Solo success, an awards double and hard-earned treble – all on a national level – are being celebrated by an expanding northern Lincolnshire accountancy trainer.
Premier Training wowed the AAT Awards, winning Large Training Provider of the Year for the third time.
And Jeff Grimston, who has been with the South Killingholme business since its inception 21 years ago, was presented with the Lifetime Achievement Award.
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Rose Crockett, operations director, was delighted with the haul at the Crowne Plaza in Stratford upon Avon, having moved to long sought-after new premises, The Minories, in the past year.
She said: “It was hard to believe we have won the main award three times now. No-one has ever done that. We won it two years consecutively, and when we won another category last year, I was a little disappointed. Large Training Provider of the Year, that’s the one you want to be!”
Asked to put her finger on what has made Premier special, she was in no doubt that a two-pronged approach of looking at everything from a trainee perspective, and the relentless addition of technology had pushed the business on.
“We are always looking at what we do from the standpoint of the trainee, that’s the only way, and our technology is second to none,” she said. “We have e-learning, and an app that remembers questions asked and the answers. It it doesn’t have the answer, we then add it in. It is just amazing, and the more it is used the more intelligent it becomes.”
Known as Emma, it is a key addition to the 20-strong team, now settled in a building that has been admired since starting out in a neighbouring office.
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“Everything has got better,” Mrs Crockett said. “It has made life so much easier. The whole length of the bottom floor is open plan which is great as we need to work together, and we have space. There’s an examination room, meeting room, conference room and kitchen facilities too.
“We are now doing a new payroll course and looking to branch out to do more allied things, and the whole of the upstairs is still available so we could take on that in the near future as well.”
The citation for the Large Training Provider described the application as “outstanding,” with judges adding: “The line ‘we must ensure that our students of today are properly prepared to be 21st century accountants’, helped to nudge them into first place.”
'Tickled pink' with lifetime achievement honour - once he'd put his phone down
Lifetime achievement award winner Jeff Grimston was partway texting his daughter to tell her his shortlisting for Tutor of the Year hadn’t been successful, when the announcement was made.
The 61-year-old said: “I’d typed ‘it is a no this time,’ but the host kept on talking and introduced an additional item, a ‘special’ for this year.
“I was tickled pink. Everybody in the team puts a lot in to the work we do. The thing we do more than most in our industry is make tutors available, one-to-one, and talk to people all the time. It can be hard work, so it is quite nice someone from outside of the business recognised the work we do.”
Full time for over 20 years, having joined on a part time basis, it followed him being one half of the AAT teaching team at Grimsby College, where he had taught since the Nineties.
It followed some self development from a role in after sales and systems management in the motor trade, when he completed the AAT qualification himself.
“Doing that led me on this path, having been asked to teach,” he recalled.
“We started Premier with a borrowed chair, a borrowed desk and a rented phone, and we have gone from that to the 海角视频’s largest provider. The AAT is one of the most respected qualifications, and one employers’ look for. I have spent more time recruiting than being recruited and it is the first name on the team sheet.”