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1 AoC Gold Awards
1 AoC Gold Awards
Every year, the AoC Charitable Trust invites Colleges to nominate former students who since leaving have gone on to excel in their chosen field or profession. These nominations are considered by a selection panel and a maximum of six alumni are selected each year to receive an AoC Gold Award.
The AoC Gold Awards not only serve to recognise the achievements of the former student, but they also demonstrate the impact that their former College has had on their lives, either in terms of giving them the qualifications needed to pursue their career or the confidence to continue with further study.
This year’s AoC Gold Award winners will be presented with their awards at a reception at the House of Commons on Thursday 4 June by Giles Long MBE, President of the AoC Charitable Trust. The winners this year are as follows:
Balbir Panesar is the Founder and Managing Director of PEC Building Services and President of the Bradford Chamber of Commerce. Balbir was nominated for his Award by Bradford College.
Balbir’s family came to England from India in the 1960s. After leaving school aged 16, Balbir started training in electrical installation at Bradford Technical College whilst working as an apprentice electrician with John Peirson Ltd. After qualifying and working for Peirsons for the next 10 years, Balbir felt he had gone as far as he could in the company, so he decided to strike out on his own.
A word-of-mouth contact introduced Balbir to the office supplier ‘Staples’ who were looking to give a contract for more than just electrical work. Balbir decided to take a risk and quote for all of the work they required and brought in other people with joinery and decorating skills. The jobs went well and over the next five years they fitted out 30 new stores. This business became PEC Building Services.
PEC Building Services has grown from a sole operation into a successful shop-fitting and construction company that refits, refurbishes and builds from scratch throughout the country with a major client list including Magnet, Homebase, Kwik-Fit and local councils. PEC employs around 100 staff and turns over some £7m a year.
In July 2007, Balbir became Bradford Chamber of Commerce’s first Asian President. He is committed to the city and its people. He also supports Bradford College at many events and recently was a guest speaker at the official opening of the new Trinity Green Campus, a centre for training apprentices for the construction industry.
Brockenhurst College nominated Kate Royal for her Gold Award, where she studied A Levels in Theoretical Music, Practical Music and Theatre Studies before going on to study at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and the National Opera Studio.
Kate started attracting notice as an opera singer in 2004 as an understudy for the role of Pamina in Mozart’s Die Zauberflote at the Glyndebourne Festival Opera when she was substitute for the lead performer in one performance. With Glyndebourne on Tour, Kate has sung the Countess in Le Bozze di Figaro and she has performed in recital with the pianists Graham Johnson and Roger Vignoles. In 2004 Kate was awarded both the Kathleen Ferrier Award and the John Christie Award.
In 2006 with Glyndebourne on Tour, Kate sang The Governess in Benjamin Britten’s ‘The Turn of the Screw’. Later the same year, she signed a recording contract with EMI Classics and her first disc of songs and arias was released in September 2007.
Kate has always acknowledged the support and encouragement that Brockenhurst College gave her throughout her A-Level studies which helped to drive her ambition further.
James Thomson OBE was nominated for his Gold Award by Edinburgh’s Telford College where he studied a fulltime Ordinary National Diploma in Catering and Hotel Keeping between 1976 and 1978.
Straight out of College, James established the Witchery which quickly became Edinburgh’s best-known restaurant; developing a world-wide reputation for exceptional food, wine and service within the most unique and atmospheric of settings.
Business excellence has always been high on James’ agenda and he works hard to demonstrate that quality in hospitality and tourism business are key areas in a thriving Scottish economy. A recent Company of the Year winner, his leadership saw the Witchery become the first independent restaurant to achieve Investors in People status in Scotland and has been highly commended by the Quality Scotland Awards for Business Excellence.
In 1999, James endowed Edinburgh’s Telford College with the James Thomson Award for Outstanding Customer Service that recognises and financially assists a student who has shown outstanding commitment to excellence in customer service during their studies at the College. James also takes part in the sponsorship of an annual exchange trip between Edinburgh students and the Francois Rabelais College in Lyon, giving up to 20 students and lecturers hands-on experience in Michelin-starred restaurants in France’s culinary capital.
