Help!

I need your help for a little "end of term" project that I am working on for the blog site.......

This week/weekend, I would like you (and your students) to take lots of photos holding up signs with some of the following words:

12825, STUDENTS, 57, COUNTRIES, 1086, EXCURSIONS, DISCO, STAFF, FUN, GROUP LEADERS, EAC, 2010, LESSONS, SMILE, WORLD CUP, MUSEUMS, CULTURE, CREATIVE, GRADUATION, TALENT SHOW, CULTURE, FOOD, RAIN, SUN, SEASIDE, WEIRD, WONDERFUL, HIGHS, LOWS, SPORT, 100%, 28, CENTRES, I, GOTTA, FEELIN',GOOD, NIGHT.............and any others that you and the students can think of.

If you can stick to still photos rather than videos, that would be great - prizes to be won for the most imaginitive photos :-)

You can email the photos to me at or just upload them to sharepoint

Thanks in advance for any help that you can give.

Finally, a big WELL DONE to EAC Stafford who have created a magnificent website showcasing photos, student work, activities and student blogs - great work!

The Circle of....EAC!

It seems that there is hardly time for the marketing team to catch their breath as half way through summer, the whole sales cycle begins again with the creation of the brochure, and kicks off with the first major agent sales event in early September.

Our marketing team (Cath, Alison and Masha), headed up by Richie, are working tirelessly on our 2011 protfolio of brochures to make sure that every peice of text and every photograph is put together to create an informative selling tool for our agents and clients.

In our boardroom at Head Office, we have our brochures from past years displayed on the wall. It reminds us of where it all started, and how far we have come in just 18 years. From our first brochure in 1992 - just a few pages long, and featuring just one Activity Camp (Edinburgh) and featuring shell-suited youngsters, to our 2010 slick glossy brochures, featuring 4 Activity Camps, 2 year-round Adult Schools and over 30 Junior Vacation Centres throughout the UK.

We are still looking for some student feedback quotes for our brochure, so if you have any good feedback, please send to Richie ASAP for inclusion in the 2011 brochure.

On a final note, WELL DONE to Hull, who won the Blog of the Week award last week. Their Blog is great, with students logging on to record the latest happenings at the centre. Keep up the good work Hull!

The Summit

" After climbing a great hill, one only finds that there are many more hills to climb"

Nelson Mandela

"Oh the absolute lethargy of 24600 ft. You want to pee, and you lie there for quarter of an hour making up your mind to look for the pee bottle"

Chris Bonnington - conquered Everet 1975

"Hay, Whoa, climbing up a bloody great hill. Hey, Whoa, I'm Climbing, I'm up, Climbing up, I'm up, up"

Radiohead - Climbing up a Bloody Great Hill Lyrics

Today marks the "Summit" of EAC Summer 2010. Across the UK, we have 32 centres, hosting 6236 students from 35 countries around the world! This is pretty impressive, and is only possible due to the hard work of our staff, both here in Head Office, and at our centres around the UK.

It may not be Everest, but I am sure that a lot of you are feeling the fatigue and exhaustion which a busy summer brings, but we just want to say:

"KEEP GOING, YOU ARE DOING A GREAT JOB!!"

On the whole, the feedback that we are getting from agents is very positive, and from what I have seen on the centre blogs, it certainly looks like there are happy students enjoying their stays in your centres :-)

This week, you'll see the tears of the departing students, but also the arrival of new students, full of anticipation for the weeks ahead. Now, what hill-related song lyric should I pick for the new arrivals??........

"What's that coming over the hill, is it a Monster, is it a Monster?!"

Only kidding - I am sure that all of the new students will be lovely! ;-)

Hoo-Ray for HR!

Our Edinburgh Sunshine has finally been washed away by rain, rain and more rain, and we all arrived at the office this morning with sunglasses replaced with umbrellas and t shirts replaced with rain jackets :-(

Still, the HR team managed to remain a happy bunch for their Blog Team Photo - from Left to Right we have Amanda, Craig, Karen and Rachel. Most of you will just know their voices from your telephone interviews, but now you can see what they look like (and aren't they a beautiful bunch?!)

Having successfully recruited the majority of the 500+ staff for the summer centres, the HR team are now working hard to make sure that everyone gets paid next Friday....so be nice to them!!

This photo shows a typical day in the HR office - with Amanda and Rachel swotting up on the latest HR magazines, Karen swigging at a bottle of Vodka, and Craig offering his team some moral support in the form of one of his latest song and dance routines - "......now it's raining more than ever, you know that we still have each other, you can stand under my um-ba-rella, you can stand under my um-ba-rella, ella, ella, ay, ay, ay, under my um-ba-rella......." -

The Wheels on the Bus go Round and Round....

Scaborough, London, Brighton, Stirling, Manchester, York - just a few of the fantastic destinations that we send our students to on excursions while they are at our centres, and the people who make this all possible......THE TRANSPORT DEPARTMENT!!

Headed up by the Lovely Doreen, the transport department is supported by our 3 fantastic summer temps - Ria, Danny and Eva (pictured here, working hard) and works tirelesly to ensure that every trip and transfer is booked with precision. Like Eva here, their desks are usually awash with post-its, spreadsheets and highlighters as they wade their way through the piles of information required to make each booking.

I am sure that you all talk to the transport department on a regular basis, and I am sure that you will all agree that they are a happy and helpful bunch, who are doing a marvelous job!

