Cowley Manor

The Cotswolds

Gilly Willis

Spa Manager

Kelly-Marie Ody is thanking her lucky stars that she did her apprenticeship through Cirencester College – for while it can be difficult to find work placements in the beauty industry, she landed one at a top spa beloved of Britain’s most demanding clientele.

“The college were wonderful,” she says. “It’s hard to do an apprenticeship in the beauty industry because clients don’t usually want you watching them while they’re having treatments.

“So if you can get a placement, it’s great.”

In her case, it was, for she ended up working as a Spa Assistant at Cowley Manor – a country house hotel in the Cotswolds that’s well-known in London after coming second in the prestigious Conde Nast Travel Awards.

“She was very, very good here and learned quite a lot from us,” said Cowley Manor’s Spa Manager, Gilly Willis. “It isn’t very often that chances like this come up.

“The college weren’t going to send any time-wasters. They send people who work hard at college and want a career. And we put an awful lot of training into people to enable them to do this job.

“Kelly-Marie’s confidence wasn’t exceptionally good when she started here, but we built it up. It comes with experience and time.

“It didn’t take her very long to connect with some of the duties she had to do. She was quite a bright spark and has had very good all-round experience.

“It’s always a benefit to have someone like her,” says Gilly, who was once an apprentice herself. “She was a real asset.

“It’s very hard work. You don’t stop from the time you come until the time you leave. But it can lead to lots of things.”

Kelly-Marie, who went to Cirencester College two days a week, adds: “I’d recommend apprenticeships to anyone because it does give you that experience and that extra bit of knowledge you wouldn’t otherwise have. It also helps you get used to working with different people.”

Cirencester College