It's been an exciting few days for everyone associated with New College Stamford. We had cause for a double celebration today when the College received the prestigious AoC Beacon Award for our excellent school partnerships and opened our superbly equipped Ryhall Rd Construction Training Facility.

Our special day saw local and regional business "movers and shakers" in attendance and was opened by John Milner, Principal Director AQA, the UK's largest Awarding Body for A-levels, GCSEs and other qualifications. John set the scene with an entertaining presentation that highlighted the importance of the UK Skills Agenda in the current challenging global arena. John was complemented by the words of the AoC East Midlands' Chief Executive Jennie Gardiner who went on to explain the significance of College's contribution to skills and the economy. Jennie was most complimentary about the new facilities at New College Stamford and was keen to point out that vocational training should be seen as viable option for any learner.

The day was ended with a bang from Bill Newton Dunn, MEP for the East Midlands. (He pressed the button for our eco-fireworks!) Bill also made some interesting and valid points and one stood out more than most. Bill had recently visited Silicon Valley in California. For those of you who don't know Silicon Valley is the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area and originally referred to the region's large number of silicon chip innovators and manufacturers, but eventually came to refer to all the high-tech businesses in the area. Despite the development of other high-tech economic centers throughout the United States, Silicon Valley continues to be the leading high-tech hub because of its large number of engineers and venture capitalists.

Anyway, Bill was curious as to what made Silicon Valley so appealing...aside from the warmth of San Francisco sunshine he pondered "why had the region become so special?" The answer he discovered was quite simple...San Francisco had become a centre of specialist knowledge and skills. Bill then asked why couldn't Lincolnshire...or anywhere else for that matter...become a "Valley" type environment? Okay, Lincolnshire is universally flat and Valleys are few and far between but there is no reason why we cannot collectively create the knowledge and skills that a successful economy craves.

It is the provision of dedicated resources and facilities to create such a "Skills Centre" that drives all those associated with New College Stamford. It's not just the provision of retraining opportunities that motivates us either. It's true that learning new skills and retraining can lead to a refreshing career change, but it's also important to realise that employees with transferrable skills are often seen as the biggest assets to employers. A small investment in learning new skills will make you better prepared to tackle any eventuality, particularly in a tough economic climate...so why not give it a try?