The motor vehicle department at East Coast College, has just received two new diesel engines and two new gear boxes originating from General Motors Vauxhall.
The donation was arranged by Trevor Edwards, Great Yarmouth Business Connector for Business in the Community, the Prince of Wales’ second largest charity in the UK. Trever works alongside local businesses, encouraging them to be socially responsible and come alongside charities, areas of education, employment and enterprise to help raise the town’s status and provide opportunities within the borough of Great Yarmouth.
Trevor heard that Vauxhall had thirty-four engines to donate nationally. With confirmation from East Coast College that these would be beneficial for students, Trevor put in a bid and secured four engines, two for the Great Yarmouth Campus and two for the Lowestoft Campus. The engines and the additional donation of two gearboxes were distributed to the Thurlow Nunn, the Great Yarmouth Vauxhall dealer, and the College picked them up from there.
“Now that this relationship between Vauxhall and the College has been established, they can hope to receive further equipment and ongoing support” said Trevor.
“The engines are an essential resource for training and assessments. Students would not have previously had access to such up to date technology. The engines were test engines and would have been scrapped if they weren’t donated to us” said Les Holden, Programme Area Leader for Engineering at East Coast College.
Dax Harding, General Manager and Colin Gardiner, Parts Manager from Thurlow Nunn came into the College to speak to the students and secure ongoing support.
Students in the motor vehicle department at East Coast College have been further equipped for industry with twenty brand new Snap-on toolkits.
The Snap-on Industrial “Excellence in Education” Programme has enabled the full time students from engineering to purchase heavily discounted toolkits through an innovative pay-as-you-go scheme where the College contributes half of the total cost. The toolkits contain the most commonly used items for any engineering role: from socket sets to spanners; from screwdrivers to pliers. As most employers require new starters to bring their own tools to work, these toolkits could be a lifeline for the future employment of the students in such competitive industries and could make all the difference in recruitment situations. Each toolbox has a plaque with the owner’s name engraved on it. If any of the tools break through normal use, they are guaranteed to be exchanged free of charge for brand new replacements at any time in the future.
“Students benefitted from the scheme last year so it’s something we have decided to do each year. Working in partnership with industry is key to the future success of the College and the future of all our students” said Les Holden, Programme Area Leader for Engineering at East Coast College.
It’s not too late to apply to join East Coast College. Contact 0800 854 695 or www.eastcoast.ac.uk for further details.