Apprentices flying high at missile firm
8:59am Wednesday 6th July 2011 in Business News
IT has been medals and awards all round for Bolton missile manufacturer MBDA and its team of talented young apprentices.
Award-winning MBDA apprentice Andrew Fielding has been selected to represent the UK at the World Skills Olympics.
He travelled to Buckingham Palace, where he met the Duke of York and John Hayes, the Skills and Apprentice minister.
Mr Fielding will be the UK representative in electronics at the World Skills Olympics in London between October 5 and 8.
The event will feature more than 1,000 young people from all over the world competing in 46 skills competitions and between 150,000 and 200,000 people are expected to attend. Mr Fielding was also shortlisted in the Young Person/Apprentice of the Year section at the recent Bolton and Bury Business Awards.
And for the fifth year running an MBDA apprentice, Heather Peach, has been awarded the gold medal at the UK Electronics Skills Competition 2011.
Apprentices from Lostock-based MBDA also won other places in the competition. In second place was Gareth T Humphreys, third Lee Bibby and Mark Richards, Mike Cox was highly commended in fourth place and in fifth place Jon Chapman was commended.
Also at the National Apprenticeship Awards, held on June 29, MBDA apprentice Jack Speirs was highly commended as runner- up in the national awards for Best Apprentices in the UK.
This followed his success as the North West of England Best Apprentice.
MBDA was the highly commended runner-up in the awards for having the best apprenticeship training programme for a large company in the UK.
At the same event it was also recognised in the top 100 companies/training organisations for its apprentice training scheme in both commercial and engineering.
Lostock site manager and MBDA manufacturing director, Bernard Waldron, said: “It was a tremendous performance by our apprentices.
“Their commitment and efforts have been recognised as has the company’s in this amazing achievement.
We are all extremely proud to be associated with these success and the continued personal development of our future engineers.”
Winning apprentice Mr Fielding, added: “The absolutely amazing opportunity to learn and grow and become a world class individual has made me proud to work for MBD
