We were delighted to host work experience student, Ciaran Bourke, from Cardinal Vaughan Memorial School, London, at our head office for two weeks in July.
Ciaran has written a lovely article about his experience with AoS. Here's what he says;
"From the 9th July 2018, I did 2 weeks of work experience in the head office of Apostleship of the Sea. The work I did mainly involved spreadsheets to do with ship management regarding the ships that Port Chaplains had visited.
"My job was to input this data into a spreadsheet so the charity is able to see that a company had its ships visited many times over the course of the year. The work I did, therefore, was useful and helpful for the charity.
"I also worked with the stock that Apostleship of the Sea sells, counting and packaging it to be sent off to those who have bought it. I never knew that the charity sold goods, so this was an interesting experience for me.
"Part of my work also involved researching charities similar to AoS and finding what makes each of them different and unique. As it turns out, AoS is in the most ports and in most countries than any other seafarers’ charity.
"I also updated a list of all the Catholic MPs and the MPs who had a port in their constituency, so the charity knew who they could invite to functions and events.
"The most eye-opening part of my work experience was visiting Ipswich Port with AoS London Officer Roland Hayes and Port Chaplain Patricia Ezra. There, I learned about the work of a Port Chaplain and about what goes on in their day-to-day lives.
"Despite the fact we only saw 3 ships (as it is quite a small port) and we spoke to only a few seafarers, I still learnt a lot, especially that on some days you could visit 7 or 8 ships, and on another, none.
"I greatly enjoyed my work experience and the staff were very kind and very welcoming. I learned a lot about the charity but also about office work. I had a great time and it was very interesting, the staff were a joy to work with, and I hope I was able to help the charity over the 2 weeks."
[snippet:aos-donate]