Episode 151: LIVE EVENT! Skills, Careers & Policy

This Week: On 21st November 2025, Eastern Promise held a live event at Mills & Reeve's Cambridge office, focussed around skills, careers and creating better policy on both.

However, this recording, in front of a live audience set out to do something different: to talk to a group of young people about their hopes, dreams and future plans, and get a panel of educators and skills professionals consisting of: Andy Daly, Executive Principal of the Meridian Trust; Anne Bailey, CEO of Form the Future CIC; Kevin Keable, Chair of the East of England Energy Group (and, coincidentally, the recently announced Liberal Democrat candidate for Mayor of Norfolk and Suffolk), and Deputy Principal of East Norfolk Sixth Form College in Gorleston near Great Yarmouth, Dr Simon Fox, to address these points, before giving young people the final say.  

Then, in what is admittedly a bit of a 'long player' of a podcast, we move forward to look at the impact of career breaks, whether chosen or not, and career pivots.  We'll hear a number of stories of what can best be described as 'squiggly careers', huge life changes, sudden shocks, pivots from successful careers into new ventures and more. Taking us through this are: Deborah Dawson of Mills & Reeve, Victoria Higgins of 'Beyond the Noise', Sally Field of Cambridge Wireless and Tarquin Bennett-Coles of Compass Carter Osborne.

And finally, Charlotte Horobin, CEO of the Cambridgeshire Chamber of Commerce; Dan Thorp, CEO of Cambridge Ahead; Owen Garling of the Bennett School of Public Policy; and Gareth John, Director of Policy at accountancy trainers First Intuition will unpack everything we've heard and share their thoughts about what it all means going forward.

Eastern Promise would like to thank everyone who attended the recording, our engineer, North Cambridge Academy and East Norfolk Sixth Form, and especially Lee, Dotty, Mai, Drew, Ash and Shanae from those institutions for taking part.

To find out more about Eastern Promise, to listen to our back catalogue and to contact us, visit https://easternpromise.org.uk.

Eastern Promise is proud to be supported by Mills & Reeve.