To all those who believed in me: ‘You changed the course of my life’

This adventure would not have begun if it was not through the support and belief of Andrew Kelly while I was signing on at the States of Guernsey with little to no future job prospects. Thank you, Andrew, you have changed the course of my life as you saw something in me that even I did not know existed. Through Andrew I ended up going to the Guernsey College of Further Education and I studied a two year BTec course in Business Management. There I was met with some wonderful teachers who assisted in my academic and professional development. Their names are Yvonne Tanner, Susie Simpson-Cohen, Alan Ogier, Richard Story and Bryce who has since retired. There were others but these individuals had the most positive impact on me and I thank them all. During my time at college I participated in the Institute of Directors’ Management Shadowing scheme and it was during this time that I met another wonderful, influential figure in my life: Trevor Kelham, founder of the Mug charity. For the next three years, this highly regarded and successful man became my mentor and he taught me so much during that time, which I am forever grateful for. Thank you Trevor and I hope that your new life in Arizona is working out for you and your family.

Then it was off to university but I must say thank you to all the people who work at the States Education Department, especially Eddie Martel and Kate Loveridge, who supported my application and gave me support whenever I needed it during the first year of university and during the summer holidays when I needed to re-apply. Just like the GCFE, I met some wonderful, caring, dynamic and supportive lecturers during my time at university who challenged me to think differently or to push the boundaries. The names of these influential people are as follows: Andrew Rowe, Marilena Antoniadou, Dave Roberts, Helen Smith, Jill Murray, Mark Crowder, Claire Baird, Tom Scanlon, Maryam Herin, Louise Armstrong, Cecilia Ellis and Rosalyn Marron. Thanks you to all of you for your hard work and interesting lecturers/seminars.

There are a couple more gratitudes that I have to give out and then the Open Lines page can be back to the negative, moaning page that it seems to have become recently. As you read at the start of this letter I stated that I completed my placement year, which I did at a local charity called the Guernsey Employment Trust (Get). This is a wonderful charity that helps and assists people with mental and physical disabilities to obtain jobs or gain work placements within organisations. For nine months, I worked as an employment support officer and it was the best job I have ever had. So I thank the colleagues that I worked with at that time and especially Mike Evans and Nicola Ioannou-Droushiotis for giving me the job in the first place. Furthermore, I would like to thank Michael Carre, my fellow BTec student at GCFE and now best mate, for your words of wisdom and the many sports activities that we participate in. Finally, and most importantly, I would like to give a massive thank you to my mother and father (Diane and John Hainsworth) and my brother (Steven Hainsworth) for all the support, guidance and love that they gave me during these last six years.

So what happens now, I hear you ask? Well, at the start of August a new chapter of my life begins as I have managed to obtain a place on a Camp Thailand programme followed by a six-month internship teaching English and HR to pupils and teachers in Chiang Mai, which is in northern Thailand. This internship will last until February/March 2019 and hopefully this opportunity will enable me to continue living in Thailand for the foreseeable future.

KEVIN HAINSWORTH,

Notre Maison,

Clos Des Isles,

Les Banques,

St Sampson’s, GY2 4AP.