s best young beauty therapist!” Fred Carter, Principal of East Sussex College Lewes, adds: “To have two consecutive gold medallists in Beauty Therapy from Team UK is outstanding. The fact that they both attended East Sussex College is truly phenomenal and shows the incredible talent of our students and the dedication and hard work of the teaching team.” Dr Neil Bentley-Gockmann OBE, CEO of WorldSkills UK says, “This is a fantastic result for the team and the UK as a whole – I couldn’t be prouder. This was the ultimate test and they stepped up to the mark.”
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.New hospitality opportunities in Rye
The Rye Hospitality Guild and Sussex Skills Solutions have created a brand new partnership to provide young people with an opportunity to start a career in the hospitality industry. The Rye Hospitality Guild, a collection of restaurants and hotels, along with Sussex Skills Solutions, the training and apprenticeship specialist of East Sussex College, have created 11 exclusive Level 2 apprenticeships for people to learn the skills they need for a career in hospitality and catering. The programmes are available now, offer roles in catering or hospitality, and give added benefits not
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normally associated with standard apprenticeships such as ‘away days’ to suppliers. Martin Blincow, Guest Relations Manager at The Mermaid Inn, said: “The aim of the Rye Hospitality Guild is to support young people in their career decisions and help them decide if the hospitality industry offers the opportunities and work environment they are looking for. “The framework of the Guild enables young people to develop three ‘A’s - Aspiration, Attitude, and Achievement. They will be given opportunities to visit a variety of suppliers, restaurants and local businesses, as well as be part of a supportive group of apprentices, all designed to help them discover a career that can take them as far as they want to go!”
The hospitality sector is the third largest in the UK, employing more than 3.2million people. However, in recent times there has been a dip in the number of people being employed and staying in employment in this industry sector. To prevent a skills shortage in the industry, some of the finest businesses in the area including The Gallivant, The Ship, Jeakes House, Hoof, The Bistro, The Hope and Anchor, and The Mermaid Inn have come together to offer roles within their organisation. To find out more about the Rye Hospitality Guild opportunities and apply for the roles please visit: www.lovelocaljobs.com and search ‘Rye’.
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Access all areas
.News in brief
Access to HE students recently celebrated the end of the academic year in style with a graduation ceremony at Eastbourne Town Hall. The ceremony marked the end of a fastpaced, challenging and ultimately life-changing year of study and the students were joined by friends and family to celebrate their achievements. Many of the students will now progress to universities throughout the UK to study a broad range of subjects including physiotherapy, pharmaceutical sciences, psychology, nursing, midwifery, primary education and law.
Going for gold Three Beauty Therapy students from our Eastbourne campus recently competed in the UK Skills regional heats in Portsmouth. Georgia Powell (St Catherine’s), Anya Jackson (St Richard’s CC), and Natasha Roberts (Uckfield) travelled to Highbury College to test their skills against other beauty therapists from the South East. It was a fantastic result for the college, with Anya scooping the first place award in the Level 2 competition and Georgia winning first place in Level 3 category.
Fearless open events Our #Fearless open events return this autumn when we open our doors to give prospective students the opportunity to come and explore what we have to offer. There will be a number of ‘Fearless’ challenges for students to have a go at, with plenty of current students and tutors to chat to about college. We kick things off in Eastbourne on 24th October followed by Ore Valley on 7th November, and Lewes on 13th November. All start at 4:30pm and run until 7:30pm (See page 12 for more info).
Access to HE students celebrating at their graduation at Eastbourne Town Hall.
New IMI accreditation A brand new motor repair accreditation was launched at our Eastbourne campus over the summer. Focusing on the light vehicle area of the automotive sector, IMI Accreditation gives employees in the motor vehicle industry the chance to achieve a highly regarded qualification. Accreditation typically takes just one day to achieve and individuals are assessed against industry-agreed standards.
