LTM presents first Motor School

23 June 2005

UK - Rigging specialist Lift-Turn-Move has staged its first on-site two day Lodestar Motor School arranged for leading UK lighting rental house, PRG. The School was presented by LTM's John Jones and David Ward, who travelled to PRG's base in Greenford, Middlesex to meet its in-house rigging crew and ensured they became fully acquainted with all aspects of the Lodestar motor.

The Motor School was organized by PRG's Philip Heselton, and attended by Mark Clough, Justin Merrick and Ian Jackson. "We asked LTM to do this because of our previous relationship with John Jones, and because it was important to us to have a qualified input regarding CM products"

Jones was instrumental in setting up the first UK Motor Schools in 1993. Since then, he's seen over 1500 people trained in events directly organized by him over the period - both in the UK and internationally. He is passionate about the whole concept of hands-on training and product support within the production business, and has become one of the industry's greatest exponents of this intensive and highly successful learning method.

The LTM course provides a comprehensive overview of the CM Lodestar hoist and familiarizes users with the operational theory, design philosophy, safety aspects, internal workings and trouble-shooting methods of the product. Motor School students have the chance to get their hands dirty, and the fun of completely stripping a hoist down to its component parts and re-building; unravelling the mysteries of the machine in the process!

Since launching Lift-Turn-Move in September 2004, Jones wanted to start a new training programme and a regular series of Motor Schools. However LTM's first premises proved too small for at-base events to be organized, forcing them to wait until a recent move into a larger building in March 2005. Jones also had to overcome a degree of rustiness in the presentation department, "I have organized hundreds of Motor Schools - but never actually managed to present one" he says. After a couple of practices in the yard, Jones was right back on top form as a tutor, "It's like riding a bicycle" he says, "You never forget once you have learned a Motor School". The course at Greenford was a roaring success "Three people were fully trained and passed the course with flying colours by the end of the two days." says Jones. Heselton adds, "The content was well thought through and the School extremely well presented"

LTM is now looking for a slightly bigger crew of up to about ten people to train in the build up to launching of a series of Motor Schools at LTM's Birkenhead, Wirral, HQ later in the year.

(Sarah Rushton-Read)