Moray business leaders get insight into life at RAF Lossiemouth
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Business leaders from Moray were treated to an informative evening at RAF Lossiemouth recently.
Moray Chamber of Commerce hosted an Audience with Group Captain Jim Lee, the current station commander who oversees the operations and running of the busy base.
He was interviewed by Eleanor Bradford and gave an insight into what it's like to head-up the operation, how he works with his team and provided a glimpse into the inner workings of the Channel 4 documentary the base was at the centre of.
At the end of the panel, guests were given the opportunity to ask Gp Ctn Lee questions on their mind.
One of the questions asked was how businesses in Moray can attract those living and working at the base into their premises and tell their business story better to the military that are there.
With over 2,500 people employed at RAF Lossiemouth it is a large contributor to the local economy.
Gp Cpt Lee said: "We are working on how we can share business stories in a more structured way to those on base.
"We have a lot of young people on base, with some of them as young as 17 years old which can be daunting for them being away from home for the first time. It's important to me that we connect them to the local community.
"We are working on it and I'm open to ideas and we can examine how we can do this."
As a big employer with long-standing links with the community, Gp Cpt Lee said RAF Lossiemouth has many 'mutual interests' within Moray and that it is in the process of trying to 're-energise' the links it has with the community.
He also gave a glowing recommendation of RAF employees and explained to the business leaders present why they would make great candidates for work if they were ever to seek a role in a different sector other than the Air Force.
He said: "They are going to be trustworthy and they are going to be professional.
"It's been interesting hearing about others who have made that transition from the RAF into the local economy. I know one of the challenges somebody faced in the beginning was, they knew that there is a rank within the Air Force, so people infer from that what they have to do. But in the real world it's different as people have to be persuaded what to do sometimes.
"Most military people can figure out how to adapt as we never know where we're going next. They are very committed too.
"The attributes and motivation is there for them to transition to another sector."
