Able Skills plastering instructor Jo Holloway has been with us for many years and has continually delivered fantastic training to hundreds of students in the time that he has been here. Jo is from a family of plasterers; his dad was a plasterer as was his grandad.
Sally and Katie in the London Fire Brigade.
However, Jo’s wife and daughter have taken a very different career path and it is well worth noting that they have made history in Great Britain.
Jo’s wife and daughter have become the first ever mother and daughter partnership to be working for the London Fire Brigade at the same time in its entire 150 year history. Sally Harper, Jo’s wife, has been in the London Fire Brigade since 1988 and Jo’s daughter Katie has just passed out.
Sally is now the station manager at Tooting fire station and has seen the London Fire Brigade change massively since the day she started. When she joined in 1988 there were only seven female firefighters in the whole of London, compared to over 300 in the capital today.
Katie, Jo’s daughter, has also joined the crew at Tooting fire station and so history is made.
Sally has been a role model for many female firefighters and now her daughter has made the decision to follow in her footsteps within the LFB.
Firefighting was once seen as a very male dominated role, but with a very large number of women making this career choice, Katie has been welcomed with open arms by the rest of her new team.
Jo, quite rightly, is very proud of them both and they have shown extreme dedication to get to where they are now. Jo is no different, he has been extremely focused and dedicated to his job at Able Skills and he is a fantastic plastering instructor and helps people begin their new careers on a weekly basis and is a very popular figure with his students.
Jo has also seen an increase in women undertaking plastering courses – again, another male dominated industry where one day, women might just over.
For the full article, please see History made as mother and daughter become first to serve LFB at same time