Around 100 hair, beauty and barbering students benefited from the expertise and knowledge of industry professionals from Shepton Mallet who visited Strode College in Street for its Industry Day recently.

A broad and diverse range of workshops and demonstrations were held at Strode's specialist salons and students had the opportunity to see different techniques and meet and ask the industry experts questions. Many of the professionals originally trained at Strode College and are successful in their careers.

Among those giving demonstrations were Megan White from Charlton House Spa and Becky Stokes-Stephens from Becky Beauty.

Sandra Hellier, course manager for barbering at Strode College and organiser of this Industry Day event, said: "The aim of our industry day is to inspire and motivate our students, to see and hear first-hand from industry experts who have been in their shoes and are now in their own successful careers.

"It gives our students the opportunity to see the latest up to date techniques, skills and products being demonstrated by those industry experts and gain invaluable industry and careers advice.

"Many of our experts have previously been Strode students and it gives us such pleasure and makes us so proud to see former students returning as professionals – it's fantastic to see how they have advanced in their careers since studying at Strode.

"I would like to take the opportunity to thank all of our industry experts who gave up their own precious time to come and support and inspire our students with their learning opportunities and journeys."

Lauren Hodges, who is currently on a hairdressing apprenticeship at Strode College, spoke about how she felt she benefited from attending the Industry Day.

"I have loved getting the chance to attend a day like this, as it provides us with the chance to get to speak to professionals and watch how differently they do things," she said.

"It keeps things interesting and encourages us to aim to be more creative, as we get to see things we wouldn't necessarily see in a salon ourselves.

"It allows us to pick up new tips and tricks too, so it feels like we enter a new chapter of learning, which is really inspiring."

Level 2 part-time barbering student Sophie Rivers said: "For me personally, I learn a lot better by watching someone demonstrating, rather than just being verbally instructed.

"Therefore, as I am more of a physical learner, I learnt a lot from the demonstrations we were given.

"The fact that all three of the barbers did different styles and cuts also gave me a more rounded learning experience.

"Watching all of the professionals work, how gracefully fluent they were in the use of their equipment, and hearing them talk about how they got into the trade and their career journey was really inspirational.

"It amazes me how you can go from just working on the shop floor to having such amazing life experiences like Paul Taylor-Clinch, for example.

"He told us how he started off as an apprentice in a shop and through pursuing his talent, he's now gone on to be an ambassador for Reuzel, selling products and attending public talks about the brand all over the world."