A house-keeping assistant at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham (QEHB) has enjoyed a prized royal date after taking part in a visit to Buckingham Palace.

Martin Coogan was with a group of staff from Birmingham Metropolitan College who were invited to the Palace to meet members of the Royal Household, which is a diverse employer of staff from the housekeeping industry.

Martin, aged 54, found himself back in the learning sector after he suffered the “bombshell” of being made redundant after 30 years as a security officer at Associated British Foods.

He said: “It was a real shock to me to find myself unemployed at the age of 50.

“I had never considered cleaning, but this is like a new life for me now. It’s more active and I love it.”

Added Martin: “The careers manager at the Job Centre recommended me to the cleaning course at the college and I was interested. I passed the entrance exam to get onto the six-week full time course, which included a week’s placement at the QE.

“I then passed all the cleaning sciences exams and came here straight after the course in August 2010 as a house-keeping assistant.”

Martin said he enjoyed his time with his college lecturers so much that he never lost touch with them.

“I kept going back to speak to the students, who were predominantly aged 17 or 18, to pass on my experience of 30 years work.

“Cleaning is a big industry and people have to see that there is a career in it. You can become a manager from being a house-keeping assistant. I didn’t realise until going to college how big the housekeeping industry is.”

Martin said the visit to Buckingham Palace came about after Birmingham Metropolitan College laid on a demonstration about its housekeeping course to senior industry figures.

One of these then arranged for representatives from the college, together with Martin, to meet members of the Royal Household at the Palace.

Martin said: “We were so well looked after. We were treated very well and given a little tour which included going round to different State Rooms. We also spoke to their house-keepers and learnt about their training and how long it takes.”