Skills for Life: Sue Bottomley

A mum from Whalley who switched her globetrotting job working as cabin crew to fighting fires in her home county three years ago has not looked back.

Sue Bottomley, 47, worked for Virgin Atlantic for 22 years, and then as a personal trainer, before deciding in 2018 to pursue a career change as a firefighter working for Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service.

However, when it came to realising the dream of the career change, Sue discovered that she did not have the necessary Maths qualification to progress in her application.

She got in touch with Lancashire Adult Learning and passed both her Level 1 and Level 2 Functional Skills Maths qualifications in quick succession, finding out she had passed the crucial Level 2 qualification on the morning of her interview.

Sue, who was named Lancashire Adult Learning’s Maths Star learner in 2018, is now based at Preston Fire Station.

She said: “I absolutely love my new firefighting career. I’ve recently done a water training course, and the challenge and variety of work is what makes it so interesting.

“It’s a massive change from what I was doing before but it is something I had wanted to do for a long time, especially after becoming a mum, and I wanted a new challenge. When the opportunity came up, it was a ‘now or never’ moment.

“I’m really grateful that LAL was able to support me to change my career and I’ve definitely not looked back since making my decision.

“Functional Skills for adults are incredibly important qualifications, and I remember really enjoying the learning as well with LAL, having hated Maths at school because of the way the lessons were taught.”

To view our range of Functional Skills Maths and English courses, visit our website today at: https://www.lal.ac.uk/what-we-do/maths-and-english/