Youth forms foundation of growth for Lavender
23/09/2011
Lavender International has taken a giant step into investing in the future. The company now has six members of staff under the age of 25. This is the new generation of ‘Lavenders’ coming through in all aspects of the business, from technical to marketing. “As a company, we plan to build on every aspect of development, experience and growth within the industry,” Co-Managing Director Steve Lavender told NDT News. “Each individual is working through the company’s ‘Life Long Learning’ programme, alongside a mentor from the highly-qualified and experienced staff at Lavender International.”
David Miller, who joined the company from school, has already completed Level 3 in magnetic and penetrant and is now continuing his studies in ultrasonics Level 3. He is working closely with Tim Armitt in advanced ultrasonics and is also completing the Foundation degree in NDT at the University of Northampton. David has already built up his air miles running courses in Canada and Abu Dhabi.
Rebecca Roberts has already achieved radiography Level 2 and is gradually gaining more experience within this area by running courses on a daily basis with mentoring from Phil Hall. She is working towards GCSE qualifications with Peter Oliver, the youngest member of the team at 17. He is developing well in his role as a technical assistant on magnetic and penetrant courses.
Sam Cunningham has recently joined after graduating from his Masters in environmental psychology.
Sam is working through his training, starting out in magnetic and penetrant under the direction of the Level 3 team. After gaining some work experience, he will eventually develop his role further into other fields and start to gain his qualifications in order to become a full-time lecturer.
Paul Lavender, a Master in performance analysis within sport, joined the family business over two years ago. He is continuing to gain experience in ultrasonics following on from his Level 2 qualification under the direction of David Lavender. He is hoping to be running courses in other countries in 2012.
Finally, Rachel McPeake has joined the admin team as a Marketing Assistant. She is working towards gaining a wider knowledge of the industry by coordinating all marketing activities, promotional events and items, roadshows, exhibitions, social networking, advertising and press releases.
The Directors are encouraged by the influx of young people within the business and are said to be overwhelmed by the progress they have made in the past year. With new opportunities arising in the UK, and in the USA and Australia, it has created an exciting atmosphere within the company and given the young team high ambitions. Lavender International is celebrating its 35th anniversary, is generating a positive outlook for the next 35 years and looks to be ensuring that the Lavender name will continue in NDT for many years to come.
www.lavender-ndt.com
