Our Grŵp: Meet the Staff (August)
Welcome to ‘Our Grŵp’, the new staff profile feature for Grŵp Llandrillo Menai.
‘Our Grŵp’ will feature a new staff member every month: where you can get to know our Team a little better, hear about their roles, and the fantastic experiences they have had with the Grŵp.
Name: Tony Fitzmaurice
Job title: Hospitality Work Based Learning Assessor
What does your job involve?
Delivering Hospitality NVQs to learners in their workplace across North Wales
What do you like about working for the Grŵp?
I enjoy helping learners along their journey to achieve their NVQ qualifications and inspiring the next generation of Hospitality workers. The team I work for has such amazing experience and knowledge in the sector and being able to share this with learners hugely helps with their development.
Tell us a little bit about yourself
When I first started working for the Grŵp in March of 2020, I was in poor physical shape, I was type 2 diabetic, hugely overweight and as a result of this my mental health wasn’t the best.
However - I have now reversed the Diabetes and lost a total of six and a half stone!
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, I knew I needed to do something to help myself. I decided to put the saying ‘Healthy body, Healthy mind’ to the test.
I started to walk every day, just 1 mile to start with. As the weeks passed I started to find it easier, I had lost a few pounds and was enjoying the peace and freedom of being outside and having time to think about things without any distractions.
Over time, I steadily increased the distance until I was walking on average 10 miles a day and enjoying it. Seeing and feeling the weight drop off spurred me on.
While I was out walking, I would forget about Covid issues and the worries that went with it.
I soon started jogging. On the first attempt, I ran maybe a mile and it hurt a lot!
However, I knew that if I continued it would get easier over time. So, every day I would keep going and sure enough it got easier.
Being able to now run gave me great inner pride and focused my mind away from the negativity of Covid.
The weight kept dropping off and my ability to run improved as did the distance.
Fast forward to today, I run on average 40 miles a week and I recently completed the ‘Cybi Coastal Marathon’ which is 26.3 miles around Anglesey.
I’m now fitter than ever, in a real good place mentally and the journey has shown me that I have determination and focus to reach any goals or targets I set myself.
My story goes to show that anyone can make changes and reach their targets. I’m not saying it will not be easy and there are times you feel like giving up, but trust me when you stay determined and focused there is no greater feeling.
So I now believe that the saying ‘Healthy body, Healthy mind’ is true.
Doing a bit of physical activity every day will help your mental well-being as well as your physical health.
