Career Stories, News & Updates

Our 2024 Apprentices of the Year!

PMG Member Apprentices celebrated during National Apprenticeships Week with inspiring awards event!

Outstanding local apprentices working in our PMG member businesses have been recognised for their skills, dedication and achievements at an awards ceremony held as part of Plymouth’s National Apprenticeship Week 2024.

The Apprentice of the Year Awards were presented jointly by Plymouth Manufacturers’ Group (PMG) and Building Plymouth with nominations submitted by their employers and training providers. The awards recognised 45 talented finalists and winning apprentices who were celebrated at the ceremony held at Market Hall, Devonport.

Make UK were the sponsors of the PMG Awards with winners of each category receiving glass star awards engraved with their names and a framed certificate.

Introducing the awards ceremony, Cllr Sally Cresswell, Cabinet Member for Education, Skills and Apprenticeships at Plymouth City Council said: “It is fitting to be holding this celebration in National Apprenticeship Week 2024 with the theme ‘Skills for Life,’ a good chance to reflect on how the opportunity to ‘earn while you learn’ can help both young people to start their career journey and adults to change career direction. Today’s apprentice awards truly represent the very best of achievement in two of Plymouth’s high growth sectors: construction and the built environment, and manufacturing and engineering. This important week and our Awards today, presents us with a great platform to shine a light on the amazing opportunities that an apprenticeship brings to employers, individuals and the economy. I thank all our local employers and training providers who continue to invest and support our apprentices. I am delighted to be able to share a personal congratulations to everyone celebrated.”


Jim Davison, Make UK’s Region Director for the South of England was on the judging panel and presented the awards to the winners and finalists and commented,

“Through the nominations process, we heard about the dedication that these apprentices have towards their apprenticeships, their companies and their colleagues, which is hugely reassuring for the growth and development of the manufacturing industry. While we especially congratulate the winners, we must applaud all the finalists for their hard work and passion for our sector which is why, once again, I am delighted to support the PMG Apprentice of the Year Awards and celebrate our industry’s future talent in this way.”

The first award that was presented was the PMG Business Rising Star Apprentice of the Year Award, which went to Kane Garside, a Procurement and Supply Chain Apprentice at Babcock (training with High Ridge Training). Kane was delighted and said “I am incredibly honoured and grateful to have won the Business Best Rising Star Apprentice Award. This recognition means a lot to me and I am truly grateful for the opportunities and support, given by the Supply Chain Function at Babcock, that have led me to this point. Thank you for believing in me and helping me grow as a Supply Chain professional. I am excited for what the future holds and I am grateful to be recognised as a rising star in the business world!”

The Final Year Business Apprentice of the Year Award went to Cassidy Blake of Burts Snacks. Cassidy, who trains through City College Plymouth, couldn’t join us at the event but was overjoyed to win the award. In her nomination, Cassidy’s colleagues said that she had joined the Marketing team at a very busy time for the Burts Brand, managing a heavy and varied workload and quickly became a productive, valuable and respected employee delivering outstanding results.

Also in this category, an apprentice was recognised as Highly Commended, and this was Lucy Wood of Princess Yachts (training with South Devon College) for her excellent work as a Learning and Development Coordinator arranging training for the workforce of over 3000 employees.

Next up was the award for the Rising Star Manufacturing Apprentice of the Year which was won by Ed Pusey of BD who is a Facilities Technician Apprentice training with Plymouth Engineering Skills Centre (Cornwall College). Ed was a key member of the Waste Energy sub team, where his enthusiasm and commitment to learning empowered him to make a positive impact on waste reduction targets and helped his team surpass expectations.

Again, such were the accolades from colleagues, the judges decided to recognise Kieren O’Donnell from Alstom, as Highly Commended in his category. Kieren is undertaking a degree apprenticeship in Industrial Engineering through Aston University and the judges noted his strong sense of self-motivation, self-development and volunteering in his nomination.

For 2024, it was impossible to differentiate between the strongest of the nominations for the PMG Manufacturing Final Year Apprentice of the Year Award and two joint winners were declared. They were Abbie Tucker of BD and Emily Taylor of Babcock.

Abbie Tucker completed her Engineering Technician Level 3 – Mechatronics Standard with Cornwall College in October 2023. Abbie has also been recognised by BD globally for creating an injection mould manual which is now being utilised worldwide! Abbie said of her win: “Thank you to my employer BD for the recognition for this award. Proud to have won apprentice of the year and excited for the next chapter in my career within engineering.”

