People

Chris Davy – Founder of Draw It Books

About Me

Those that know me know that, when I’m in the mood, I will talk forever. But this page is here for me to share some of my journey with you. So, you can learn a bit more about me. Who I am. Where I’m from. Where I’ve worked. What I’ve done. How I got to this point. Where I am going next. So, I’ll [try and] keep it to the point.

I was born in Wolverhampton in 1985 and grew up in Codsall until I was 8; when my parents got divorced and I moved to Exmouth, Devon to live with my Mum and my ‘to be’ Step-Dad. My Mum has owned women’s clothes shops and been a classroom assistant for children with additional needs. My Dad has been a DJ, a helicopter pilot instructor, and owned a computer and model shop. My Step-Dad used to run one of Exeter’s busiest independent card and gift stores. In recent years he has written a lot of books. Check them out here. I have two half brothers(who are absolutely my ‘brothers’, even though we have a different Dad).

I love entertainment. I sing, play guitar, and write songs. I also love sport.

Here is a book I wrote about Sports Coaching.

Even though I know struggle has to be a part of life, I strive to make everyday a pleasant one.

Here is a book I wrote about Self-Help.

I lived in Exmouth until I went to study Film Studies and Media & Cultural Studies at Kingston University in Surrey. After university I moved in with my Dad, in Wolverhampton, and helped him renovate a house, whilst I also worked on the bar at The Civic Halls. I tried moving back towards London, but day to day life generally doesn’t suit me there. So, I moved back to Exmouth.

Eventually, my girlfriend and I moved just up the road from Exmouth to Exeter. This is where we have lived since the start of 2014. We live with our little boy and cat and we try to make everyday a good one.

I’ve got a lot of skills, knowledge, and experience. The things I create are my way of sharing that with others. I hope that you check them out and I hope that you find them valuable.

Here is a link to the all of books I have created.

I am currently in the process of making an iOS app to help people learn foreign languages.

Work History

Devon County Council, Countywide (Jan 2022 – PRESENT)

Pathways Officer / Project Co-ordinator

Health and Social Care Skills Accelerator Programme

• My role was to link a network of stakeholders across Devon to recruit people into and upskill those working within the Health and Social Care Sector.
• I have worked closely with a range people from some hugely important organisations including:
  • South Devon College
  • Exeter College
  • PETROC
  • City College Plymouth
  • On Course South West
  • Learn Devon
  • Royal Devon University Hospital
  • Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust
  • University Hospital Plymouth
  • Devon Partnership Trust
  • Plymouth City Council
  • Devon Clinical Commisioning Group
  • Livewell Southwest

Education and Training Skills, Exeter (Jun 2021 – Jan 2022)

Training Facilitator

• Here I provided Functional Skills training to learners studying English, maths, and ICT.
• I supported the delivery of apprenticeship training for Devon and Cornwall Police Call Handlers.
• I also delivered training for the security team at Plymouth University.

Exeter College, Exeter (Mar 2017 – Jun 2021)

Individual Learning Record Officer – Apprenticeships

• At Exeter College primarily I lead a small, but extremely vital, team of administrators that processed and maintained apprenticeship documentation and data.
• It was our responsibility to ensure that the college’s data and documentation was compliant and allowed the college to claim all the funding that is required to deliver apprenticeship training to hundreds of apprentices.
• During my time at Exeter College we supported thousands of apprentices, as well as all other staff and students.
• I fully encourage an approach to learning and employment that utilises a model such as apprenticeships.
• I wouldn’t have spent such a large portion of my life supporting apprenticeships if I didn’t believe in them.

Education and Training Skills, Exeter (Apr 2016 – Mar 2017)

Administrator

• My job involved processing data and documentation to support apprenticeship delivery.
• I also helped with the hosting of apprenticeship award ceremonies

A Community Care Provider (Apr 2016)

HR and Finance Administrator

• I worked here for two weeks,
• I got savage anxiety.
• Two people were being made redundant and their work was going to become my job.
• The equivalent of 7 days work was going into my role of 5 days.
• They were also training me up.
• People were great to me about it all.
• I just couldn’t hack it.
• I left.

