westworld - corrected 150617

ISSUE 7, June 2017
WestWorld
Staff Newspaper of West College Scotland
SAY HELLO TO
but before that turn to the back page for our summer quiz
What have you been
up to this year?
turn to page 4
GRADUATION
ALL STAFF EVENT
In this edition...
ON CAMPUS
Learn about what’s George up to after
retiring from forty years in education –
page 2
Sign up to the Staff Association for just
£1 per month – page 2
Find out how you can support a smokefree
WCS – page 2
Read some of your colleagues’ tribute
to Grace, who will be deeply missed by
all – page 3
STAFF ACHIEVEMENT
Liz is rolling up her sleeves to help build
a school in Nepal – page 3
KNOW YOUR COLLEAGUES
You’ve been doing a lot this year! Have a
look back through pictures – pages 4 & 5
Guess the baby picture game - WestWorld
reveals who’s who – page 7
SUMMER FEATURE
How prepared are you for our Scottish
Summer? Take the quiz – page 8
CONTACT US
westworld@wcs.ac.uk
Steve has contributed to an academic
tome and it’s much more intriguing than
it sounds – page 6
BHF FUNDRAISER
Lorna could well be a contestant or even
a judge in the next Great British Bakeoff
– page 6

02 WESTWORLD JUNE 2017 03
Happy Retirement, George
He is one of the best kent faces at West
College Scotland but after forty years in
education, George Johnson, Director of
Technology and Innovation, is logging out
of Moodle, taking off his virtual reality
goggles and hanging up his headphones.
Yes, George is retiring… but only after a fashion! While
he’s picking up his pension, George plans to hike around
round Mont Blanc, re-climb his favourite Munros (he’s
already bagged all 282) and continue his fiddle lessons.
That’s not to mention finishing an Arts & Music Open
University degree, joining a bridge club and going on a
Rhine cruise with his wife, Dorothy.
On top of all that – and quite typically – George wants
to give something back, so he’s volunteered to tutor
maths to school children in West Dunbartonshire.
George’s teaching career began when he volunteered
to work with children for three years in Papua New
Guinea. On his return he embarked on his professional
teaching career at a secondary school in Glasgow’s
east end before moving on to FE where he taught
maths and physics at the-then Langside College.
“I know some people will find it hard to believe but
when I started work it was unthinkable that you could
have a computer in school or college classroom.”
So how did George’s career take off in the direction it
did? “I’d always been keen to try out new things and
when I was at Langside, we managed to get hold of
one of the first BBC computers. We used it to help take
measures and do calculations during physics experiments”,
explains George. “It was the first time we introduced
computers into teaching at the College!”
From those modest beginnings, George went on to set up
Langside’s first computing department. In 1999 he joined
Reid Kerr College in Paisley as Head of Computing. George
remembers those early years with excitement and a sense
of achievement.
“Reid Kerr was in pretty poor financial health and undergoing
a complete restructuring. Audrey Cumberford joined about
the same time as Head of Student Services. As part of the
management team, we were involved in putting the College
back on track.
“Seeing staff morale improve was very satisfying. Don’t
get me wrong, not everything we did was great. We made
mistakes. I remember one summer we had the bright idea
of demolishing all the walls in the Computing Department
to create a huge open space so that different classes could
be taught at the same time. It was madness! Nobody could
hear a thing! Needless to say, the walls went back up pronto!
“When merger came along, I was happy to be appointed
Director of Technology & Innovation. For me, that’s the fun
bit. Poor old David Black got IT - the serious bit”, jokes George.
We know George will miss the College but the College and
his many friends in Paisley, Clydebank and Greenock will
miss him more. Everyone wishes George a long and happy
retirement and looks forward to postcards (or Instagram
posts) from Ben Nevis, Switzerland, Cologne, as well as the
Glasgow Bridge Club!
In memory of Grace
Last month, we learned with
great sadness of the death of
Grace McMillan.
Grace died suddenly at home at the age of 61.