The next Joint Winner was Emily Taylor, who is currently in the Final Year of her Level 4 Engineering Manufacturing Technician Apprenticeship with City College Plymouth. Emily reflected on her win and said, “I am extremely proud to have jointly won the Plymouth Manufacturing Group (PMG) Best Final Year Manufacturing Apprentice. I am grateful for the opportunities I have taken through Babcock and thank the Early Careers team and my department for giving me an amazing start to my engineering career. I am excited to continue encouraging future generations of engineers whilst maintaining my own professional development. Plymouth is fortunate to have PMG as a fantastic network and continued growth in the sector is assured with their support in apprenticeship programmes.  I am privileged to have been a part of this inspiring community in Plymouth.”

Karen Friendship, Managing Director at Aldermans and Chair of the Plymouth Manufacturers’ Group said of the winners and finalists: “As I employ apprentices and I know the huge pride we feel when we see them grow, not just in their abilities but also in their confidence in our companies.  Plymouth is one of the UK’s Top Ten Cities with the largest concentration of manufacturing employment. And our sector contributes a higher than average percentage to Plymouth’s economy – which means our apprentices, are also critical to the economic growth and future success of our city and local area. These awards are a significant way to show them that we recognise their endeavours, their importance in our businesses and that we are, in turn, committed to them.”

At the awards ceremony, these Finalist, Highly Commended and Winning manufacturing apprentices were all celebrated for their success and commended for the high standards they have shown in their achievements and skills developed during their apprenticeships.

Full list of PMG apprentices recognised at the awards:

Plymouth Manufacturers’ Group Apprentices of the Year Finalists and Winners 2024

Winner, PMG Rising Star Business Apprentice of the Year 2024

  • Kane Garside of Babcock, Procurement and Supply Chain Apprentice at High Ridge Training

Winner, PMG Final Year Business Apprentice of the Year 2024

  • Cassidy Blake of Burts Snacks, a Digital Marketing Executive training with City College Plymouth.

Highly Commended, PMG Final Year Business Apprentice of the Year 2024

  • Lucy Wood, Learning & Development Co-ordinator, training with South Devon College

Award Finalist, PMG Final Year Business Apprentice of the Year 2024

  • Lois Randle, Collins Aerospace, Service Delivery Partner Apprentice, with Focus Training Group

Winner, PMG Rising Star Manufacturing Apprentice of the Year 2024

  • Edward Pusey of BD, Facilities Technician Apprentice with Plymouth Engineering Skills Centre (Cornwall College)

Highly Commended, PMG Rising Star Manufacturing Apprentice of the Year 2024

  • Kieren O’Donnell of Alstom, Industrial Engineering Apprentice training with Aston University and Alstom

Award Finalists, PMG Rising Star Manufacturing Apprentice of the Year 2024

  • Adam Foster from BD, an Apprentice Moulding Technician, training with Cornwall College.
  • Adam Price from Schneider Electric, an Electrical Manufacturing Engineer Apprentice with City College Plymouth.
  • Dylan Gorrin from Sotek Engineering, a CNC Machinist Apprentice with South Devon College.
  • Leo Marshall from Babcock, a CNC Manufacturing Apprentice with City College Plymouth
  • Luke Bonner from Centrax Limited , an Engineering Apprentice with Exeter College.
  • Tansy McIntyre from Lang & Potter, an Apprentice Upholster with South Devon College.
  • Tyler Simmons from Lang & Potter, an Apprentice Upholster with South Devon College.

Joint Winners, PMG Final Year Manufacturing Apprentice of the Year 2024

  • Abbie Tucker from BD, an Apprentice Technician with Cornwall College.
  • Emily Taylor from Babcock, a Higher Level Mechanical Apprentice, with City College Plymouth.

Award Finalists, PMG Final Year Manufacturing Apprentice of the Year 2024

  • Henry Richards from Plessey, a Coring Technician who trained with City College Plymouth.
  • Samuel Frankham from BD who trained as an Apprentice Metrologist with Cornwall College.
  • Tierney Simmons from Lang & Potter who trained as an Apprentice Upholsterer with South Devon College.
  • Tommy Lewis from Lang & Potter who trained as an Apprentice Upholsterer with South Devon College.
x