Today saw a very proud moment for staff and volunteers at South Tyneside CVS in South Shields as they were presented with their National Vocational qualifications by Neil Salt of TEAM Wearside Ltd.

During the summer of last year, South Tyneside CVS were contacted by Team Wearside and offered free accredited training for their office based staff and volunteers. “We jumped at this opportunity and thought not only would it be useful for the staff but as a way of saying thank you to some of our volunteers for all their contribution that they make to the organisation” said Allyson Stewart, Director of CVS.

TEAM Wearside Ltd, is a Sunderland based charity training provider and offers training and support to a range of individuals and businesses across the North East, through a wide range of funded and non-funded training programmes and projects.

The two courses were Customer Care and Business Administration at National Vocational Qualification (NVQ). The 5 candidates had to prove that they had the ability and competence to perform their day to day work to the required standard at their work place through assessment and training by their Train to Gain Assessor, Neil Salt.

Neil said: “I’ve only been working for the company since before Christmas, but in that time I’ve learned how CVS works and met a lot of great people. Presenting the certificates has been an honour for me today. The courses have given the staff and volunteers confidence and has enabled them to demonstrate the work that they have done and now they have a certificate to prove it.”

One very proud volunteer was Colin Flood who said: “I left school with very little qualifications, I went into heavy industry mainly coal mining and when the pits closed I went into the ship yards but then I experienced a few health problems so I was looking to change direction.

I started volunteering, doing reception duties for South Tyneside CVS and I got the chance of doing a business and admin qualification and I jumped at the chance and I now have secured a full time job, so it’s been very worthwhile.”
Commenting on TEAM Wearside, Allyson said: “TEAM Wearside have been very helpful, they have made regular visits and have supported the staff as much as they can and made sure they have been clear about the kind of information they have had to collect and generally have been very encouraging with them.”

The event ended with light refreshments and pastries, leaving everyone in high spirits especial Neil who said: ”It’s a great achievement for them to receive their certificates and that’s where I get my job satisfaction from, knowing that I’ve done something for them.”

Source: STCentral News