As a team of trainers, we don’t often shout from the rooftops about our backgrounds out-with the First Aid Training Co-operative. You might get told at booking that we will match you to the most appropriate trainer, or you may happen to stumble across one of us at a community or industry event. Our growing team of trainers, made up of specialists in paramedicine, education, outdoor activities, land management and a great array or other descriptors, has a real star in our number.
We are talking about our very own Ann McKillop who this week was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Scottish Countryside Ranger Association. For those of you who don’t know Ann she started her career back in 19somethingorother and has worked in some of the most notable Ranger Services in the country during her career. She has gained skills in education, land management, forestry, working with volunteers, vulnerable people and on large scale events.
“Ann is still held in the highest regard by our Association and with her decades long commitment to SCRA sets a great example for other Rangers to follow.”
John Mayhew – Chair of the Scottish Countryside Ranger Association
The award was presented to Ann by the president and chair of the Scottish Countryside Rangers Association at last week’s biannual gathering of Countryside Rangers from across Scotland. An event to share best practice and encourage innovation within the career field.
The role of a Countryside Ranger is one that is hard to summarise but one of the best descriptions I am aware of is that we are “the interface between people and landscape”. A big part of this is public safety and this is what led Ann to build on her existing experience and become a first aid trainer with us here at the First Aid Training Co-operative.
We believe that relevant experience is so important to our courses and that our clients appreciate not only having a trainer that knows first aid but a trainer that knows their industry and the specific challenges that can be faced. As a team we are proud to have Ann among our number and I’m sure we can all say we have benefited from her years of expertise. Especially the time she pulled out the chainsaw in a team meeting, a sight not soon forgotten!
We hope you can indulge us with this little moment of celebration for a lifetime of achievement for our very own Ann. And do congratulate her if you run in to her at one of our courses or at a lifeboat station, conservation volunteering project, musical recital, wildlife rescue centre or Gaelic lesson, at the marina on her boat, – seriously we don’t know how she fits it all in!
Well done Ann from all of us at FATC!