Rising talents Art students from East Sussex College recently had the opportunity to showcase their work during the Rising Talents exhibition at Hastings Art Forum. The exhibition featured work of Fine Art, Art & Design, Fashion Textiles and Photography students at the college, and includes selfportraits, construction pieces and landscapes.
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Wyntercon VI
.News in brief
Students from across the college showcased their creative talents at Wyntercon VI. The student-built Dalek took centre stage, creating ample photo opportunities with visitors at the popular comic convention. Exhibited alongside the Dalek was the Tardis, created by Carpentry students at the Hastings campus. Fashion students from Eastbourne showcased their designs and a showreel by Media students played throughout. Make-up Artistry students and staff demonstrated special effect make-up and prosthetics, creating realistic looking injuries on visitors. Creative Media students filmed the event for the Wyntercon charity to complete the work experience section of their course.
Vegan festival returns One of the UK’s first college-based vegan festivals returns to our Lewes campus in November. After the success of last year’s festival in Lewes and Eastbourne, Sussex Vegan - the popular online directory created by former student, Robert Stevens - returns to the Cliffe building on Thursday 14th November and for the first time, will open till late. The event will feature a recognised speaker, informative exhibitors, samples of delicious vegan food from vegan-friendly businesses, as well as vegan health and beauty products.
The Dalek sitting centre stage at Wyntercon VI held in the Sports Park in Eastbourne
Royal Acedemy of Art An A-Level Photography student from our Lewes campus, recently had her work chosen to feature in the Royal Academy of Arts’ (RA) Young Artists Summer Show. Freya Clayton-Harding (former Ratton student), created her photo, “A Spectacle”, and was inspired by the Space Age fashion trends of the 1960s. Freya said: “The idea of taking on a visually abstract persona, simply so that it can be photographically recorded fascinates me.” The first-ever Royal Academy Young Artists’ Summer Show is filled with artwork by talented young artists aged 7-19 from the UK and beyond. Freya’s entry was one of 6,200 submissions and successfully made it through to the online exhibition and features alongside 328 other drawings, paintings, photographs, sculptures and videos. “I think my picture really stands out. It is highly unusual and quite eye-catching, as well as being an image that I thought included some quite interesting technical features. I also just love the photo - it was so much fun to shoot with my friends!” Freya’s image featured in the exhibition at the RA from 14th July until 4th August 2019 and is available to view online until 31st December.
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Delicious vegan cakes on sale at the last vegan festival in Lewes
“A Spectacle” - Freya’s featured photo in the RA exhibition
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.students pimp up three-wheeler for Charity rally Motor Vehicle students at our Hastings campus unveiled a fully ‘pimped up’ and refurbished reliant rialto following five months of challenging work at the college’s Automotive Training Centre during the summer. The project was the brainchild of family-owned builders merchants, Chandlers Building Supplies, who entered a team to drive the Reliant in the Pavestone Rally across Europe. The 1986 classic three-wheeled car, bought on eBay by Chandlers Building Supplies for £200, was taken to the college’s Automotive Training Centre back in March. 43 students worked on rebuilding the engine and overhauled the bodywork to create a daring Darth Vader-mobile. Marc Beattie, Motor Vehicle tutor at the college, said: “The end result will astound everyone – the little 850cc car has been turned into Darth Vader. It’s a sight to behold. Part of this project’s challenge was to also allow the car to be easily adapted to a new creative theme every day of the rally, with themes including ‘Underground’, ‘Superheroes’ and ‘Back From the Dead’. The students really enjoyed working on this. It’s not often you get the chance to work so creatively on a 33-year-old car.” The Robin Reliant then took part in the four-day rally and was driven by Trevor Mudd of Chandlers Building Supplies and Sam Hanks of Cembrit. The team took home the overall winner’s trophy and also scooped the Best Dressed Car Award while raising in excess of £7,000 in the process.
