TBK tells- My working life - Act 3 , Bahrain , 50- 60 years old

Act 3- Bahrain

Neil , Shaper and Implementer at the Oil & Gas Academy in Bahrain

Back in 2010 after the removal guys took all my stuff from my my flat in the UK it was really empty. One of my great friends, Jane Frost, collected me and my suitcase on 12 Feb 2010 and took me to Heathrow airport for the long flight to start Act 3 of my working life in Bahrain. 

What a difference to Act one and two! I was first asked to come up with a plan for starting ILM courses. I had already ordered new DVDs and Northgate exercises in the UK and made a soft copy of all the materials I used there! 

I reckoned I would be ready to start in one month. I suggested running 2 groups every 6 months as originally it was a 10 day programme (2 days a month for 5 days) . My boss at the time was running one ILM 3 programme a year and suggested I might be too ambitious to run 4 groups. It was then I learnt my first two Arabic words- “ Shway , shway” . ( slowly slowly )

Ready for an ILM 2 Module on Teams

When I first started I worked at the Refinery (30 min drive, 7 km  from my house). We worked from 7 am to 3.30 pm with a 30 minute break for lunch. So typically, I would get up at 5.30 am, have breakfast and a bath, leave home at 6.30 am and start work at 7 a.m.

We went to the canteen on site (3 course meal for 2 bd or 4 GBP) and then I left work at 3.30 pm, arriving home at 4 pm. After a few years they replaced the roundabout at the refinery with a flyover and the roadworks lasted for 3 years.

Sometimes it took me 40 mins to get home. I remember telling my great friend, John Jaworski, to get things in perspective,  when he complained of waiting 5 mins at the roundabout! I told him about my 3-hr. journey home from my UK office in Staines or the 7-hour drive back from Edinburgh!

Awali Swimming Club, Sixties night

With being at home every night I started cooking and gardening again and when John discovered my Hotel background I was elected to be the Bar Manager at Awali swimming club ( unpaid!) . That took up my Thursday nights and time in the week buying the booze from the suppliers and organising events ( Motown Night, 60’s night and the one and only Great Bahrain Beer Festival ( GBBF1) to celebrate my 50^th Birthday. 

Walking one of Tony's dogs

As dogs were not allowed in Awali I also volunteered every Friday at a local Animal rescue centre and started Blogging. Another friend, Kathleen Croes, extolled the virtues of Bahrain’s many restaurants and before long I was eating out two nights a week . 

I also started going to the legendary Friday Brunches at Bahrain’s finest hotels with another friend Anis. He introduced me to Bahrain dessert Uhm Ali and I introduced him to English bread and butter pudding. So we would spend hours each week tasting both and arguing which was best.  Like most expats I put on 10 kg in my first few months in Bahrain before discovering the gym and swimming pool!

Eventually, based on delegate feedback and demand we increased ILM 2 from 10 to 14 days and ran 4 groups a year, which got larger by the year. Soon I was running 56 days of workshops and marking 500 assignments (about 10 weeks work) and with all the admin, coaching sessions, one to one meetings and a months’ vacation a year I thought I was busy!

One of my first ILM 3 workshops - day 1 , group 9

Sadly Peter, my boss, returned to the UK and I took over ILM 3 as well as ILM 2, and was asked to run Security team building workshops on Saturdays and Customer care programmes for the Hospital on Saturdays, a Defensive driving programme and Environmental Inductions on Sundays. Then I really was busy.

Awali Hospital . Customer Care on a Saturday morning at the Academy

Then in 2017 we started a workplace skills session for 20 new 17 year old Diploma students 2 days a week. The following year another 40 arrived and in September 2019 we had 60 start. Neil was called in to run the Experiential learning session on day one, "Over the Bridge" from MTA. We also covered the Environment, Social Media, "Eating the frog" and many other life skills. 

The Diploma Students draw a good and a bad environment on the whiteboard

After nearly having a nervous breakdown, trying to resign and being referred to a psychiatrist at Bapco’s expense things got happier (thanks to some seriously good but expensive tablets) and two new colleagues joined our team.

Our administrator Zainab took on the Defensive driving, Hazel took over the Workplace skills and we bought in an old friend, Jim, from the UK to mark ILM 2 assignments . 

New boy Evan took on the ILM 3 assignments and John Power joined us from Aramco and took over the IDP workshops from me. 

So by the end of 2019 I was back to just running ILM 2 and 3 workshops, 6 days a month!

That was much easier! 

Delivering an online ILM session during COV 19

In my final year I was no longer busy, but pretended I was, until we were hit by COV 19 and all workshops stopped for 2 months. Somehow, having learnt how to use an on line marking system called Blackboard I also learnt how to use Skype for Business and Microsoft Office to deliver online ILM sessions to our ILM delegates who by then were coming not only from Bapco, but also Banagas and Tatweer Petroleum. 

We also achieved DCS status for the Oil and Gas academy, from ILM , another Career Highlight. 

My thanks to Jane Harders, Jim McDermott, who by then was our external assessor, and Saeed Al Nasheet our External Verifier, and of course my wonderful admin support, Zainab.

My plan had been to stay in Bahrain for 10 years and save a Million pounds . In addition I had existing pensions and investments including the money from the sale of the house in 2004. My plan was to retire and never need to work again. I achieved the Million a year early, but then with COV 19 the stock market crashed, and I was no longer so wealthy! 

I agreed to work on for another year and leave in Feb 2021. By then I had decided I did not want to return to the UK and so decided to move to the Philippines.

Future Leaders workshop

In my 11 years in Bahrain I ran 30 ILM 2 programmes and helped over 430 people get their ILM 2  certificate, and another 70 completed  their year long ILM 3 programme with me in 4 years with 4 groups. 120 Diploma students learnt about the world of work through the Experiential learning aspects of the innovative workplace skills programme and many more attended my IDP, Customer care and team-building workshops, and my Environmental Inductions. We also ran a lot of one off workshops for visiting VIP's like Future Leaders and Self Leadership for the Supreme Council for women. I also ran two online Belbin workshops for 80 students at University of Bahrain with help from Zainab. 

I have worked with some amazing people like Evan , Hazel, John Power and John Jaworski ( yes, John, its finally in print, you are a Legend in your own lunchtime)  and have many happy memories from my 11 years in Bahrain.

Rick,  Aziza and the team get their certificates from Award Winning author - Mohamed Isa ( Chai Karak)

And so ended Act 3 . In the coming years I will tell you about Act 4 when they finally allow me into the Philippines. I have many plans for a world without work doing the things I love!

However, before I close for today I would like to thank all those who helped with my Career and gave me guidance along the way- far to many to mention here, but you all know who you are!