Heather Green is director of Greater Manchester SkillCentre. She began her career in education in schools in Manchester supporting pupils with special needs. She later became a lecturer on early years. She has worked in the skills sector with apprentices since 1993.
Why is she in the news?
Tory leader David Cameron visited the SkillCentre last week - he was in Manchester for the party conference - and she had the opportunity to tell him her views on the sector. He was given a 45- minute tour. “I was impressed because he spent just as much time with the students when the cameras weren’t around,” Ms Green said afterwards.
Did she tell him what’s what?
“I made all the points I had wanted to get across to him. I spoke about the different needs in the skills and training sector. The current funding mechanisms are not appropriate. The situation is complex and the Government needs to find a way to cope and fund all the streams within it.”
Did they hit it off?
“I found him knowledgeable, interested and very keen to listen. He spoke to a lot of our students and made them feel special. One boy was pictured with Mr Cameron in the national press. It was his first day and within 20 minutes he had met the potential new prime minister.”
Stuart Reddrop
Who is he?
A British teacher who moved from Portishead, near Bristol, to New Zealand this year.
Why is he in the news?
He was on holiday on Savaii, one of the Samoan islands of the South Pacific, when it was hit by the recent tsunami. He was at the ferry terminal waiting to catch a boat to another island, Upolu, which was in the worst-affected area.
He must have been a little concerned?
He told the Clevedon Mercury: “A fire engine came screaming round the corner telling everyone to run. We started running even though we didn’t know what we were running from.”
Presumably he counts himself fortunate?
You can say that again. “The resorts that we had been booked into, Namua and Taufua, had been totally destroyed with many deaths,” he reports. “We felt lucky as we had been heading to Lalomanu on the south-west coast of Upolu that day and it was that area that had taken most of the punishment.”
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