NENE’S SKILLS FOR THE FUTURE
If you’ve been fortunate enough to join a heritage line as a young volunteer, you’ll be only too aware that experiences gained there can put you in good stead for your future career and life in general.
Opportunities abound to interact with a whole cross-section of society; practising your languages with overseas visitors; learning how to handle situations – be it assisting a passenger with a disability or persuading a railway colleague of the merits of an idea for example; and gaining practical DIY skills such as painting, using power tools or mixing cement. They’re all experiences which can help enrich your CV and enable you to talk with passion to a would-be employer at an interview, helping you to stand out from the crowd.
As someone who used to ‘hire and fire’, it saddened me when a would-be employee would look blankly when I asked whether they had any interests outside work. I wanted them to be passionate about life – and I wanted them to bring that enthusiasm to my team.
Young volunteers are welcome at the Nene Valley Railway (NVR) from the age of 12. Quietly beavering away at Overton (formerly known as Ferry Meadows) on a range of tasks, from running the busy intermediate station in customer-facing roles to engineering-type work in restoring carriages, the railway’s young volunteers can gain a variety of experiences.
The NVR Youth Group (YG) recently received a significant boost when a respected main line train operating