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.humans of ESC
Natalie telling her incredible story to ITV Meridian back in September
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Escape Magazine
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.Feature Interview Natalie Mann is a mother, a former nurse, and has been visually impaired for the past 20 years. Natalie is blind in her right eye and has some useful peripheral sight in her left eye and has struggled to come to terms with losing her vision, was reluctant to face what was ahead, and had almost given up hope of ever being able to work again. However, that all changed once she found help and support in the form of a specialised IT course for people with a visual impairment at East Sussex College. Natalie said: “I struggled with losing my sight, wrestled with it, mostly. For a long time, I was on the ropes, but now I’m winning every round. “Sight loss can make you feel incredibly insular and not just because you’re losing one of your major senses, also from the complete lack of support. Living with sight loss is multifaceted. It is a grieving process. I’ve grieved for the loss of my sight and everything else that gets lost along the way. “I’m not the person I used to be and almost don’t recognise myself at times. My sight loss has forced me into becoming someone I didn’t choose to be, and, for a very long time (15 years, if not more) I didn’t want anything to do with the ‘new’ me. I felt lost. “During the early stages of sight loss, following my retinal detachments, I had nine sight-saving surgeries in 12 months, clinic appointments and check-ups, a year of rehab, with some sight returning. But then I was diagnosed with depression and Glaucoma. At that point, I deemed myself unemployable. I felt like a round peg in a square hole.
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“But there is a way forward, there is a life after sight loss.” “A key factor to unlocking my new found happiness, fulfilment, and confidence was putting myself through the very painful, yet incredibly exhilarating, experience of therapy. “I can honestly say it has been lifechanging. Without counselling, I wouldn’t have had the courage to put myself through college and discover the second life-changing chapter in my life – an IT course for the visually impaired at East Sussex College. “My confidence and happiness are at an all-time high. It has enabled me to face the fear of accomplishing new experiences and I’ve been given this huge window of opportunity to learn about the technology that will help me access the world again! “My tutors Keith Eldridge and Dave Perrott understand sight loss and everything that comes with it. “They go above and beyond in their role and offer orientation on the walk between the station to the classroom door. They continued with this until I had built a mental map of the route and with my cane eventually felt confident enough to walk the route independently. I felt liberated. “No two people travel the same sight loss path, there is a vast array of reasons why people suffer sight loss. But there is hope. Further learning is available and accessible to people like me. To know I’m working towards something is a huge deal – I will work again, just you watch me.” Read the full story and watch Natalie’s video on Humans of ESC.
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Escape Magazine
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.Escape plans
dates for the diary...
October
November
Thursday 10th October - WORLD SIGHT DAY World Sight Day (WSD) is an annual day of awareness held on the second Thursday of October, to focus global attention on blindness and vision impairment.
Tuesday 5th November - LEWES BONFIRE Blazing parades and bonfires. Lewes Bonfire celebrations are said to be the UK’s largest and most famous Bonfire Night festivities - well worth a visit!
Sat 12th- Sun 13th October - BATTLE OF HASTINGS RE-ENACTMENT, BATTLE ABBEY Witness the ferocity of a real-life medieval battle, as Norman and Saxon armies clash in the re-enactment of the 1066 Battle of Hastings.
Thursday 7th November - ESC LIVE - ORE VALLEY (4:30-7:30pm) Our second Open Event will be at our Ore Valley campus in Hastings. Come and find out more about our construction, IT, and Music subjects and take part in our #Fearless challenge. You can also talk to our current students, ask our tutors lots of questions, and find out what it’s really like to study with us.
Thursday 24th October - ESC LIVE - EASTBOURNE (4:30-7:30pm) We kick-off our Open Event season at our Eastbourne campus. Come and along and see our subjects come to life with our #Fearless activities. You’ll be able to talk to our current students, ask our tutors lots of questions, and find out what it’s like to study with us. Mon 28th Oct - Fri 1st Nov - HALF-TERM The end of your first term! Time to enjoy a little break and catch up with friends. Thursday 31st October - HALLOWE’EN Hallowe’en - a contraction of Hallows’ Even or Hallows’ Evening. We love eating sweets at this time of year, but traditionally, it begins the three-day observance of Allhallowtide - the time of year dedicated to remembering the dead.
