
The PMG celebrates its first ever Apprentice of the Year Awards
In February 2020, The Plymouth Manufacturers’ Group presented its first ever Apprentice of the Year Awards at their annual Apprenticeship Jobs Fair which they host jointly with Building Plymouth at the Plymouth Guildhall and as part of the National Apprenticeship Week 2020.
PMG Members were invited to nominate individuals who are employed in their company and are currently working towards an Apprenticeship Programme in Business or in Manufacturing / Engineering, or who had completed an Apprenticeship during the calendar year 2019.
The PMG judges were delighted at the response and enjoyed reading about the dedication and enthusiasm that so many young people were bringing to the industry around Plymouth.
Twelve apprentices went through as Finalists and were invited to attend the Awards Ceremony where Steve Cardew, the Chair of the Plymouth Employment Skills Board presented the Apprentice of the Year winners with an engraved glass award.
Steve was the perfect choice to congratulate all finalists and winners, having started his career as an apprentice himself and then worked all the way up to Managing Director of Kawasaki PM.
From the finalists there were 4 award winners across three categories.
Joint winners of the Rising Star Apprentice for 2020 were:
- Rebecca McAllister from Plessey who is pursuing a 5 year Plessey apprenticeship with City College Plymouth
- Felix Bowker from Alderman Tooling who is studying for level 3 mechanical manufacturing & engineering apprenticeship with City College Plymouth
Rebecca from Plessey said, “I’m really proud of myself and what I have achieved in the past few years of my apprenticeship, so to be officially recognised by my company and also PMG for my efforts was a great feeling. To be one of the first winners of this award will remain a great privilege to me for the entirety of my career. I hope I can keep up with the heightened expectations that come with the honour of winning”.
Karen Friendship, MD of Aldermans said, “We are hugely proud of all our apprentices at Aldermans, and particularly that Felix, our apprentice design engineer, has been honoured with this
award. He is an exceptional apprentice, who continues to impress us with his commitment to learn and the breadth of his skills. He has the ability to pick things up quickly, and has a natural, confident manner with clients, who have given us glowing feedback.”
The winner of the Manufacturing – Final Year Apprentice Award for 2020 was:
- Lewis Swatton from Rittal-CSM who has completed a level 3 manufacturing & mechanical engineering apprenticeship with City College.
Lewis said, “I’m very proud to have won this award, to have been rewarded for the hard work I have put into my apprenticeship and the start of my working career. I could not have done it without the help of so many people within the business. I’d like to personally thank Emma Pope for all of her hard work behind the scenes, organising training, sorting all of my college admin, all the encouragement, and generally getting me through the last 4 years. Martin Foster, who spent months training me on his machine and helping me through job reports, which played a massive part in me completing my coursework. The Group Leaders I spent the most of my apprenticeship working for, Gary Smith and Gordon McLuskie, who have encouraged and mentored me, and helped me more times than I can count over the last few year
The winner of the Business – Final Year Apprentice 2020 was:
- Laura Hamlyn who works for Princess Yachts and who has completed a level 3 Business Administration apprenticeship with Exeter College.
A spokesperson for Princess Yachts said, “At Princess Yachts, we are committed to talent development with apprenticeships forming a core element of our talent strategy. Inspiring people to achieve is at the heart of what we do. We’ve built our success on the skills and abilities of our people, which is why we invest so much time and effort in our apprenticeship programmes.
Our apprentices work with world-class yacht-builders and other professionals who are passionate about passing on their experience and helping our apprentices to build their future careers. We are extremely proud of Laura and her achievement of “Best Business Apprentice of the Year”
The PMG also congratulated the other finalists by presenting them with commendation certificates. The Finalists were as follows:
- Rhys Heslop, Algram/Olympus studying for a L3 Diploma in Advanced Manufacturing & Engineering – machinist pathway with City College Plymouth;
- Lauren Gage, BD, 4 year BD apprenticeship with Cornwall College;
- James Ashworth, Princess Yachts, L3 IT, Software, Web and Telecoms Professionals with Achievement Training;
- Charlie Kressinger, Oakmount Control Systems, L3 Engineering & Manufacture – electrical pathway with City College;
- Alex Fitch, Princess Yachts, L3 Marine engineering with City College;
- William Williamson, Alderman Tooling, L3 Diploma in Engineering with City College;
- Declan Sinclair, BD, 4 year BD apprenticeship with Cornwall College
- Tia Lawton, Princess Yachts, L3 Business Administration with Exeter College.
Why not watch our video showing the 2020 Apprenticeship Jobs Fair – you can also hear from some of our Award winners too! Check out the video on the PMG You Tube channel here