Bright ideas win national award for Westmeath VEC

New environmental schemes launched at Castlepollard Community College, and at the VEC"s head office in Mullingar, have won for the staff of Westmeath VEC the first ever 'Building High Performance' innovation award, at the VEC National Partnership Forum"s Annual Conference in Limerick.The judges were impressed when they heard how Micheal Cassidy, caretaker at Castlepollard Community College, Maria Fox, the VEC youth officer, and Marian Whelan, a member of the VEC"s administrative staff, came up with a number of simple and innovative measures to reduce the volumes of water and paper used in Westmeath VEC. In all, the judges considered a total of 175 entries from 33 different VECs.The award was presented by Irish Olympic silver medal winner, Kenny Egan.Commenting on the win, Gearóid Ó Brádaigh, Chief Executive Officer of Westmeath VEC, said: 'the award is due recognition of the efforts of staff in Westmeath VEC to constantly review and streamline their work processes, while also looking at new ways to reduce costs and to improve our service to our learners and to the public. In the current economic climate, it is highly appropriate that public servants look critically at their performance in this way, and I am delighted at the example the staff here have set.'The VEC National Partnership Forum supports VECs in the implementation of modernisation and change. It makes use of the expertise and skill of management and staff to implement change across the 33 VECs. It aims to develop a partnership culture to ensure the modernisation and development of the VEC sector for customers.