station workshops
28th Feb 2006, 12:06
Cripes, I got £5,000 for a business studies and law course!
The source of the story below? 'Financial Mail Women's Forum, Women in Business.'
I particularly like the last para.
Let the banter begin.
SW
"WHEN Stephanie Hulme decided to leave the Royal Air Force after five years’ service, she knew exactly what career to pursue. So the senior aircraftwoman obtained a grant from the Ministry of Defence to fund her training as a pole dancer.
She was flown from her base in Northern Ireland and stayed at a London hotel to take the lessons over four weekends. She now performs at a London club called For Your Eyes Only under her stage name Kitty, and earns up to £500 a night.
Under MoD regulations, officers must provide retraining for servicemen and women leaving the forces after five years’ service.
Ms Hulme, 23, said: “I got the idea after a bit of banter with one of my mates and when I decided to leave I started looking into what it involved.
“I found out about the course and rang up a few clubs and asked what it was all about. Then one of my friends said I should ask the MoD to pay for the training. It hadn’t occurred to me that they might pay, but I just filled in the paperwork and sent it off.”
A spokesman for the MoD said: “If a service personnel has served at least five years and is leaving for any legitimate reason other than medical grounds they are entitled to a maximum of £534 towards the cost of training taken within the last two years of their service. There is no exception to resettlement training as long as it is lawful and pole dancing is obviously lawful.”
Ms Hulme left the RAF in March but spent February — while she was still officially serving the country — pole dancing dressed in a bikini.
She believes that the RAF’s male-dominated culture meant that pole dancing was accepted as a normal profession for her to choose. “You don’t get much privacy in the RAF. After taking a shower it wouldn’t be uncommon to emerge in a towel and walk down the corridor past a group of men. You’d get a bit of banter but that’s what the RAF is like. It means the notion of getting naked doesn’t bother me in the slightest.” Born at RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus, Ms Hulme grew up in a Norfolk village with her father, who retrained as a policeman when he left the RAF. At 17, she dropped out of sixth-form college where she was studying four A levels.
Her father was pleased when she joined the RAF. She admitted that she had not yet told him about her new job. “He knew I did the course but I’ve just been telling him I work in a bar, which is true up to a point.” Ms Hulme still mixes with members of the Forces. “There are plenty of servicemen in the club. In the past two months I’ve done dances for a former Sea Lord of the Admiralty, an ex-group captain and a station commander. They pay much better.”
The source of the story below? 'Financial Mail Women's Forum, Women in Business.'
I particularly like the last para.
Let the banter begin.
SW
"WHEN Stephanie Hulme decided to leave the Royal Air Force after five years’ service, she knew exactly what career to pursue. So the senior aircraftwoman obtained a grant from the Ministry of Defence to fund her training as a pole dancer.
She was flown from her base in Northern Ireland and stayed at a London hotel to take the lessons over four weekends. She now performs at a London club called For Your Eyes Only under her stage name Kitty, and earns up to £500 a night.
Under MoD regulations, officers must provide retraining for servicemen and women leaving the forces after five years’ service.
Ms Hulme, 23, said: “I got the idea after a bit of banter with one of my mates and when I decided to leave I started looking into what it involved.
“I found out about the course and rang up a few clubs and asked what it was all about. Then one of my friends said I should ask the MoD to pay for the training. It hadn’t occurred to me that they might pay, but I just filled in the paperwork and sent it off.”
A spokesman for the MoD said: “If a service personnel has served at least five years and is leaving for any legitimate reason other than medical grounds they are entitled to a maximum of £534 towards the cost of training taken within the last two years of their service. There is no exception to resettlement training as long as it is lawful and pole dancing is obviously lawful.”
Ms Hulme left the RAF in March but spent February — while she was still officially serving the country — pole dancing dressed in a bikini.
She believes that the RAF’s male-dominated culture meant that pole dancing was accepted as a normal profession for her to choose. “You don’t get much privacy in the RAF. After taking a shower it wouldn’t be uncommon to emerge in a towel and walk down the corridor past a group of men. You’d get a bit of banter but that’s what the RAF is like. It means the notion of getting naked doesn’t bother me in the slightest.” Born at RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus, Ms Hulme grew up in a Norfolk village with her father, who retrained as a policeman when he left the RAF. At 17, she dropped out of sixth-form college where she was studying four A levels.
Her father was pleased when she joined the RAF. She admitted that she had not yet told him about her new job. “He knew I did the course but I’ve just been telling him I work in a bar, which is true up to a point.” Ms Hulme still mixes with members of the Forces. “There are plenty of servicemen in the club. In the past two months I’ve done dances for a former Sea Lord of the Admiralty, an ex-group captain and a station commander. They pay much better.”