James has been awarded many accolades including a Hospital Industry Achievement Award, the coveted Silver Thistle and in 2005 he was recognised with an OBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List for services to the Hospitality and the Scottish Tourism Industry.
The next recipient of the AoC Gold Awards is Jeff Danchie, a professional basketball player, playing for the PAWS London Capital in the British Basketball League. Jeff was nominated for his award by Hackney Community College.
Jeff Danchie attended the College in 2004 where he took part in its Basketball Academy alongside his main programme of study: a BTEC in art and design. The sports academies at Hackney Community College are designed to be open to anyone, regardless of their course, and are often the ‘hook’ for people to enrol and return to further education and achieve a qualification.
The disciplined College Academy programme training alongside his art and design study gave Jeff a focus in life that he didn’t know he had. He excelled in the Academy and took part in national tournaments, contributing significantly to the success of the College team of 2004.
Jeff left the College with his qualification and an ambition to go further with his basketball. He was signed by Hackney White Heat basketball league and was soon snapped up by the British Basketball League pro team, the Plymouth Raiders. As well as being a star player, he also volunteered to be released from the team to coach children’s summer schools.
In 2008 he approached the College to ask if he could ‘put something back’. Jeff’s time at Hackney not only honed his basketball skills for him to achieve at professional level; it also motivated him to support others with disadvantaged backgrounds to make the most of their education. He is now the College's part-time FE Sports co-ordinator, with the remit of widening participation.
Christine Walkden is a professional plantswoman, horticulturalist, TV presenter, author and lecturer who was nominated for her award by Myserscough College, formerly Lancashire College of Agriculture and Horticulture.
Christine first discovered her passion for plants at the age of 10 when she took up her first allotment, growing vegetables and flowers which she sold to teachers and friends. Following her first job with her local Parks Department, Christine enrolled to study horticulture at Myerscough College between 1975 and 1980.
Christine’s tutors remember her as an extremely conscientious and diligent student, researching every detail and always eager to develop her knowledge and subject understanding. She achieved her diploma at Myerscough and her College education was to help formulate her successful career.
Christine’s impressive CV includes working at Kew Gardens and for a number of major retail and technical companies. She has become a popular household name for her work as an author and writer, broadcaster and presenter, lecturer and adviser. Her passion for her subject was clearly demonstrated when over 3 million viewers watched her first BBC series, “Christine’s Garden”. Her second series was equally successful and following on from this she has been asked to be the resident gardener for BBC1s, the ONE Show, and will be making 10 short films for it in 2009.
Finally, Ozwald Boateng OBE, a leading British tailor and bespoke couturier, was nominated for his Award by Southgate College where he studied between 1984 and 1986.
Ozwald started at the College on a course in computer studies, but soon switched to fashion design. The fashion design course not only enabled him to learn techniques, but more importantly, how to challenge traditional and existing thoughts and practices and focus on the need for inspiration.
While studying at the College, he used his mother’s old sewing machine and started designing and making clothes for his fellow students. At sixteen, he sold his first collection to a menswear shop in Covent Garden and by the time he was twenty-three, he had set himself up in fulltime business.
Keen to learn the best of traditional tailoring, he would find out who best stitched buttonholes, who set sleeves the best way, who made the best linings and so on, at the same time developing his own style and look.
Ozwald sees himself as more than a tailor and more than a designer, so he coined the term, “bespoke couturier”. He was the first Savile Row designer to open an American store and now plans to have stores in Moscow, Dubai and the Middle East.
Ozwald is widely credited with introducing Savile Row tailoring to a new generation. The first tailor to stage a catwalk show in Paris, Boateng’s many clients include Laurence Fishburne, Samuel L Jackson, Keanu Reeves and Mick Jagger.
He has won numerous awards including Best Male Designer in 1996 and 2002, Top Menswear Designer in 2000, the OBE for services to the clothing industry in 2006 and Fashion Personality of the Year 2008. His College rightly says that he is now the leading black British tailor and at the forefront of British design. He is a major role model for its learners of all heritage types.
Nominations for the AoC Gold Awards 2010 will be accepted up until Friday 18 December 2009.
Nomination information for the AoC Gold Awards
Queries and comments
If there are any general queries or comments about the AoC Gold Awards, please email the Manager of the AoC Charitable Trust, Alice Thiagaraj.