Her death came as a terrible shock to colleagues
and friends in the Paisley Catering team as well
as to everyone in the College who knew her.
Grace had run the coffee pod in Paisley for 13
years, travelling daily from her home in Greenock.
She was one of the College’s great characters
who treated the Principal the same as the
newest student. Here, Audrey and others pay
their tributes to a good friend and colleague.
When Grace found out my dad was
from Greenock she pretty much
adopted me, which it turns out was a
good deal for yours truly. Grace was never
too busy to hear a wee story, listen to a
moan or to offer stiff advice along with a
coffee. And she made damn fine coffee,
and we all know she had the best banter,
but for me it was her compassion and
empathy that made her a central figure
on the Paisley Campus, if not the central
figure (sorry, Audrey). She will not just be
missed; she will be mourned
Ronald Roberts
Grace was one in a million, she
had a no nonsense approach to
life and didn’t matter if you were a member
of staff or a student everyone got a hello
and a “How are you?” She was caring,
humorous, sharp and never afraid to share
her views with anyone. We will all miss
Grace very much as the person who made
our day brighter with a smile and
a few wise words
Liz Howard
Grace always took great pride in
her role. Over the years she didn’t
tire of telling me how much she loved her
job and loved working at the College. She
engaged enthusiastically with everyone
she met – students, staff and visitors alike.
She was a wonderful ambassador for
the College. I am sure those of you who
knew her would agree she was one of
our memorable personalities. Apparently
she had a nickname for everyone. I found
out mine when I noticed that the lid of
my coffee cup had ‘wee yin’ written on
it when she was preparing a large order.
We also debated on a regular basis if
you ‘went down to Greenock’ or ‘up to
Greenock’. Grace was one of the few
people I have ever met in a college who
complained about the length of the
holidays – she thought they were too long.
She liked being at work and being busy and
the summer weeks were just a bit
too long away from her students.
Audrey Cumberford
Grace will be missed by all and, following
requests from a number of staff and
students, a collection was organised with the
assistance of the College. The College and
Grace’s family would like to thank everybody
who contributed.
Get involved
CONTACT US
staffassociation@wcs.ac.uk
Sign up to the
Staff Association
for just £1 per
month!
West College
Scotland’s Staff
Association is
run by a team
of volunteering
WCS staff for all
WCS staff, and
aims at providing
its members
with leisure and
team bonding
activities.
Join the Staff
Association
for just £1 per
month and get
the opportunity
to take part
in fun events
throughout the
year!
Support a
smoke-free WCS
The countdown to West College Scotland becoming
smoke free has begun, but we can’t do this ourselves.
We are calling on all staff to support and encourage a
smoke free zone from 1 August - we all need to play our
part in encouraging a smoke free environment for it to be a
success!
If you didn’t manage to make it along to one of the
information sessions we hosted in April, there is some
guidance on what to expect when we clean the air in August
– just log onto the intranet for more information.
STAFF ACHIEVEMENT
Liz helps fight extreme
poverty, brick by brick
Not content with building the College’s
reputation as one of the top
educational institutions in Scotland,
Vice Principal Corporate Development
Liz Connolly is now rolling up her sleeves
to help build a classroom in Nepal!
Liz is a committed and active supporter of
charities which help children in some ofthe most
deprived areas of the world. In the very first
edition of WestWorld, we told you how Liz and
other colleagues did the ‘Live below the line
challenge’. They lived on a fiver for five days,
helping to raise awareness of the 1.4 billion people
who live on this budget every day.
Liz will fly to Nepal in October as part of an Action
Aid project. She explains what she’ll do when she
gets there:
“I’ll be helping to a classroom block at Bani
Bilas school in the village of Chapaguan in the
Kathmandu Valley. Following the catastrophic
earthquakes in 2015, 7,500 schools were
damaged or destroyed, resulting in more than
one million children being left without access to
a safe place to learn. This
has meant that children are
exposed to dangers such as
child labour and trafficking,
which is already an issue in
Nepal.”
