PMG celebrates its Apprentices of the Year 2023

Lucy Edwards was awarded the prestigious Building Plymouth Construction Technical Apprentice of the Year 2023. Lucy is undertaking a Higher Level 4 in Construction Quantity Surveying Technician with Ian Williams and City College Plymouth. On winning her award Lucy Edwards said: “This was such an exciting opportunity.  It was a privilege to have been nominated and I was so proud to have received the award. I am looking forward to using this platform to be an ambassador for apprenticeships and also to promote diversity for the industry as a whole.”

David Mears was next up, winning the highly respected Ron Simmonds Construction Trade Apprentice of the Year 2023 Award. David is undertaking an Intermediate Level 2 in Bricklaying with Persimmon Homes Cornwall and West Devon and City College Plymouth. David Mears said: “I feel very honoured to receive the Apprentice of the Year award and I’m very proud of what I have achieved so far during my apprenticeship. I thoroughly enjoy working for Persimmon Homes and I’m looking forward to developing my skills and gaining further experience, so I can become a qualified and competent tradesman.”

For 2023, the PMG Apprentice of the Year Awards were sponsored by Make UK, of which Jim Davison, Make UK’s Region Director for the South of England was on the judging panel and commented, “Make UK is delighted to sponsored the Plymouth Manufacturing Group Apprentice Awards 2023. It was a fantastic evening of celebration, focussed on the achievements of all the apprentices shortlisted. It was a pleasure to present the awards to the winning apprentices and have the opportunity to meet the next generation of rising stars. Manufacturing and engineering offer a broad range of exciting and stimulating careers and such celebrations are vital in recognising and attracting our next generation workforce into the sector.”

Also on the judging panel was Phil Halse of SWMAS who recalled that amongst the nominations, there were apprentices who had transitioned with enthusiasm from a previous career, showed willingness to learn, some had taken on extra responsibilities, acted as ambassadors for their business and supported others, some received numerous endorsements, portrayed exemplary professional attitudes, and consistently exceeded expectations. It was therefore sometimes difficult to differentiate between such strong nominations and they applauded all the finalists’ passion for the manufacturing industry.

The first of the PMG Apprentice Awards was that of the Business Rising Star Apprentice for 2023 – which went to Nicola Mundy of Babcock. Nicola is training as a Higher Level Quality Assurance Apprentice with Capella and said: “It is such an honour to be entered into the awards. To be recognised by management to be worthy of being entered into the awards and then to win, feels like a great achievement and I am very grateful to be recognised for the effort I am putting into my apprenticeship. I feel very proud to be undertaking an apprenticeship at Babcock. The opportunities available to me and my learning experiences so far have been amazing and I am excited to progress within my role.”

Also from Babcock is the Winner of the PMG Final Year Business Apprentice of the Year Award, Laura Stephens, who is a Supply Chain Apprentice training with the ATN Group. Laura said “Being nominated for a PMG award means that my seniors and peers have acknowledged the hard work I have undertaken over the last 2 and half years on my apprenticeship journey. To be the winner of the Final Year Apprentice Award last night means that I am profoundly proud of myself. This represents how far I have come through my apprenticeship at Babcock International which is the gateway to a promising future. Winning this award has also meant that I can inspire the next generation of apprentices, not only in Babcock, but within the community who are thinking about an apprenticeship in Business within the engineering and manufacturing industry. My apprenticeship with Babcock has been highly rewarding, inspiring and has given me not only motivation but determination to go forward in my career and achieve every opportunity that I strive for. A massive thank you to all my colleagues who have supported me in every way possible and creating a welcome and positive culture for not only me but all our early careers individuals within the department.”

Moving onto the Manufacturing Rising Star Awards, there were incredibly strong nominations and ultimately Matt Pope of Schneider Electric was chosen as Winner in this category. Matt is a Mechanical Manufacturing Apprentice training with City College, Plymouth.

Paul Pady, Schneider’s Manufacturing Engineering Manager said of Matt’s win “We’re incredibly proud of Matt – it’s so important to recognise the achievements and hard work of our apprentices. At this point in my career, to see a legacy of burgeoning brilliant talent coming through is highly meaningful and fills us with optimism for the future.”

Matt Pope commented on his win saying “I was really honoured to have been nominated let alone win! The team at Schneider has been very supportive in my professional development – there’s so much happening in our industry, adapting to new technology and methods, so I’m really looking forward to an exciting future in manufacturing.”

For the PMG Final Year Manufacturing Apprentice of the Year Awards, the judges declared two joint winners and they were;

Chloe Tremayne Payne of Mars Wrigley and Stephen Tillyer of BD.

