2023 Apprenticeship Awards

Natalie came to the Engineering industry via an unconventional route - SAILING, having previously spent several years working as crew on-board a range of Super Yachts.

Despite having no previous engineering experience, she enrolled on the Electrical Power Engineering - Wind Turbine Maintenance (Technical Knowledge) full-time course at Coleg Llandrillo which she passed with excellent grades. Natalie used the theoretical knowledge and practical skills she had developed on this course to gain one of just 4 RWE Apprenticeships available in North Wales ahead of over 400 applicants.

In Sept 2020 Natalie began her three-year RWE Apprenticeship, during this time she has undertaken a challenging combination of academic and practical qualifications designed to prepare her for the role of a wind turbine technician. She has built on the knowledge gained previously and utilised this to also assist her peers with their studies.

Natalie is determined to succeed, achieving maximum grades across the theoretical content and performing to a high standard in practical tasks. She successfully completed her L2 Improving Operational Performance apprenticeship framework and is currently working towards her L3 Wind Turbine O&M framework.

Natalie pushes herself to be the best she can be and will often be her own harshest critic. Her work ethic is an example to all those around her and she has proven to everyone and most importantly herself, that she can do Engineering! This was acknowledged when she was awarded the IMechE Most Improved Apprentice of the Year 2021.

Derwyn completed his food production/manufacturing apprenticeship at Glaslyn Ices in Beddgelert, where it’s his job to produce the very many delicious flavours of ice cream the business is famous for.

Keen to progress through his apprenticeship Derwyn got his head down and worked hard, he made good progress in his professional role and is now an integral part of the Glaslyn Ices business, he also grew and developed personally, gradually becoming more confident and self-assured.

It’s been a busy year for Glaslyn Ices, they make and produce all the ice cream sold on premises, Derwyn is responsible for much of this and as lockdowns eased and visitor numbers grew the busier he got! Even though his working days are long and busy and often include weekends, Derwyn always found time to work on his knowledge units to get his Level 2 completed.

His employer Bonnie Rowley has total confidence in Derwyn, he is trusted to produce top quality ice cream. Derwyn has made fantastic progress and now takes an active role in training new employees in the manufacturing process, he continues to impress and has a bright future with the company.

A naturally gifted student, Eva was fast tracked to Higher National Level 4 as part of her Apprenticeship framework due to her incredible talent and hard work.

Having completed the HNC with Distinction she has now gone on to begin the Degree Apprenticeship at Level 5. She is highly valued at her place of work, International Safety Components and always aims to excel in her studies regardless of the task in hand. She is extremely hardworking and will always completes all tasks to Distinction grades with exceptional professionalism.

Daniel Yates, Engineering Manager at International Safety Components (ISC) commented: “Eva is a talented apprentice here at ISC, she has grown from strength to strength assisting and managing various design and engineering projects with her creativity and design capabilities. From helping with a design refresh of one of our signature Karabiners to managing her own development project improving the design of our portable anchor system. Eva has also demonstrated her design flare by assisting our marketing department with redeveloping our product packaging to improve styling, functionality and recycling.”

No stranger to success Eva was crowned runner-up in the Mechanical Engineering Computer Aided Design finals of Skills Competition Wales, hosted by Colegau Gwent in Cardiff in January 2019. At the time she commented: “I have always enjoyed designing and I love the fusion of design and engineering that essentially make what CAD is. I would love to be a design engineer, so this has certainly kick-started my career and has boosted my confidence to pursue my goals.”