Celebrations for Apprentices at Awards Evening

We held our annual Apprenticeship Awards on Tuesday 13^th February. 

The lavish event, staged at The Edge, Wigan was hosted by TV magician, Ben Hanlin who entertained the audience with his audacious magic as well as announcing the award winners. 
 
The event was a fantastic occasion which allowed the college to celebrate the outstanding achievements of its apprentices alongside their employers.  

A host of employers, both big and small attended the awards evening. Larger national employers such as Sellafield Ltd, Electricity North West and Eric Wright Group celebrated alongside local employers such as Wigan Council, Greenmount Projects, Greater Manchester Integrated Care Partnership and Ally Marketing.  

Awards were celebrated from a wide range of apprenticeship industry sectors including digital marketing, customer service, nuclear engineering, mechanical engineering food and drink manufacturing and bricklaying.  

The awards event came after national research was published showing Wigan as the best place to be an apprentice nationally and after the college was shortlisted for a national award as the best apprenticeship provider for Engineering & Manufacturing.  

College Principal, Anna Dawe highlighted the timely research and the college’s recent successes.  

“Wigan Borough is now seen as a national leader in the delivery of apprenticeship programmes and the college plays a central role as it is now one of the largest national college providers of apprenticeship training. This recognition is fabulous and it’s great for Greater Manchester as we work towards the integrated employment and technical skills system, she said. 

“Our Awards evening is an amazing occasion to celebrate the outstanding achievements of our apprentices who have excelled in their industries and it was fantastic to hear the inspirational and positive words from their employers about how well they have each done. 

“I would also like to thank all of the employers who we work with to forge great business relationships. Their commitment to support and invest in the community and their workforce stands out not just at a regional level but on a national scale.” 

ECP HR Advisor at MBDA UK, Gary Bradshaw was at the event to receive the Co-designed Curriculum Award on behalf of the company. He emphasised the importance of hiring apprentices and the scale of how may they work with.  

“We currently see it as a talent pipeline moving forward. On average, there’s about 8% of the business, either apprentices or graduates. So, this year in total, there’s about 440 on scheme. And with the intake for September, that’s will increase to about 500 apprentices and graduates,” he said.  

In working together with the college, Gary added: “It’s definitely progressing the team further and the operation fitter apprentices are definitely getting more out of the scheme.  

Martin Morrow, Pre Construction Director for Eric Wright Group attended the awards in support of apprentice, Thomas Lythgoe, who won the Higher Education Civil Engineering Apprentice of the Year. 

Martin said: “Apprenticeships are the ideal way for people to enter our industry. And it’s something that civil engineering definitely needs more of.  

“We’re hoping to bring more apprentices through our team as Thomas and others progress. We will hopefully will have a consistent conveyor belt of new people that we can pass the skills and knowledge onto, and we will hopefully work with providers like Wigan and Leigh College to provide that.