Experience Oxfordshire partners with Activate Learning to connect hospitality talent to potential employers

A recent survey of businesses carried out by Experience Oxfordshire, the county’s destination management organisation and official LVEP* highlighted the ongoing difficulty businesses operating within the visitor economy face in recruiting suitably qualified staff.

To help bridge that gap, Experience Oxfordshire partnered this week with its Ambassador Partner, Activate Learning, to offer hospitality businesses the opportunity to enjoy a lunch at the learning provider’s state-of-the-art hospitality school in Oxford.

Representatives from Oxfordshire’s top hotels and hospitality businesses sat down to a high-quality lunch fully curated, hosted, prepared and delivered, in terms of chefs and staffing, by Level 1 first year learners at the college, and it proved a great opportunity to showcase their skills and talent.

Explaining the context for the event, Experience Oxfordshire’s CEO, Hayley Beer-Gamage said: “The visitor economy in Oxfordshire is currently worth £2.17 billion and supports some 37 thousand jobs. We know there is the capacity for growth; but for the sector to thrive we need to ensure we have a pipeline of competent and engaged talent.

“As sectors, hospitality, leisure and tourism provide a fantastic range of employment opportunities wherever people are in their career path. Early years spent in hospitality, for example, provide an individual with skills which will prove relevant throughout their working lives. Today’s lunch is the first, in what we intend, will be a series of events to support Activate Learning and the broader visitor economy to strengthen our available workforce and raise the profile of the sector as an employer.”

In response to ongoing staff recruitment issues within the hospitality and leisure sectors, Experience Oxfordshire offer a free facility for their partners to advertise vacancies on www.experienceoxfordshire.org/jobs.

Gary Headland, Group Chief Executive at Activate Learning, who spoke at the lunch said: “Our core Learning Philosophy is built on developing our learners’ emotional intelligence and sense of purpose. To meet the specific demands of the workplace we build on this base, working with employers in various ways to address the technical skills and training needs. We are delighted to partner with Experience Oxfordshire to showcase the services we can bring to support the visitor economy whilst giving our learners the opportunity to meet potential future employers.”

Activate Learning has two colleges in Oxfordshire, City of Oxford College and University Centre, and Banbury and Bicester College. They offer the local community a variety of technical, vocational and academic education and training opportunities ranging from entry level, full-time academic and vocational study programmes, apprenticeships, leisure courses and university-level qualifications.

Attending the lunch Georgia Ireson, Cluster HR Manager at voco Oxford Spires and voco Oxford Thames hotels and an alumnus of City of Oxford College and University Centre commented: “We know how difficult it has been in recent years to attract and retain staff within the hospitality sector nationally. As an Oxfordshire employer I’m delighted to be here today to witness the enthusiasm demonstrated by the learners and the potential they are exhibiting and I commend Experience Oxfordshire and Activate Learning on coming together with this initiative.”

Learner, Ellie Holt, front of house at the Hospitality Lunch, said: “I’ve really enjoyed training here with Activate Learning, the facilities are brilliant and the trainers are so encouraging – they all have a restaurant background. I’m looking forward to trying new cuisines and my ambition is to run my own pub one day.”

Guests enjoyed an impressive three-course lunch in the college’s Recharge restaurant, where the Hospitality and Professional Cookery Department cater for private events, which included:

> Selection of canapés

> Chicken ballotine with mushroom velouté, pommes anna and seasonal vegetables or spiced aubergine with coconut dhal

> Crème brûlée or pear and almond tart

Attending the event were representatives from:

Blenheim Palace; Courtyard by Marriott Oxford City Centre; Hilton Garden Inn Abingdon Oxford Hotel; Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons, A Belmond Hotel; Leonardo Royal Hotel Oxford; Linton Lodge Oxford, a Best Western Signature Collection Hotel; Old Swan & Minster Mill; Oxford Fine Dining; Rhodes House; The Relais Henley; voco Oxford Spires and voco Oxford Thames.

**ENDS**

NOTES TO EDITORS

Images 1 to 8 available via the following link. Additional images are available via this link.

Image 1: Andy Slater, Group Director at Activate Learning; Hayley Beer-Gamage, CEO Experience Oxfordshire; Gary Headland, Group Chief Executive at Activate Learning

Image 2: Learners at Activate Learning

Image 3: Matthew Poon, Learner at Activate Learning, serving (L to R) Sara Watts, Faculty Manager at Activate Learning; Jolyn Edwards, Business Development Manager at Old Swan & Minster Mill; Deanne Hope-Fowler, Deputy General Manager at Leonardo Royal Hotel Oxford; Ben Faycal Bennani, General Manager at Linton Lodge Oxford, a Best Western Signature Collection Hotel

Image 4: Experience Oxfordshire Partners at Hospitality Lunch

Image 5: Ellie Holt, Learner at Activate Learning

Image 6: Experience Oxfordshire Partners at Hospitality Lunch

Image 7: Chicken ballotine with mushroom velouté, pommes anna and seasonal vegetables

Image 8: (front to back) Georgia Ireson, Cluster HR Manager at voco Oxford Spires and voco Oxford Thames; Andy Slater, Group Director at Activate Learning; Keeley Dennyschene, Director of Sales at Hilton Garden Inn Abingdon Oxford; Michelle Zoller, Cluster Sales Director at voco Oxford Spires and voco Oxford Thames

Experience Oxfordshire is the official Destination Management Organisation (DMO) for Oxfordshire. It is the trading arm of the parent charity, Experience Oxfordshire Charitable Trust, and is a not-for-profit partnership organisation that is committed to the promotion, management, and development of Oxfordshire as a great destination to live, work, visit and do business whilst improving growth and productivity across the visitor economy. The DMO provides essential business advice and support to visitor economy businesses across Oxfordshire.

*Experience Oxfordshire was one of the first destinations in England to gain Local Visitor Economy Partnership (LVEP) status from national tourist board, VisitEngland. As an LVEP, Experience Oxfordshire is recognised as a high-performing organisation, supporting collaborative working both locally, through its network of partners and those with interest in the visitor economy, and nationally on shared priorities.

Activate Learning is a pioneering education group with a global reach, committed to transforming lives through its approach to learning. The group comprises secondary, further and higher education, apprenticeship and business training. www.activatelearning.ac.uk

Experience Oxfordshire Ambassadors collectively bring valuable insight, support and strategic direction to the work Experience Oxfordshire does as the Destination Management Organisation for the County. For more information go to: www.experienceoxfordshire.org/partner/about-us/experience-oxfordshire-ambassadors

Current Ambassadors include:

Activate Learning, Bauer Media Group (Greatest Hits Radio), Bicester Village, Blenheim Palace, Cherwell District Council, Great Western Railway, Hedges, Oxford Bus Company, Oxford United Football Club, Oxfordshire County Council, Pye Homes, Stagecoach Oxfordshire, The Oxford Collection, Westgate Oxford

For more information on Experience Oxfordshire go to www.experienceoxfordshire.org/partner or contact partnership@experienceoxfordshire.org

Media contact: Lesley Wright / press@experienceoxfordshire.org / 01865 686433

You can keep up to date with Experience Oxfordshire’s activity by following:

Facebook – Experience Oxfordshire
Instagram – @experienceoxfordshire
X – @ExperienceOx and @ExperienceOxBiz
LinkedIn – Experience Oxfordshire