Stockport based training and apprenticeships provider, Damar Training, has celebrated its 40th anniversary.
The firm welcomed its first students in September 1980, beginning as a secretarial training college before growing into a national provider of apprenticeship training and recruitment.
When the firm was first founded, the average UK house price was £23,628, with the internet not available to the public for 11 years, and mobiles phones not for another five years. Damar Training no longer teaches shorthand, and has grown to offer apprenticeships in a wide range of business and professional skills from entry level right up to undergraduate and degree level. In 1980, all training took place in a classroom and all students had to travel to Stockport to learn. Now, nationally-based coaches work with apprentices across England. The coronavirus pandemic has shifted virtually all delivery online using a mix of virtual classrooms, 1:1 coaching sessions and other materials.
Damar Training Director, Johnathan Bourne commented:
40 years in business is a remarkable achievement. It is a privilege to lead a fantastic team that has changed over the years but whose reason for coming to work has stayed the same – it’s for our students and the organisations they work for to achieve their full potential.
“We are a national apprenticeship provider these days but will always be proud of our Stockport heritage and it always amazes me how many former Damar students there are in Stockport. In some cases we’ve had a second generation of apprentices from the same family and many former students are now in senior positions or running their own businesses.”
While in-person celebrations have been postponed until 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Damar Training team celebrated their milestone anniversary with cake and coffee via Zoom.
As part of their celebrations, the firm is looking to hear stories of former students from the early 1980s of how their career progressed, and to share advice for current students, who now, as then, are beginning their careers in a time of rising unemployment and recession.