....and talking of doing a marvelous job, our Blog of the Week award goes to EAC Newbattle who have created a great blog site. Our favourite images are the outdoor Ceilidh, and the very lovely picture of our CM Dan dressed as a laydee! - keep up the good work Marc - big jar of sweeties is on its way to you now!

EAC Love Eteaket!

Every second Friday, we have an all staff meeting to catch up on what has been happening the previous fortnight, and to be informed of any future developments for EAC.

At the end of this mornings meeting, we were treated to a lovely selection of yummy mini cakes, kindly donated by our lovely tea shop Eteaket downstairs.

Unfortunately, by the time I managed to capture the cakes on camera, the majority had been gobbled up by hungry staff as a sugary breakfast treat. Here's what's left .....although I suspect not for long!!

If any of you are ever up in Edinburgh at Head Office, or just for a wee holiday, then we suggest that you pop into Eteaket and sample some of the full size versions of these cakes!!

Enough of my promotion of Eteaket.......This weekend is a very busy one for you all with over 2000 eac students arriving in the UK from around the world this weekend. For those of you whose centres are already in full swing, and for those of you who are opening up this weekend......GOOD LUCK!!

And a final note goes out to all of the centres who have Spanish students - we hope that there are celebrations rather than comiserations this weekend - GO SPAIN!!

Meet the Bookings Team!

With cries of "My hair's a mess" and "I've not got any make up on" (Mostly from Dave!), I managed to persuade the bookings team to pause for a quick moment to star in the first EAC Head Office Blog Team Shot! And what a magnificent bunch they are, I am sure that you will agree!

From left to right we have.....

Dave: Working mostly on the Spanish, Turkish, French & Greek markets with his marketing "partner in crime" Catherine. The only man in the department - poor thing!
Lynne: Masquerading as part of the bookings team, but actually she is our Cheery Credit Controller!
Zoe: Our Auzzie Ace, dealing with all of the Activity Camp bookings.
Eva: The first of our summer temps - and glamourous assistant to Dave.
Kelly: The second of our summer temps - helping out with the larger agents in Manekas markets
Maneka: Da Boss! - looking after this motley crew, and dealing with Richies markets - mainly Italy and Germany.
Nicola: The last of our summer temps - queen of the wardrobe (I've never seen her wear the same thing twice!)
Karen: With the luck of the Irish, Karen looks after the Russian, Kazach and Eastern European markets, working closely with Alison and Masha in marketing.

World Cup Fever!!

World Cup Fever is still going strong at head office, with special interest today from Eva and Katja, supporting Spain and Germany. Eva (on the left of the photo), originally from Santiago de Compostela, is working with us over Summer in Credit Control. Still on a high from her beloved Nadal's victory in Wimbledon at the weekend, she feels that the Spanish are on a roll, and will romp to a 2-1 victory tonight.

Katja (on the right) is from Dresden, Germany and is on a work placement with us over summer as part of her International Event Management course. Katja is taking on the role of Information Officer, so I'm sure that you will all hear from her as she chases you for all of your centre returns! Her score prediction for tonight is 4-2..("Germans lucky 4, and 2 for Spain 'cause they are actually pretty good!")

And the man in the middle? This is Danny from transport, who is joining with the Spanish support - purely for monetary reasons (he's got Spain in the office sweep stake!).

Away from football, we would all like to offer big CONGRATULATIONS to Rachel Murray in the HR department, who at the weekend passed her driving test......first time!! Well Done Rachel!

HQ!

So, this is where we all the Head Office action takes place - 45 Frederick Street, right in the heart of the beautiful city of Edinburgh. EAC occupy the top 2 floors of this block.

In summertime, Head Office is a hive of activity and no matter what time of day, the office is buzzing with telephones ringing, keyboards tapping, kettles boiling and people rushing around. Our hectic office is accompanied by a soundtrack of cheesy tunes/rock/classical/Polish radio/opera (depending on which office you are in - we'll let you decide who listens to what!)

As you can see, directly below us is Cafe Rouge. The sound of clinking wine glasses and chitter chatter from the tourists and Ladies who Lunch sitting out enjoying the sunshine* drifts up through our open windows to tease us, accompanied by the delicious smells of Steak & Frites!

So, that's us! We can't wait to see more about your centres, so get blogging! - it's so great for us to see what is going on at our centres around the UK, and to see all the happy faces of the students in the photos makes all of the hard work worthwhile.

*Yes, the sun does shine in Scotland!!

......Up, Up and away!

Welcome to the EAC Head Office blog page!

We've been so inspired by Oatridge's Blog page that we decided that it would be a great idea to see a blog page from every centre.

Not wanting to be left out of the loop, we decided that it would be a great idea to have our own page, so that you can see what we are up to, and over the next few weeks, you can put a few faces to names (if anyone will let me take their photos!!)

Being new to blogging, I made the first catastrophic mistake this morning - I forgot to bring my camera, so I "borrowed" this image as I thought that it was both

a) lovely colourful and cheerful to brighten up the Monday Morning Blues and

b) representative of what I'm sure we all wish we could do sometimes when we are "having one of those days"

I would like to wish a big CONGRATULATIONS to Oatridge who have won the first EAC Blog of the Week award. A Calorific jar of sweets packed with e-numbers is winging its way to you now - Remember to share!!