Change your path with help from SRUC Elmwood

Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC) Elmwood Campus is situated in Cupar, Fife, and offers a variety of courses including countryside management, animal care, gamekeeping, greenkeeping, professional golf, golf management, hospitality and horticulture.

It’s never too late to change your path, as Craig Trewern, who lives in Dundee, knows only too well.

Craig, who had worked in retail for 14 years, made a change after facing redundancy. The hospitality department at SRUC Elmwood had been recommended to Craig, who joined in 2015.

“Cooking had always been a passion for me, and I decided it was time to make my hobby my career.

“My journey at Elmwood really set me on the right track for employment in the food and drink industry.

“I was encouraged by a brilliant team of lecturers, introduced to top chefs, worked on live demonstrations with Geoffrey Smeddle of The Peat Inn, and Nick Nairn.

“We entered national competitions and were always supported and encouraged. The college also has great links with the food and drink industry.

“We constantly had new products to work with, new things to experience and we worked alongside the horticulture and gamekeeping departments at college for events and specialist competitions.”

Craig, who currently employs five parttime members of staff at Around – Food and Drink at Cupar Golf Club, gained additional industry experience by working at a local café and restaurant when he first left college.

He was recommended for his new position by his college lecturers and is thoroughly enjoying his post and all its challenges. “I’m enjoying the variety. I’m doing marketing research, looking at what has historically been done before, planning menus, taking on social media activities – it’s all-consuming!”

To others considering a change in their careers, Craig says: “Just do it. It is a tough decision but the best one I have made.

“Take those steps – the reward is getting a happier and healthier balance in your life.”

The college attracts students from across Fife, Perthshire and Tayside and many other areas of the United Kingdom, as well as European and international students.

Courses range from introductory-level programmes to Higher National Diploma levels, with excellent progression routes to degree programmes at other SRUC campuses and other universities. As funding is increasingly an issue for students, Elmwood can ease the financial burden by allowing you to study to HNC/ HND level locally, before accessing a university course directly into the second or third year.

For more information and inspiration on how you can change your path why not come along to one of SRUC Elmwood’s open evenings?

Those who are interested can book online now by visiting www.sruc.ac.uk/Elmwoodopendays

“Just do it”: Craig Trewern says going to SRUC Elmwood to learn new skills was the best decision he has made.