Welding and fabrication apprentices have been recognised at an annual ceremony held in a training facility which they helped to build.
Darwen’s WEC Group hosted its 12th annual Apprentice of the Year awards ceremony at WEC Engineering Academy in Blackburn, on Thursday, November 24.
The event was held at the Group’s newly built training facility on Walker Park, and was attended by the Mayor and Mayoress of Blackburn, Councillor Suleman Khonat and Reyhana Khonat.
Managing director of WEC Group, Steve Hartley, said: “What a fantastic evening we had, recognising all of WEC Group’s apprentice’s accomplishments over the past 12 months and we could not be more proud of them.
“Apprentices are an essential part of our company and our future growth plans. This year’s event was extra special, as it was the first awards ceremony hosted at our new Engineering Academy.”
The state-of-the-art Engineering Academy opened in September 2022 after a two-year construction process, and a £3 million private investment from Steve Hartley without any government funding.
Despite challenging conditions brought about by the Covid-19 lockdowns, WEC Group’s dedicated team, including many apprentices, pushed through with the build and continued the vital construction work to get the new training facility up and running.
The company’s welding and fabrication apprentices fabricated the steelwork for the building and many of the internal components, including staircases, work benches and training bays.
Mr Hartley added: “We take great pride in the fact our apprentices have fabricated all of the steelwork for their new academy and have massively contributed towards the build of this incredible new training facility.
“We were delighted to be able to showcase the result of our apprentices’ hard work over the past two years to their parents and relatives.”
The evening was filled with numerous apprentice achievements, with the highpoint being the main award for WEC Group’s Apprentice of the Year 2022.
This year’s winner was 19-year old welding and fabrication apprentice Jamie Heys from Darwen, who has excelled through the first 12 months of his apprenticeship.
Kris Mercer, WEC Engineering Academy training manager said: “Jamie is genuinely passionate about engineering and he is always extremely keen to work on any task given.
"He has shown fantastic potential over the past year and we were delighted to present him with the Apprentice of the Year Award.
“I would also like to say a special thank you to both the Mayor and Mayoress of Blackburn, for attending our awards evening and showing their support for local apprentices.
“We have historically taken on between 10-15 apprentices each year and we were proud to unveil on the evening WEC Group’s new vision to train an additional 400 apprentices over the next 10 years.
“Apprenticeships are the future of our industry and this annual event celebrates WEC’s ongoing commitment to apprenticeships.”
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