Colleague Charlie Askew retires after nearly 30 years
13th November 2026
Much-loved colleague Charlie Askew, Work Based Learning Coordinator, retired this week after an incredible 30 years creating unforgettable opportunities for young people across our college community and beyond.
We sat down with Charlie to chat to him about some of his highlights, hear his journey, and recognise his hard work over the years.
We are sure that he will be hugely missed by many colleagues across our colleges, and we wish him all the best in his retirement.
I started at Easton way back in April 1998, where I answered an advert in the Eastern Daily Press for a Livestock Technician. They offered me the job before I even got home. I went for the job because we had just sold three quarters of our dairy herd to clear some farm debt.
The very first thing said to me when I arrived was “here’s the poultry unit, you’ll be in charge of this”. I’d never been in charge of a poultry unit, but he said if you can run a dairy herd, you can definitely run a poultry unit. This was most of my early work at the college, followed by my Level 3 Apprenticeship, or NVQ as it was, in poultry.
I was then part of the team that took school kids around the farm, usually primary schools. This role then morphed into going into schools and talking about farming, as well as taking part in careers night in secondary schools. This was all alongside milking in the morning before work, and in the evenings. When our cow herd started to increase again at home, juggling the two nearly killed me!
It came to a point where one job subsidised the other one, and I had to make a decision – I chose to move into beef from dairy, as this wasn’t so many hours, and went full time here. At that point, I was asked to do my teaching qualification, and I also became a proficiency assessor for anything to do with livestock – taking on the role of Norfolk Proficiency Testing Committee Chairman. This worked well alongside my job here, as quite a lot of our students and apprentices would take those proficiency tests.
My additional responsibility alongside my role was my work with Europea UK as National Coordinator. We had a link with Benesov College in Czechia, going back to the 80s, and my involvement began when I was asked to take some students over there. Keeping those links with Europea UK is something I am really proud of – and the AgroChallenge last year was my grand finale. I only ever missed two Europea events over the years, which is a testament to all the management at Easton over the years who were willing to send me and were very supportive.
The Europea element of my career centred around securing work experience for students abroad, and bringing students over here, or getting them involved in long-term projects on a subject relevant to their education. It’s all about that life experience. It changes them a lot, and being able to send those who wouldn’t otherwise have the chance is the real passion. A while ago we were involved a project called ‘you are what you eat’, and two girls studying Animal Care really wanted to take part. They had never been abroad before, and couldn’t afford to, but as a result got to go to so many places and meet a range of people – they really got into it. That’s the real driver. My biggest hope once I am retired is that staff will continue this work. What was great about merging with City College Norwich in 2020 is that they have always shared the same passion for sending students abroad for various experiences.
I’ve had the opportunity to work with some truly incredible people over the years, but I particularly want to thank David Lawrence, who was Principal at Easton when I started, as well as David Morton who was a great mentor to me initially. I’ve been really fortunate to have Jenny Belshaw and Caron Goreham as my managers, who have both been very tolerant. I wish everyone well, and please don’t forget the reason you’re here – for the students. Whether it’s sending them abroad or something else entirely, it’s about giving our students the best chance.