Chloe, a Shift Mechanic who is training with Cornwall College said of her win, “It was an honour to be a joint winner for the apprentice of the year awards. I have strong sense of pride in my work at Mars Wrigley and it feels amazing to know that it doesn’t go unnoticed. It has given me the motivation to carry on striving to do the best and seek improvement opportunities to help carry on progressing in my career. Being an apprentice at Mars Wrigley has given me the opportunities to be able to win this award and I couldn’t have done it without my mentors and engineering team”.

Stephen, a Moulding Apprentice who is also training with Cornwall College, commented: “To be a manufacturing apprentice at BD, means to work in an environment in which your development is encouraged and supported through the many learning opportunities that present themselves. I’m extremely grateful to have been nominated for the award – to be recognised by my mentors and leaders at work means a lot to me and is a huge accomplishment on its own.

I’m therefore very honoured to have been awarded the Manufacturing Final Year Apprentice of the Year title as a joint winner. I am very appreciative as it is such an important accomplishment for me on my apprenticeship journey. I look forward to one day being in a position that I can support and be a role model for the future generation of apprentices at BD.”

Process Engineer at BD, Tony Chapman, added, “Stephen being joint winner of Apprentice of the Year is greatly deserved and a really meaningful boost to BD’s apprenticeship scheme It proves that the ‘grow your own’ model of skills development is certainly working and that BD can be confident that our apprenticeship scheme is continuing to help enthusiastic individuals to reach their full potential. We hope that Stephen’s success at this year’s PMG awards will spur on future generations of BD apprentices in unlocking their potential.

Introducing the apprentice awards ceremony, Cllr Charlotte Carlyle, Cabinet Member for Education, Skills and Children, and Young People, at Plymouth City Council said: “It has been incredibly inspiring to watch all the finalist and winning apprentices collect their awards. Inspirational to see such an array of different backgrounds, yet united under the banner of being apprentices, all working hard towards their futures. Through investment in apprenticeships, the individuals, employers and economy all win, with Plymouth ever growing to deliver a skilled future workforce.”

Karen Friendship, Managing Director at Aldermans and Chair of the Plymouth Manufacturers’ Group said: “After two years of virtual award presentations due to Covid, the PMG is delighted that we have once again been able to come together to hold a physical event to celebrate our apprentices during National Apprenticeship Week.

From the time of our first awards, we have learnt that when an apprentice is nominated, it is a huge morale boost for them. They tell us they are absolutely thrilled that their employer took the time to consider who should be nominated and put them forward for the awards. It is our role, as managers, to champion the talent in our companies and recognise our apprentices’ hard-work and passion for our sector – after all we are looking to them to be future leaders in our businesses. This is why these awards are so important.

Therefore on behalf of the PMG, I would like to convey huge congratulations to our award winners, commended nominees and finalists and express our thanks to our members for helping to create pride in our industry. We wish all our apprentices the most enriching of futures!”

At the awards ceremony, the Finalist, Highly Commended and Winning construction and 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.

By way of a little fun for the finalists, PMG Member Burts Snacks also donated two mixed cases of Burts Crisps to be presented to two lucky raffle ticket holders to take back to their colleagues. Obedair Construction and Aldermans will be enjoying an extra savoury snack on their break this week! Given that Burts Crisps, now internationally renowned, are made on the outskirts of Plymouth, with their lead ingredients being sourced from local Devon and Cornwall food producers, it was yet another point in the evening to feel proud of all that we make and build in Plymouth.

Full listing of Manufacturing apprentices recognised at the awards:

Winner, PMG Rising Star Business Apprentice of the Year

• Nicola Mundy of Babcock, a Higher Level Quality Assurance Apprentice training with Capella.

Winner, PMG Final Year Business Apprentice of the Year

• Laura Stephens of Babcock, a Supply Chain Apprentice training with ATN Group.

Award Finalist, PMG Final Year Business Apprentice of the Year

• Ethan Dickson of Princess Yachts, IT Apprentice training with Achievement Training.

Winner, PMG Rising Star Manufacturing Apprentice of the Year

• Matt Pope of Schneider Electric, a Mechanical Manufacturing Apprentice training with City College Plymouth.

Highly Commended, PMG Rising Star Manufacturing Apprentice

• Freya Wood of Princess Yachts, a Marine Engineering Apprentice training with South Devon College.

Commended, PMG Rising Star Manufacturing Apprentice

• Joel Whiteway of Centrax Ltd, an Apprentice Engineer with Exeter College

PMG Rising Star Manufacturing Apprentice of the Year – Award Finalists:

Joint Winners, PMG Final Year Manufacturing Apprentice of the Year

• Chloe Tremayne Payne of Mars Wrigley, a Shift Mechanic, training with Cornwall College
• Stephen Tillyer of BD, a Moulding Apprentice Technician, training with Cornwall College.

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

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