voco St. David’s, Cardiff has proudly lent their support to us by opening its doors and extending its superb hosting to over 130 young people from schools in the Welsh capital, at a ‘Springboard Takeover Day’.

The Springboard Takeover Day, sponsored by voco St. David’s, Cardiff, took place on Monday 23^rd October 2023. Konstantin Grimm, General Manager, voco St. David’s, Cardiff, welcomed pupils from five local secondary schools – Stanwell School and Sixth Form, Penarth; Cathays High School, Cardiff; Cardiff West Community High School; Fitzalan High School and Sixth Form, Cardiff and Corpus Christi Catholic High School, Cardiff;– to the event, devoted to the magnificent sector that is, hospitality.

Having been greeted by Konstantin and Springboard Ambassadors, students enjoyed a talk from Chris Ireland, Director of Operations UK&I, IHG Hotels & Resorts. Then, alongside other senior representatives from IHG (Gail Bagley, Human Resources Director UK&I; Kirsty Hart, Vice President, Human Resources UK&I; and Lindsey Wakeley, Human Resources Business Partner, South), pupils experienced a dedicated programme of carefully curated 30-minute workshops, as Konstantin explains:

“It’s a real privilege to support Springboard by sponsoring and hosting such a fantastic event here at voco St. David’s, Cardiff. Springboard supports the hospitality, leisure and tourism industries; working with education establishments to help them deliver industry insight and skills development to students as they transition into employment. The Springboard Takeover Day presents young people – the future stars of our industry – with an opportunity to get a feel for the hospitality sector. A special sector, and one that the team here in Cardiff absolutely loves being a part of! With a programme of activities aimed at encouraging students to consider a career in such a fabulous industry, the workshops allowed pupils to experience, in a hands-on manner, how it feels to be a hospitality professional. We’ve been able to show them the variety of roles available, and allow them to gain insight into a diverse range of career opportunities, which they may have been unaware of previously.”

Led by heads of department from voco St. David’s, Cardiff, the skills workshops included laying a dinner table for service and boxing a tablecloth; towel artistry (Housekeeping); hand massage techniques (Spa), marketing (Marketing); pancake making (Kitchen); and mocktail making (Food and Beverage).

Held across the hotel’s Roald Dahl and Dylan Thomas suites, voco St. David’s, Cardiff also provided participants of the Springboard Takeover Day with a delicious lunch – a real treat for students, giving them an insight into the culinary experience provided by the hotel to guests enjoying its Tir a Môr restaurant.

The day concluded with the ‘Rising Star’ awards, which saw certificates and goodie bags awarded to winners from each of the workshop groups. A fantastic way of recognising the incredible talent of the young people who may decide to join the industry!

Speaking about the day, Rebecca Slade, Careers, Education & Employability Programme Delivery Manager, Springboard, comments:

“The Springboard Charity was set up over 30 years ago and our mission is to futureproof the talent pipeline for hospitality by giving young and unemployed people the skills and confidence to launch their careers in the industry. We are absolutely delighted that voco St. David’s, Cardiff was keen to support our vision and host our Takeover Day today. What an incredible opportunity for these local schoolchildren to have an insight into jobs within hospitality. We hope that many will have been inspired today to start their hospitality career path.”

To find out more about voco St. David’s, Cardiff please visit stdavids.vocohotels.com or call +44(0)292 045 4045