BrightStar Training’s Aim
How often have we heard people who have just attended a training course say: “It was a good course but I wouldn’t feel confident doing it on my own yet.” Whether this is first aid or being able to navigate through the countryside, surely this is failing the students and, perhaps more importantly, the people they may be asked to lead or assist.
BrightStar Training was established from a strenuous desire to give students not just knowledge but the self-assurance to put their learning into immediate practice. Our aim, therefore, is to equip you with the ability to use your new skills confidently and enthusiastically from the outset.
About us
We strongly believe that no training should be provided by someone who has only the same qualification that they are teaching and who has no real-world experience to bring the training to life. Therefore, everyone who teaches for BrightStar Training is trained to at least the next level of qualification where it exists, often far higher, and has extensive experience gained through practical activity in often the most-testing of environments. This ensures that you, the student, gain the maximum possible from the training and can delve as far as you like into the subject.
Principal – Richard Hughes
Rich established BrightStar Training after a long career in the Royal Air Force which had given him the opportunity to indulge his passion for the outdoors. This passion started whilst he was growing up in North Wales where, having been a Scout, he first joined a local mountain rescue team at age 17; this also instigated his life-long interest in first aid and casualty care.
Having continued to develop his mountaineering skills throughout the UK and Scandinavia whilst studying in South Wales, he was then privileged to join the Royal Air Force Mountain Rescue Service in Scotland. Subsequently, he has participated in, and led, expeditions to the European Alps, Himalayas and Andes, as well as continuing to enjoy the outstanding countryside throughout the UK. He is qualified as a Winter Mountain Leader, and is a full member of the Mountain Training Association, as well as being qualified as a tutor for the National Navigation Award Scheme. Rich is equally at home on or in the water: he is a Coastal Skipper in offshore sailing; is qualified in both dinghy sailing and powerboats; is a keen kayaker; and is qualified under DEFRA regulations as both a Water Rescue First Responder and a Water and Flood Team Commander.
Since retiring from the Royal Air Force, Rich has been able to continue his association with search and rescue and is currently the Operations Officer for Buckinghamshire Search and Rescue Team, a Lowland Rescue Team Leader and Casualty Carer, and on the National Training and Assessment Team for Lowland Rescue. He is also a Community First Responder with the South Central Ambulance Service and, along with being privately qualified as an ambulance Emergency Care Assistant, this has allowed him to continue gaining valuable frontline medical experience.
In his spare time, he also enjoys greatly his involvement with the Scout Association as a Leader and first aid instructor, repaying a little of what he first gained as a member himself and hoping to instil the love of the outdoors in the next generation.
Lead Instructor – Laura Griffen
Laura is employed full time in Outdoor Education and specialises in the development of young people through adventurous experiences. She developed an early love of the outdoors through her involvement in Scouts and the DofE Award and continued her involvement in these throughout her time at University.
Through her career she has run expeditions and trips to various parts of the UK, Italy, France, Spain and Croatia. She is a qualified Summer Mountain Leader, and holds instructor awards in Climbing, Paddlesports, High Ropes, Archery and First Aid. She is a full member of Mountain Training Association, a DofE Assessor and is a tutor for the National Navigation Award Schemes.
Laura is both a volunteer Community First Responder with the South Central Ambulance Service and a Team Leader and Lowland Rescue Casualty Carer with Buckinghamshire Search and Rescue Team, enjoying the chance to use the skills she has developed through her career to help people. In her spare time, she volunteers with a Ten Tors Training Team, which gives her more opportunities to share her passion for the outdoors with young people and help them develop into the people they are capable of becoming.