This is the third Action Aid
project Liz has volunteered
for, having worked build a
community centre in South
Africa and a library in Cambodia.
Liz passionate in her belief that education is a way
out of poverty for children in extreme poverty
and that building schools today will give them a
brighter future.
If you would like to support Liz, please visit:
www.justgiving.com/fundraising/
LizConnolly2
or scan the QR code above.

04 WESTWORLD JUNE 2017 05
KNOW YOUR COLLEAGUES
What have we been up to this year?
1
1. Audrey formally announced our
backing for Paisley City of Culture
2021 during our Paisley Campus
Graduation ceremonies
6
2. We collected almost 300 Easter
eggs for Women’s Aid
3. We sponsored Scotland’s Boat
Show Food & Drink Pavilion - a great
occasion for our students who
gained valuable experience with
celebrity chef Nick Nairn
3
5
7
4
8
9 10
2
4. We were delighted to host a ceremony on
behalf of the HMS Hood Association, as it marked
the great ship’s 100th anniversary
5. Staff and students joined forces across all three
campuses to raise funds for the British Heart
Foundation in memory of Clydebank student Eddie
McColl
6. Dance Lecturer Rosina Bonsu was named among
Outstanding Women of Scotland by Saltire Society
11
7. Clydebank Motorvehice staff Alistair Fleming and Murray Miller, together
with three of their students, drove through 12 countries in seven days to
raise funds for St Margaret of Scotland Hospice
8. All staff gathered at the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, a first in the past
three years
9. The College was tremendously proud of George Smith when he
received an MBE for his work with students with additional needs
10. Our Greenock Campus was chosen to host a sensory services
resource centre to help students with hearing and visual impaisements
11. Our Computing and Science teams showcased some of our innovative
STEM programmes at the annual Holyrood STEM event in Edinburgh

06 WESTWORLD JUNE 2017 07
STAFF ACHIEVEMENT
Does Machiavelli inspire Education policy?
WestWorld shines the spotlight on some of our colleagues’ hidden talents!
In the last edition of WestWorld we
brought you news of how one of our
colleagues in Clydebank had won a
literary prize for a short story based
on a college romance. Well, now we’ve
unearthed another author.
He is Steve Brown, Languages CQL and he’s been
working on a totally different genre!
Steve has contributed to an academic tome called
“The Principal: Power and Professionalism in
Further Education”, which is due to be published in
November. “The Principal” is a nod to the famous
book of statecraft, “The Prince”, written in Italy in
the 1520s by Machiavelli. Down the centuries,
“Machiavellian” has come to be a pejorative term,
describing ruthlessness and duplicity in the
pursuit of an objective, so it’ll be interesting to
read the conclusions of this book!
The book is a
collaboration between
professionals and academics
working in further or adult
education
Steve Brown
Languages CQL, Paisley
KNOW YOUR COLLEAGUES
Who’s this baby?
Last week, we published these baby photographs on the staff intranet.
Did you guess who’s who? Answers at the bottom of the page!
1
2 3 4
“The book is a collaboration between professionals
and academics working in further or adult
education”, explains Steve. “Each chapter looks at
current issues affecting the sector and explores
the role of leadership within them, drawing
parallels with Machiavellian theories.
“The section I’ve written focuses on the Scottish
context and how recent government policies have
impacted on college-based ESOL provision.”
Steve doesn’t expect it to make the list of top
100 of kindle bestsellers, but, he says, it could be
interesting for people who are involved in further
education and educational leadership.
“My chapter includes a description of some of the
project and fundraising work that we have done
in recent years within our ESOL programmes, so it
looks at positive outcomes as well as challenges.”
It sounds like an intriguing project and WestWorld
is looking forward to reading the finished article…
though we won’t promise to publish it!
5
6
7
STAFF ACHIEVEMENT
The great West of Scotland Bake Off
9
10
Eat your heart out, Mary Berry! Move over, Sue Perkins!
