Welcome to the FBU Region 1 homepage

The journey began in region 1 in April 2003. A successful funding bid from the Scottish union learning fund led to a pilot project in two of the eight brigades in Scotland. Fife Fire & Rescue and Lothian & Borders were chosen and from the beginning the partnership with the brigade managements worked very well, agreeing to two full time secondments.

It would be fair to say that our expectations were exceeded when the project evaluation showed that we had recruited and trained 23 ULRs, carried out 130 presentations reaching over 1500 members of staff and brought over 200 new learners back into Life Long Learning doing subjects such as Spanish, Sign, Map and compass reading, ECDL, fork lift truck operation and deaf awareness training.

The success of the pilot ensured a second successful bid for funding, which was used to role out the life long learning agenda to all the Brigades in Scotland up to March 2006. We then submitted and were successful in achieving a further bid up to March 2008

The management team of Jock Munro, assisted by Chris Williams and Martin Scott (treasurer) with co-ordinators in L&B, Grampian, Tayside and Strathclyde, Fife, Highlands and Islands, Central and Dumfries and Galloway who have negotiated very fair TU leave arrangements, There are now approaching 80 trained ULRs and more on the way. The co-ordinators have delivered hundreds of presentations to over 3000 employees, and carried out learning needs surveys involving nearly 4000.

On the learning delivery side we now have around 500 new learners, who have accessed various types of learning including, Spanish, French, Sign, mountaineering, dyslexia awareness, health & safety, book keeping, health and hygiene, nutrition, adult literacy’s and core skills. On the IT side we have employees accessing many different types of learning from basic and introductory to advanced including ECDL. We have also delivered IT leaning through taster sessions using learning buses and internet cafes(perfect for the more remote locations) which we try to involve the wider community again showing how the partnership can be mutually beneficial.

It has to be said that much of the success so far in Scotland is due to the way that the partnerships between ourselves and the Fire Services management have evolved. From the beginning all the chief officers have adopted a very progressive and supportive role both financially and practically, and we will continue working together to deliver a Life long Learning culture in the Scottish Fire and Rescue Services.

This project deserves your support, if you would like to volunteer to be your workplace ‘Learning Rep’ then contact me.

SULF Project Manager

Jock Munro

Tel:

Mob: 07917363906

ulf01@fbu.org.uk

Brigade Lifelong Learning co-ordinators

Central - Stephen Reid

Dumfries & Galloway - Craig McGoldrick

Fife - Susan Morrison

Grampian - Chris Williams

Highlands & Islands - Scott McBride

Lothian & Borders - Billy Mackenzie / John Bernklow

Strathclyde - Pat Hampsey

Tayside - Charlie Kidd