An Andover teenager had a surprise on the evening of her school leavers’ prom – she was treated to a VIP close protection experience.
Jessica Winter (16) and her boyfriend Jamie Ward (15) were collected from home by a close protection unit, before being transported to Harrow Way Community School in the Hampshire town. The security detail was provided by Hampshire-based security company, Venture Security.
The pair of school leavers were transported in a Range Rover, accompanied by two close protection officers, with suits, earpieces and dark glasses. Two further officers on motorcycles escorted the car (pictured courtesy of Venture), scouting out the area and their arrival point.
Jessica Winter said afterwards: “Everyone gets excited by fancy sports cars but to be treated like royalty was a whole different experience. When I saw the car approaching I was shaking with excitement.
“I feel very proud to have a dad that would do something so special for me and Jamie and I’m so thankful to the amazing Venture team for how they treated us during the whole experience. It made the concept of prom even greater for me and Jamie and we are incredibly thankful to everybody who took part in making our evening the best it could be.”
Jessica’s father is Darren Winter, who works at Venture and who indeed has been featured in Professional Security magazine, when early in 2020 we featured Ventures’s work in the niche field of providing CSAS (community safety accreditation scheme) services such as patrolling in town centres. Darren said: “It’s been a really challenging few years, with so much disruption caused by the pandemic. Despite this, Jessica has absolutely blown us away with her determination and hard work, and the whole family is really proud of her. We wanted to do something extra special as a surprise for her prom and working in the security industry myself, giving her a close protection experience seemed like a unique way to do so.”
Paul Howe, MD of Andover-based Venture said: “For Jessica, this will be a school send-off she’ll never forget and we’re delighted to be involved! Our close protection team is used to dealing with some very important people – and none more so than our extra special VIP Jessica.”
About Venture
Venture, an SIA-approved contractor and a member of the ACS Pacesetters group, were last featured in the April print edition of Professional Security magazine, working at Stonehenge, the English Heritage site in Wiltshire. Visit www.venturesecurity.co.uk.
