VMI loves to help good causes and back in 2017, VMI’s Managing Director, Barry Bassett setup the Superheroes Campaign to rid the world of the scurge of landmines and three years later, the grand total raised by the campaign exceeded £60,000.

Superheroes Campaign for MAG

2019 was the third year of the campaign and 8 riders rode into Amsterdam from London to raise a further £27,000 for MAG International, bringing the total raised to £60K in order to help make the world landmine-free by 2025. In total 6 rides over 3 years were made to raise money including riding from London to Bristol and London to Amsterdam and VMI riders included Barry Bassett and Ali Wilson.

We embarked upon these rides when I learned that 24 people are blown up by landmines daily and half of them are children and we want to assist in MAG’s aim to try to make the world landmine free by 2025, as this is cruel and capricious and blameless children deserve better to be able to walk without fear.

Barry Bassett

“Camera Tech” Apprenticeship Standard

Barry Bassett, VMI’s Managing Director realised some years ago, how hard it had become for young people to join our industry from school and concluded that a new training route into our industry was required. He concluded that an alternative entry to the TV industry for those who did not attend university would benefit the industry and looked to design a vocational training course which would result in a formal recognised qualification and a full-time job at the end of the process.

At the time this didn’t exist, so he persuaded the Institute of Apprenticeships (IoC) that there was an Industry skills shortage and they approved the design of the new standard.

Over the next 18 months a group of Rental Companies creatively known as the Trailblazer Group and which included 10 other rental companies, worked with skillset to create a new “Camera Tech” apprenticeship standard.

This new apprenticeship standard has now been approved by the Institute of Apprenticeships and the first cohort is expected to start in early 2021. more

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