December 4, 2008 – The ceremony marked an important step in the career of the students, who are aged between 16 and 37, and who all live in Perth and its surrounding areas including Fife and Clackmannanshire.
The awards were handed out by Vector Aerospace’s President and Chief Executive Declan O’Shea who said: ”From personal experience, I know that obtaining an apprenticeship can open many doors and Vector Aerospace is very proud to be able to give young adults the opportunity to increase and hone their skills right on their doorstep.” Local VIP guests were also present including the Leader of Perth & Kinross Council, Councillor Ian Miller; Principal of Perth College, Mandy Exley; Head of Technical Development and Apprentice Policy for the MoD, David Pell and representing Scottish Enterprise, Gavin Halliday.
This year’s Vector Aerospace Component Services Apprentice of the Year Award went to Iain Nicolson, aged 26 from Tillcoultry in Clackmannanshire. Iain is in phase 2 of the apprentice scheme and decided to enter into engineering as he wanted a career that allowed him to specialise within that environment. “I enjoy manufacturing from scratch and have always been interested in the machining element as well, so the Almondbank apprentice scheme allows me to combine the two and set out a clear path for my future,” he said.
The apprentice scheme at Almondbank was originally set up by the MoD and has been running annually since 1974. Vector Aerospace took over the running of the scheme when it bought the business from the MoD in April this year. Almondbank has an illustrious history of apprentice training and has celebrated many achievements in the past. Over recent years, Almondbank has witnessed a steady increase in the number of applicants for its apprentice programme. This has resulted in the recruitment of many high calibre apprentices. Ian Burnett, Director Component Services, commented: “We are extremely proud of our apprentices and as a company are committed not only to the apprentice programme, but also to continued skills development and investment in our people.”