Darlington College’s new principal is aiming to make further education five star. Ian Lamming examines Tim Grant’s recipe for success.

A PERFECTLY tied Windsor knot sits snugly inside a crisp collar. The suit is neatly pressed, hair groomed, shoes polished. It’s a look that would grace the lobby of any five star hotel and the warm, cheerful, courteous greeting is more front of house than you might expect in a college of further education.

But that is Tim Grant all over and as he takes the helm of one of the most accomplished educational establishments in the country, he reveals his roots are in the hospitality industry.

It may be 25 years since he waited on people seeking sustenance, but the exacting standards never fade – and those skills will come in useful at Darlington College, which he plans to develop, hone and polish to perfection.

Born in Hull, Mr Grant travelled widely across Yorkshire; his father a fire officer stationed at Knaresborough, Harrogate and Leeds. He attended six primary schools before his education settled in Leeds Grammar School and Sixth Form.

His mother died during the 1969 flu epidemic when he was ten and he spent many of his teenage holidays with his aunt and uncle, working in their hotel in Crosthwaite, near Kendal, in the Lake District.

No surprise then, that he decided to attend Blackpool College of Technology, one of the best in the country at that time for hotel and catering management courses.

His eye for detail and meticulous nature were well established when he was accepted on a graduate recruitment programme run by Trust House Forte. There he experienced every aspect of the business from housekeeping to banqueting, stores to supervising, reception to restaurant.

He also managed to secure a place on an international apprenticeship scheme at Chez Christopher, in Place de le Sablone, a Michelin starred restaurant in Brussels.

“The head chef was Japanese and an absolute tyrant,” recalls Mr Grant. “But I learnt an enormous amount about planning, standards and self-resilience. It was really hard work, standards were extremely high. You were provided with food, travel and accommodation, but only paid pocket money.”

He secured a position in the five-star Hyde Park Hotel, in Knightsbridge, London, working as a supervisor in various departments and as an assistant manager.

“I also worked in the hotel cocktail bar where I was told my name was John. It’s a tradition.

The head barman is always called Charles and his assistant is John, to help customers who otherwise would never remember your name.

So for a month, I was serving champagne cocktails to celebrities and my name was John.”

BUT Mr Grant was becoming restless and wanted to do something different. So, just as the computerisation of the catering industry was in its infancy, he joined Crown Management Systems, a firm specialising in food and beverage control software, installing equipment in hotels, staff canteens and for the health service all over the country.

He said: “It was okay, but I didn’t feel I was doing anything of any real value and I wanted to make more of a contribution to society.”

So, in 1985 he became a food and beverages tutor at Clarendon College, Nottinghamshire, and climbed the educational ladder, becoming acting deputy principal when it became New College Nottingham.

Then, in September 2006, he was made deputy principal of West Nottinghamshire College in Mansfield, where he served for three years under the guidance of esteemed figure Asha Khemka.

“After the college was awarded outstanding across the board by Ofsted I was being approached weekly for possible principal’s jobs,”

he says. “When I saw the Darlington job I didn’t expect to get it. The accepted wisdom is that you never get the first principal’s job you go for, so I was absolutely delighted when I did.”

Married to Debbie, head of accommodation at Loughborough University, he has two children, Sarah, 21, who is studying applied psychology at Surrey University, and Peter, 19, who is taking performing arts and media at Salford University.

He and his wife have been involved for many years with the Explorer Scout movement, helping teenagers achieve their Duke of Edinburgh Awards. Helping young people reach their full potential continues to be the driving force in his life. “Darlington College is already extremely successful and the previous principal Sarah Robinson did an incredible job in raising standards and securing these outstanding facilities,” he says.

“The vision is to take this a step further and bring the college even closer to the community it serves. Colleges are fantastic vehicles for social justice. They can help people from difficult backgrounds learn skills and get the qualifications to help them move on in life.”

To this end, Darlington College is at the centre of plans to bring full-scale university education to the town. In partnership with Teesside University, a university centre will be built this year on the Central Park campus.

“This will help dispel the three common myths around university level education – that it is expensive, that you have to leave home and that ‘it’s not for me’,” he says.

“It is an enormous privilege to work with such committed staff here, and with young people and adults who have such enthusiasm and talent. It is incredibly rewarding to see people do fantastic things with their lives.”

And with the help of five-star further education in Darlington, his hope is that’s exactly what they will be able to do.