December Thursday 5th December - ESC LIVE - LEWES (4:30-7:30pm) Another chance to visit our Lewes campus and find out what it’s like to study with us. There will still be lots for you to get involved with, and plenty of opportunities for you to ask our tutors lots of questions.
Wednesday 13th November - ESC LIVE - LEWES (4:30-7:30pm) Our third Open Event comes to Lewes. The perfect opportunity to find out more about our subjects and find out our secret to training the world’s best beauty therapists! Talk to our current students, ask our tutors lots of questions, and take part in our #Fearless challenges. Thursday 21st November - ESC LIVE STATION PLAZA (4:30-7:30pm) Join us at our Station Plaza campus in Hastings to find out more about our A-Level, Art, Hair & Beauty, Catering, and Sport subjects. Check out our #Fearless activities in the atrium, talk to our current students, and ask our tutors lots of questions. Tuesday 26th November - ESC LIVE - EASTBOURNE (4:30-7:30pm) Another chance for you to visit our Eastbourne campus and find out what it is like to study with us. If you missed the first event in October, then fear not, we still have lots for you to get involved with, and plenty of opportunities for you to ask our tutors lots of questions.
Tuesday 10th December - ESC LIVE STATION PLAZA (4:30-7:30pm) Our Open Events conclude in Hastings where you’ll have one last opportunity to find out if ESC is the college for you. Come and ask any remaining questions you have and take on the #Fearless challenge one more time! Thursday 19th December - END OF TERM! Have a great Christmas break. We’ll see you in 2020!
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.winter warmer Kings Restaurant have come up trumps agian with a recipe for this edition. This pork and bean stew is rich, warming, cheap and easy to prepare.
pork cassoulet serves 4
YOU WILL NEED: 1 large onion 4 garlic cloves 1 carrot Salt and pepper 400g chopped tomatoes 1 large glass red wine 400g haricot/cannellini beans 70g smoked bacon 250g pork shoulder chopped into chunks Kabanos or chorizo sausage cut into slices Chicken stock cube made up to 250ml 1 tablespoon chopped herbs – rosemary/thyme/sage 35g breadcrumbs – if eating tonight!
METHOD 1. If you have a cast iron casserole pot – use it now… otherwise a pan will be fine 2. Peel and chop the onion, carrot and garlic. Fry the vegetables in some oil until they start to colour 3. Add all the meats and continue stirring until the pork has sealed
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4. Once sealed, add the beans, herbs, wine, stock and tomatoes, ensure the cassoulet is completely covered and bring to the boil 5. Transfer to an ovenproof casserole dish if you need to and place in the oven at 160/gas mark 3 and cook for 1-1/12 hours
6. Check a couple of times to see if you need any additional water to keep it covered. Add the breadcrumbs and put under the grill or back in the oven until golden brown 7. If you are eating this dish tomorrow – add your breadcrumbs the following day when you reheat
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.COMPETITON TIME! WIN two tickets to see blood brothers Blood Brothers is Willy Russell’s legendary musical about twins separated at birth who grow up on opposite sides of the tracks, only to meet again with tragic consequences. It’s been dubbed the ‘Standing Ovation Musical’ because of the response It receives. The multi-award winning show surpassed 10,000 performances in London’s West End, one of only three musicals to have achieved that milestone. Blood Brothers has scooped four ‘Best Musical’ awards in London and seven Tony Award nominations on Broadway. This is your chance to see an unmissable musical in the refurbished Congress Theatre in Eastbourne’s Devonshire Quarter. For the chance to win a pair of top-priced tickets to the opening night on Tuesday 10th December at 7.30pm, tell us: How many Tony Award nominations has Blood Brothers received?
Email your answer to: escapecomps@sussexdowns.ac.uk with ‘Blood Brothers’ in the subject box. Don’t forget to leave your name and contact details. Issue #03
Closing date for entries: 30th November 2019
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