What a difference a day makes at City College Peterborough

What can you learn in a day? How to build a garden wall? How to keep your car on the road? How to order the right things from the menu whilst in Spain – without resorting to pointing at someone else’s plate? All of the above – and much more...TOBY VENABLES reports on City College Peterborough’s eclectic range of one-day courses

‘I just really felt like trying something new,’ says Rachael Francis. ‘It was something I could do together with my husband and learn a new skill at the same time.’ In Rachael’s case, ‘something new’ turned out to be a one-day bricklaying course, which she attended at City College Peterborough last year with her husband Daniel. Bricklaying may not be everyone’s first idea of fun, but Rachael – who also went on to do a willow weaving course – certainly came away from the experience happy. ‘I really enjoyed it,’ she enthuses. ‘The facilities were really good, everybody was very friendly and the enrolment process was really easy. I just enjoyed the whole thing. I’ve already recommended it to about four other people. I’d recommend it to anyone, really. Although it was only a day, it was quite intense! There was lots of lifting, so it was good exercise as well.’

You can learn basic Spanish conversation whilst also making – and enjoying – a glass of sangria

Both bricklaying and willow weaving are back on the menu this spring – and that menu covers a frankly staggering array of topics. On Saturday, 8 March alone (there are also one-day courses on 17 May and 14 June) subjects you can tackle include songwriting, Indian head massage, sugarcraft, upholstery, public speaking, the novels of Charles Dickens and Spanish and Sangria (in which you learn basic Spanish conversation whilst also making – and enjoying – a glass of Spain’s famed tipple).

But how much can you really learn in a day? Quite a bit, apparently. Imagine my surprise, for example, when Rachael says their first task of the day on the bricklaying course was to build a pyramid. ‘It was just a small one,’ she added, ‘to show how the bricks fitted together in a simple way’. They then went on to lay straight courses of bricks in a simple wall, and to build a gatepost. ‘The idea was you could actually build yourself a garden wall if you fancied it.’

‘The tutor was really enthusiastic, and happy for us to get in touch if we needed advice’

And that’s exactly what Rachael did. One year on, it’s still standing. So did it give her a taste for brickwork? ‘Yes, definitely! The tutor Ian Redhead was really enthusiastic about that, and was happy for us to get in touch if we needed advice – if we got stuck with cement or anything.’ I’m hoping she only means that metaphorically. ‘I don’t know if I’d be able to build a cavity wall,’ she adds. ‘But I’d give it a go…’

And that’s the other thing that the one-day courses can bring: confidence. While no-one would claim that you can learn everything in a day, they can show you the all-important basics, and open up new topics in ways that makes them immediately seem less daunting. This is… [cont]