Welcome everyone to the 2021 Apprentice of the Year Awards

Since 2013, the University of Sheffield AMRC Training Centre has been nurturing the next generation of engineering talent, supplying the region’s manufacturers with a pipeline of skilled apprentices who make a real, significant and lasting impact. Our app

This year, more than any other, apprentices have proven the value they bring to industry. Our apprentices have been critical to the endurance of many businesses in a tough climate, demonstrating their energy, enthusiasm and talents in a uniquely pressurised environment.

Through lockdowns, home learning, social distancing and hybrid working, our apprentices’ flexibility, dependability and dynamism have come to the fore. Many have worked longer hours, others had minimal supervision, and some were furloughed; but all have diligently continued their training in a new digital environment. For that, every one of our 590 training centre apprentices deserves recognition.

The training centre staff have been integral to this, acting quickly and effectively to move over to the digital world; we locked down, but we did not close down, and that was due to our fantastic teachers, trainers and staff.

Similarly, I am equally proud of the 350 small, medium and large businesses with which we work. Without our apprentices, some companies may not be here today, but without those supportive and forward-thinking employers, nor would our apprentices. That partnership between the training centre and our employers, backed by the University of Sheffield, is the cornerstone of how we are meeting the future skills demands together, to help industry keep pace with technological change. Today, we must celebrate that partnership and the dedication of our apprentices.

I want to thank our sponsors this year for their continued support in making this event possible, especially our headline sponsor, global toolmaker Stanley Black & Decker. I also want to give a warm welcome our awards host Steph McGovern, a former apprentice herself whose success should serve as an inspiration to us all.

I hope you will all join me in toasting the success of our apprentices and their wonderful achievements.

Nikki Jones
Director of the AMRC Training Centre