Oh Darn

[oneidadan]

Well that's shot it, 4 weeks till our first baby is due and we've just been told we won't have a job from July. All because some suit in an office wants to make even more money (but without thinking it through properly), all hail corporate greed
Giz a job guv?

[BioHazard]

That's tough mate ...... and the job market is tough atm , take what you can get as i was out of work for 10 months before i got anything and thats only a job that pays the basics

[Predictable Bob]

That's crap !

I doubt if I'm in a position to help but somebody on here might be IF they had half a clue as to what you do ...

[gwh200]

Big huge commiserations. I'm currently not working meself...but that was my choice. Still matey, you get to spend time with your newborn.

Good luck

[Rustinho]

That's a kick in the gonads when you could do without it.

A similar thing happened to me but I lost my job about a week before we found out that my little 'un was on the way. Everything works out in the end. I'm currently out of work and, certainly locally, there is absolutely nothing going. I've never seen the jobs market in such a bad state. And judging by the comments from the staff at the Jobcentre neither have they.

Not that I'm trying to put a downer on anything!

Hopefully you've got enough to be getting by on until something turns up and it'll be a great chance to earn brownie points with the missus by looking after her in the run up to the big day and once junior is born.

Good luck!

[JamesG]

Thats Sucks!

Not sure what you do but if it's in Telco/IT then the contracting market seems to be doing well.

[JUDWAK]

just look forward to haveing ya first kid mate

iam sure you'll find a better job in time dude

always look at the bright side dude
it cost a lot of money for some to have a baby or even get the chance to have one
your getting one?
£3000 a time for a chance
your having that chance makes you lucky
so stop sweating over it

[wiggy]

Thats a bit of bad news (the job not the lil one!) as the guys have said shit about the job but you can get to spend some quality time and maybe even get a better job. Do you know if its a boy or girl? Reason im asking is and i dont know if it helps or not but Holli and i are going to be having a clear out of my son and daughters stuff (most nearly new brand stuff as it was too hot over here to use much of it) he is 2 in Sept and she has just turned 5 (still got a load of her stuff from when she was little, soft toys clothes etc and some walkers and stuff) so can drop you a pm with the stuff we have and if you want it you can have it as we were going to give it away anyhow as things are getting a bit cluttered!.

Hope things start looking up a bit!

Rob

[oneidadan]

cheers for the replies everyone, it's reassuring to know other people have been through it.

I suppose I can't grumble as technically i'm self employed, but there's not much call for archery instructors anywhere else

We are contracted by Center Parcs to run their archery sessions, and have been for the last 20 years or so. It gets a bit complicated but the reason it's contracted out is because it has the potential to be a dangerous activity and guests appreciate guidence and advice from people who are archers themselves.

Unfortunately we are paid a little more than normal Center Parcs staff so a company Director who knows little of what we do for guests and how important it is for safety has decided to bring it in house to save money (like they really need to).

They then brought our end date forward so they not us can make money over the summer holidays and to capitalise on the interest in the new Robin Hood film. Unfortunately at present none of the Centre Parcs staff are trained and they'll be taking it over the day before the very busy period where all the sessions are full and there's loads of kids, so to be honest i'm a bit worried someones going to get injured but I suppose that's their problem now.

I could do birthday parties and corporate events, which are lucrative, but it's a gamble on whether I can turn it into a regular income stream in two months and i'm not sure i'd be able to earn enough to support us. Oh well I hear bankruptcy is much easier to go through nowadays

On a lighter note it's going to be a boy (woohoo! scalextric for me to play with too!). Are you going to beputting your stuff on ebay or somethinglike that Wiggy, if so i'll keep and eye out for it, we've nearly got all the stuff we need now, most of it is off ebay but it's surprising how much good stuff you can get from there.
Sorry for going on a bit

[John h]

I have a plan !

You live near clumber park ?

get down to KG at Edwinstowe get some training bows some cheap bosses and do 'have a goes' a few pigtails some rope for a boundary etc etc 5 arrows for a quid and you are on Robin hood territory (metaphoricaly speaking ?) do weekends on the grass near the cricket ground donation/agreement with NT string knock fletching pile it on !

When we were at harvester archers we cleaned £330 in an afternoon !

just a thought

[oneidadan]

No it's a good thought thankyou, I already have access to junior and adult recurve bows, bosses and arrows, but last time I contacted clumber park they said they already had someone that came in to run it and they didn't want two of us but I shall try them again.
cheers
P.S. KG have moved now to otherside of Ollerton (just so you know in case you visit them).

[Predictable Bob]

As a former archery instructor I'm amazed that Center Parcs are even considering it - in your position I'd be inclined to drop a line expressing your concerns about the safety aspects to the CP UK CEO and copy in the local HSE

Petty but it may well save somebody's life ...

Another thought - is it possible that they've contracted somebody else in cheaper but aren't telling you ?

[John h]

And you being a GNAS Member ? I am sure you would get a letter of support and a brief on legalrequirements on safety etc !!!

I am trying to get you the the name of the guy to talk to about NT property that you may be able to serve in your area, The contact at English Heritage is away at the moment and is a good friend of my sister however they do tend to be pricey and affect profit margin etc...just a thought

[slobodan]

If you are any good at Archery you should book yourself into centerparcs in the summer and sign up for some archery.
Start taking out the instructors one by one, head shots, arrows are silent and all that.
Then they will be in need of new instructors.
When you get out of prison you will have a job waiting, and your missus and baby will be looked after well by the lots of loving tory liberal government alliance.

[oneidadan]

If you are any good at Archery you should book yourself into centerparcs in the summer and sign up for some archery.
Start taking out the instructors one by one, head shots, arrows are silent and all that.
Then they will be in need of new instructors.
When you get out of prison you will have a job waiting, and your missus and baby will be looked after well by the lots of loving tory liberal government alliance.

lol sounds like a plan. Although there's a little too much reliance on me shooting straight. Maybe book two sessions

I'm not a GNAS member, i'm NFAS but Center Parcs will most likely run it to GNAS guidelines like the rest of the parks do, although that doesn't necessarily ensure safety unfortunately. We some some seriously scary stuff when we visited other parks.

JohnH if you could find a contact that would be great, I don't need to earn huge amounts of money (although it'd be nice), i'd just like to continue doing something I really enjoy.

I don't think anyone else has the contract because they have to tell us if someone else has put a tender in for it, and we drastically lowered our percentages, but it made no difference, they've been planning it for a while I think, they've also advertised for extra staff to run it. I might apply, but it'll be multiactivity and much lower pay but I suppose something is better than bankruptcy.
I think Center Parcs are considering it because, and this is unfortunately the attitude at Center Parcs now, that it's no longer about guest enjoyment it's all about the money (and that's pretty much a quote from a manager there), and they reckon they'll save a few quid by using their own staff. To be honest though if i'd paid £18 per person per hour for a session (when I started there 5 years ago it was £10 for the same session) i'd want someone who knew what they were doing to teach me how to do it.
Also they have to employ extra staff to cover the work that 2/3 of us do. We've already looked at their session plans and they are running fewer sessions than we do at present, so it'll be harder for guests to find a convenient session. And i've no idea how they hope to make more money out of it. There's loads more to it as well but i'd be typing for about 3 years, but hey, managers know what they're doing right? Right?