RMBI Cadagon Court, Exeter (Oct 2015 – Apr 2016)

Receptionist / Administrator

• At Cadagon I worked on reception and was the frontline for all enquiries.
• I processed staff payroll and annual leave.
• I also maintained staff training records.
• I also had the responsibility of helping manage internal resident bank accounts.

University of Exeter (Feb 2013 – Oct 2015)

Women’s Basketball Team Head Coach (2014/2015)

• Here I coached the University of Exeter Women’s 1st Team in BUCS competitions.
• I was responsible for creating a delivering the whole training programme.
• I worked closely with Strength and Conditioning to provide players with the best opportunities to improve performance.
• I also worked closely with the Athletic Union to ensure that the squad had acces to as many training sessions as they could.
• I gained my Level 3 Coaching Qualification during this time.
• This was a huge personal goal of mine to achieve this qualification before I turned 30 years old.
• I’ve worked hard for a long time to grow and develop the basketball culture of the region.

Recreation Assistant (Feb 2013 – Oct 2015)

• As a Recreation Assistant I basically cleaned and prepared the venue for sport.
• I also worked on reception at times and took bookings and processed memberships.
• I was responsible for opening the facilities and securely locking them up.
• I was there as the University built and introduced the new Sports Park facility.
• Exeter University has consistently been a Top 10 sporting University in the UK for many years.
• It was great to work there and enjoy in the successes of the sports teams.

LED Leisure, East Devon (Aug 2011 – Feb 2013)

Membership Sales Advisor – Exmouth Sports Centre (Sep 2012 – Feb 2013)

• I was the first designated Membership Sales Advisor for LED Leisure.
• It was a job I was very proud to get.
• I worked closely with the local community to guide them through the registration process and work towards a happier and healthier lifestyle.
• I only had the job for a short amount of time because my girlfriend and I wanted to relocate to Exeter.
• The truth is, even though it is just down the road, Exmouth doesn’t have as many employment and career progression opportunities as Exeter.
• Plus commuting from Exmouth to Exeter everyday costs a lot of time and money.
• It made more sense to move, so that’s what we did.

Leisure Assistant – Exmouth Pavilion (Aug 2011 – Sep 2012)

• At Exmouth Pavilion I worked on the bar and set up and cleaned the venue.
• I loved working at the Pavilion.
• I love arts and entertainment.
• Paul Daniel’s performed, The Wurzels, The Royal Marines Band, and a bunch of other people.
• I take a lot of pride having worked in Exmouth’s biggest entertainment venue.
• I left in the end because I needed a full-time salary because I was buying my first house

Pro-Coaching, Exeter (Oct 2010 – Feb 2011)

Self-Employed (May 2010 – Apr 2011)

Multi-Sports Coach

• As a self-employed sports coach I delivered basketball coaching sessions in the local area.
• I did this along side my work for Pro-Coaching.
• Basically, I did this to get out of my long-term unemployment situation.
• All I wanted to focus on was basketball really (Because I was using that as a vessel to get fit and healthy again after going to University).
• So, I didn’t generate enough income to stay self-employed.
• But it got me back on track and helped me re-ignite my need to work and find something I wanted to do for work.
• I did it for about a year.

Long-term unemployed (Oct 2009 – May 2010)

Living on benefits

• I was on benefits.
• I was pretty depressed.
• Life sucked pretty bad some of the time.
• I started training to become a Driving Instructor.
• I never qualified – which on reflection I’m glad about because I think it would have been a right drama.
• I got put on a course by the JobCentre to become self-employed.
• So, I took my passion of sport and became a self-employed sports coach.

Haven Banks, Sandy Bay, Exmouth (Jun 2009 – Sep 2009)

Cleaning Supervisor

• I checked caravans after cleaners had cleaned them.
• Apparently some guests said they found a bogey on a fruit bowl.
• It was apparently in a caravan I had checked. Obviously, I didn’t see it if it was there.
• My boss basically asked me to leave, which obviously isn’t fair dismissal.
• But, I left without much of a fuss.
• I don’t want to work with people that can’t find a way to get along and clearly don’t like me.
• But you don’t need to make up stories to get rid of people.
• People can be weird.