Lorna is developing a reputation as a baker
extraordinaire and a decorator of wonderful cakes.
The WestWorld team have to admit that we have
already enjoyed sinking our gnashers into one of
Lorna’s splendid creations after she baked a
birthday cake for a couple of members of the team.
Amazingly, Lorna has had no formal training.
She took up cake decoration as a hobby just a
few years ago and is entirely self-taught.
“Yes, that’s right”, says Lorna. “I’ve never been on
a course but I do watch lots of videos and follow
cake bloggers. The trickiest part is to get the right
sponge texture. Believe me, I managed plenty
of fails before I finally landed on the secret of a
perfect sponge!”
“This happened when I baked a Christening cake
for Andrew Neeson (Greenock Construction)
and also a beautiful pearl wedding cake I made
for Paula Lindsay Greenock (Enabling Services
Co-ordinator).”
In fact, Lorna’s cake-making talents are so
highly rated, she’s been asked more than once
to turn her passion into a career. But she says
she’s happy to keep it as a hobby.
“I would need to find premises and staff to
make it my own business, but for now it’s my
way to relax and I like it that way”.
This is good news for the College. We get to
keep Lorna and, with a bit of luck, continue to
enjoy her wonderful cakes!
8
As the Great British Bake-Off prepares to
make its debut on Channel 4 later this year,
WestWorld believes it has uncovered a possible
contestant, maybe even a judge.
Step forward Lorna McNulty, Senior Curriculum
Administrator for Business & Technologies
who’s based at our Greenock campus.
“I work full time so I do most of my baking in the
evening and I find it very relaxing. Actually, it’s
not so much the baking I enjoy, what I really love
is decorating my cakes. I try to recreate cakes I see
online but then I add my own touch to them. I like
to make each cake unique and special for every
occasion and every person.”
But Lorna has a confession:
“Sometimes I’m so happy with the decoration,
I have a hard time letting the cake go!” she laughs.
11 12 13 14
1. Linda Deas, Schools Liaison Co-ordinator, 2. Alex Deas, Estates Manager, 3. Stephanie Harte, Campus Receptionist, 4. Lindsay Crawford, Graphic & Web Designer, 5. Ethna McGhie, Lecturer, Hospitality Travel & Tourism,
6. Don McGovern, Lecturer, Hospitality Travel & Tourism, 7. Simon Lennox, IT Service Technician, 8. Nick Peacock, Technician Creative Arts, Design & Media, 9. Andy Corbett, CQL Construction, 10. Charlene Clark, PA to Principal,
11. Carine Hendry, Senior Curriculum Administrator, Creative Industries & Essential Skills, 12. Agnes Reid, Marketing & PR Administrator, 13. Andrew Fogarty, Head of Sector, Engineering, 14. Alan Stevenson, Cook

08 WESTWORLD
Scottish
QUIZ
Summertime song
Match these Scottish bands
with their summer songs
Whether the weather
Here are some guid Scots words that might
come in handy this summer. But do you
know what they mean?
Fret
Watergaw
Drookit
Gloaming
Haar
Snell
Mochie
Dreich
Simple Minds
Wine in the afternoon
Franz Ferdinand
Belle and Sebastian
Calvin Harris
Teenage Fanclub
Summer
Ain’t that enough
A Summer wasting
Someone Somewhere
in summertime
Island hopping
Can you name the Scottish
islands these films were set
on, real and fictional?
Whisky Galore! (1949)
Eye of the Needle (1981)
At what temperature
in the West of Scotland
does it officially become
‘taps aff’ weather?
Eat it or Beat it
Which of these things would
you throw on the BBQ and
which would gie ye the boak?
Badrons
Collops
The Edge of the World (1937)
The Wicker Man (1973)
I Know Where I’m Going!” (1945)
Where in Scotland in
the middle of summer
is it light enough to
play a round of golf
at midnight?
Oubit
Lapster
Rattan
Bradan
Baggie
Bubblyjock
Visit the staff intranet to check the answers