Today I was at the launch of the Jobs, Skills and Futures Strategy at Eton Manor where I was presented with a graduation certificate by John Armitt, Tessa Jowell and Jean Tomlin (Director of HR, London Organising Committe of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games).
I’d been working as a plasterer when a friend who worked in construction said he might be able to help me get a job labouring on the Olympic Park site. Plastering work was a bit on and off so I was keen to try construction as I wanted to get more regular work and learn something new.
Me, far right, on site with John Armitt and Tessa Jowell:
I had already completed my CSCS card and I started work in October 2007 as a labourer on the Olympic Park site. My jobs have included looking after the canteen and general site cleaning up duties.
I was then contacted by an adviser from 'Hackney On Site' in my borough which links people to London 2012 construction job opportunities. They told me about the training opportunities at the Eton Manor plant training centre and put me on a Slinger Signaller (Banksman) course.
I took leave from my job to go on the four-day course, where I learned what hand signals to use to relay crane movement to a crane driver moving heavy materials. I hope that I can move forward from labouring and start to work as a banksman soon.
As a former 200m and 400m track champion at my high school in Jamaica, which has produced some top sprinters in recent years, I will be keeping a keen eye on the sporting action when the Games arrive in 2012. It would be good to keep working on something as big as the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, right near my home.