Schuh, Exeter (May 2008 – Jun 2008)

Customer Service Assistant

• It’s a shoe store.
• I sold shoes.
• But I think they are quite expensive and I didn’t hit the sales targets they wanted me to.
• It’s hard to sell stuff to people when you don’t fully believe in the product and/or service.
• So, come the end they basically were asking me to leave.
• I was fine with this because I was going to leave anyway as I had got a job at the Express and Echo.

Wolverhampton Civic Halls (Oct 2007 Mar 2008)

Bar Assistant

• I worked on the bar.
• It was wicked.
• I used to work nights like Cheeky Monkeys and Blast Off.
• I was working a club night the night Newton Faulkner played and some girl feinted with excitment.
• I worked The Levellers, Ian, Brown, and Beverly Knight to name a few.
• My boss got in a benny with me because she found me in the middle of the hall floor watching Beverly Knight and not on the bar.
• I made some cool friends. We used to go to Planet nightclub after work and often get a Lazeez special pizza on the way home for a quid!
• I left Wolves to move back to Kingston.
• I couldn’t hack it in Kingston.
• There’s a bunch of reasons why.
• Letting agents didn’t make life easy for one, and I got scammed as well.
• So, that sucked.
• I moved ‘home’ to Exmouth.

Olivant’s, Exmouth (Uni Summer Job)

Chef De Partie

• I worked here during a summer in between years at Uni.
• I had met a mate down the pub on the beach and he told me about the job.
• I had worked in a kitchen and could use a knife. I thought that was enough.
• For the most part it was, but running a lunchtime shift on your own in summer is tough.
• Dinner service though, no worries.
• I even had a photographer snap a picture of one of my desserts to use in a magazine, apparently.
• Basically, if your heart isn’t in a job then you won’t do it very well.

Woodbury Park Hotel, Woodbury (Uni Summer Job)

Kitchen Porter

• Basically, Woodbury Park used to be owned by Formula One racer Nigel Mansell.
• I thought that was cool and got a job there.
• We had football teams come and stay and train. Liverpool came to stay one year, Portsmouth another I think.
• The best guests that I would have supported a service for are The Red Arrows.
• I had this job just for the time I was home from Uni.

The Farmhouse, Exmouth

Waiter / Pot Wash

• This is a place that was run by the parents of a friend from school.
• It was, and still is, a great pub.
• I worked hard. I served people. It was a pub.
• I can’t remember how I got the job and I can’t remember how I left. I think I left because I was going to University.

The Imperial, Exmouth

Porter / Waitor

• This was my first job for someone that wasn’t family.
• It was ok.
• I was familiar with eating out at restaurants, and was raised to be generally respectful and courteous, so I took to it easily enough.
• One of my first shifts I had a mare and tried to fill a milk jug using a jug I had not long come out of the dishwasher. Naturally it smashed and glass went everywhere.
• I left because people were basically piggy backing on all my hard work and taking my tips at the end of a guests stay(because I wasn’t working a lot of shifts when people left).

The Card Zone, Exeter

Retail Assistant

• This was basically my first job.
• It was my Step-Dad’s shop.
• I can’t remember how old I would have been, like 13/14.
• I worked on the till and helped organise stock.
• It really helped me get my maths up to a high standard.
• I worked Saturdays, and Thursdays at Christmas time when late night shopping started.
• We sold A LOT of Beanie Babies! Like… A LOT!!!!

Qualifications

Exeter College

App Development: Develop in Swift Fundamentals (2023)

NCFE

Certificate in Information, Advice, or Guidance – Level 2 (2022)

BIIAB

Education and Training – Level 3 (2021)

Football Association

Award in Coaching Football – Level 1 (2018)

Exeter College

Introduction to Counselling Skills – Level 2 (2015)

Basketball England

Certificate in Coaching Basketball – Level 3 (2015)

Exeter College

Multi Sports Activity Leader – Level 2 (2012)

British American Football Coaches Association

Assistant Coach – Level 1 (2011)

England Basketball

Basketball Coach – Level 2 (2010)

England Basketball

Assistant Coach – Level 1 (2009)

Kingston University

B.A. Hons. Film Studies and Media & Cultural Studies – Third (2007)

IMDB Profile