00:00:03 My name's Victoria Whitbread, and I’m a Contract Controller. I'm on the telephone all day and I receive calls from builders’ merchants, architects, people after budget prices for projects based in London for our hard landscaping materials. My position is to pass anything really under a hundred grand. I mean I'm still involved, if it goes over a hundred grand then it goes to the Major Projects Team.
00:01:25 I wasn't – wasn’t very good at school really. Don’t know if I can say, but I didn’t really attend for about a year, I used to skive off a lot, and get into a bit of trouble. Luckily I had a fantastic group of friends, who I'm still friends with now, that – when I was at school and I was going through my bad times they did stick by me, I didn’t necessarily hang around with them, because I was into, you know, getting into trouble and, you know, fighting and mischievous things. But they were always there for me and eventually, you know, I decided I didn’t want to hang around with the troublemakers any more, and I wanted to be with my real friends, the people that didn’t pressure me and didn’t, you know, not support me, and that wanted to know me as me, instead of just using me as like a scapegoat really. And in like the last year and a half, a lot of teachers gave me a lot of support and I managed to catch up with all – a lot of me GCSE work and took me GCSEs and managed to pass the majority of them anyway so, you know, just got the support from everybody that I needed, so something which I thought I was failing in, it actually turned out that I did pretty well out of. So you know there is light at the end of the tunnel as such.
00:02:03 I did go to college for a year to do a Diploma on Child Care, but after a year I just, you know, wanted to get a job, get a bit of money because, you know, I was fed up of being skint. I heard about – there was a position free here, so I sent in my application, and I was a bit wary because I didn’t have, you know, fantastic qualifications, and hadn’t done anything like this before within the sales office but, you know, they gave me the benefit of the doubt, and I you know seemed to do pretty well in me interview, and got the job. And the support from everybody was amazing, you know, I was really pleased, really proud of myself that, you know, I’d got somewhere, managed to get a good job. And you know my family were proud of me, me friends were proud of me and, you know, it’s just a relief really that I've managed to do something with my life.
00:03:00 If you told fifteen year-old me that I’d be here I’d probably laugh at you, and say - no! But I'm glad that I am here now so - and I think, you know, it’s – I’ve kind of - I hope to inspire other people that think that they’re lacking at school and there’s no way out, but there definitely is, you can move on up.
00:03:25 I’d hope to see myself in five years’ time maybe managing the - possibly the sales office, or even being out on the road. I’d like to progress from where I am at the moment, move on up and, you know, see where I go from there really. Only time will tell.
ENDS
Vicky Whitbread
Vicky Whitbread
My name's Victoria Whitbread, and I’m a Contract Controller. I'm on the telephone all day and I receive calls from builders’ merchants, architects, people after budget prices for projects based in London for our hard landscaping materials. My position is to pass anything really under a hundred grand. I mean I'm still involved, if it goes over a hundred grand then it goes to the Major Projects Team.
I wasn't – wasn’t very good at school really. Don’t know if I can say, but I didn’t really attend for about a year, I used to skive off a lot, and get into a bit of trouble. Luckily I had a fantastic group of friends, who I'm still friends with now, that – when I was at school and I was going through my bad times they did stick by me, I didn’t necessarily hang around with them, because I was into, you know, getting into trouble and, you know, fighting and mischievous things. But they were always there for me and eventually, you know, I decided I didn’t want to hang around with the troublemakers any more, and I wanted to be with my real friends, the people that didn’t pressure me and didn’t, you know, not support me, and that wanted to know me as me, instead of just using me as like a scapegoat really. And in like the last year and a half, a lot of teachers gave me a lot of support and I managed to catch up with all – a lot of me GCSE work and took me GCSEs and managed to pass the majority of them anyway so, you know, just got the support from everybody that I needed, so something which I thought I was failing in, it actually turned out that I did pretty well out of. So you know there is light at the end of the tunnel as such.
I did go to college for a year to do a Diploma on Child Care, but after a year I just, you know, wanted to get a job, get a bit of money because, you know, I was fed up of being skint. I heard about – there was a position free here, so I sent in my application, and I was a bit wary because I didn’t have, you know, fantastic qualifications, and hadn’t done anything like this before within the sales office but, you know, they gave me the benefit of the doubt, and I you know seemed to do pretty well in me interview, and got the job. And the support from everybody was amazing, you know, I was really pleased, really proud of myself that, you know, I’d got somewhere, managed to get a good job. And you know my family were proud of me, me friends were proud of me and, you know, it’s just a relief really that I've managed to do something with my life.
If you told fifteen year-old me that I’d be here I’d probably laugh at you, and say - no! But I'm glad that I am here now so - and I think, you know, it’s – I’ve kind of - I hope to inspire other people that think that they’re lacking at school and there’s no way out, but there definitely is, you can move on up.
I’d hope to see myself in five years’ time maybe managing the - possibly the sales office, or even being out on the road. I’d like to progress from where I am at the moment, move on up and, you know, see where I go from there really. Only time will tell.
ENDS
Vicky Whitbread is a Credit Controller for Aggregate Industries. She spends a lot of time on the telephone talking to the company's clients. She had some bad times at school, but got through them with the help of her friends and teachers. Her friends and family are proud that she's got a good job now.
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