StaffView
| Name: David Hiskey |
| Job Title: Photographer |
| Started at
college: 1980 |
Well, a lot of you know me so I won’t
bore you with details. I arrived in 1980 – I was only supposed to
be here for three months as maternity cover. Nobody’s told me
whether she’s had the baby yet. Yes, I have been here a long
time...if you enjoy what you do it goes a long way…even if the pay
does not.
If you like the people you work with it counts
for a lot and the work we do makes a difference - well, we think it
does anyway. That always helps. This is staff view so it’s about
having a point of view…nothing is perfect…so let’s go.
Let’s lay out the land so that these comments
can be read in context. I live in Doncaster, I pay council tax in
Doncaster and I have a daughter coming up to the age of choices in
school so I have a vested interest in how education works here.
According to recent press reports DEC, one of
the great plans of recent years, seems to be dead. The original
concept was a great idea and something our kids, and the College,
would have benefited from. A lot of money has been thrown at people
to make it happen and it hasn’t. Why? In my opinion it has
succumbed to politics, feathering of nests and…well, what do I
know.
Now I know DEC exists in another guise, and
laudable though it is and hardworking the people involved are, it
is a long way off the original. Why?
Something else which will be close to a lot of
people’s hearts is car parking. I think the original Hub designers
and the council were being disingenuous over the reasons for having
so little parking for staff. It is wrong that we don’t have enough
parking spaces for staff and, our reason for being here, the
students.
It’s a real irony that if you look at an
aerial photo of the Hub, the place is surrounded by council car
parks and several new ones have been created since we moved in – a
far cry from the green issues we were told about. We are one of the
biggest employers in Doncaster but we have a small car park – and
we have to pay. Why? The original reasons given were about
Government taxing on car parking.
The criteria on issuing parking spaces was
purely about travelling to work. Little consideration was given to
those people who use their cars to do their job. £300 is a lot of
money…and a pay cut – but not if you work at High Melton. I was
given a space at the second time of asking. I’m ambivalent over it
– I’ve somewhere safe to park my car .. my mind is at rest.
I
did'nt want to pay ..but I did ..angst. I don’t have to say
no when I need to use my car for work.. less angst . I
could have a departmental permit when I need to but that would only
make me feel aggrieved. I’ve been to Brockholes Farm recently – I
think I’d like to be a horse.
Now I am getting old so it’s easy to be a
grumpy old git but there are plenty of positives. The new building
is great, and great to look at and a real landmark in Doncaster.
And for what we do a lot better than working at Waterdale.
The work – from my point of view there is
plenty of interesting and varied work going on in marketing with
press, brochures, prospectuses, a hungry website and plasma screens
to fill. There’s been the Relate and Donny Rovers stuff and the BBC
seem to love us, which puts us on the national stage. Over the last
six months I’ve shot over 8,000 pics…okay, only two of them are any
good but I keep trying.
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