Two apprenticeship honours for Thame

Lydia Feasey and Tony Shepherd

A THAME apprentice and a Thame business are celebrating this week after scooping top honours at the Thames Valley Apprenticeship Awards last Thursday (20/09). 

Lydia Feasey won the Advanced Apprentice of the Year award and Thame-based DAF Trucks were awarded the Large Employer of the Year title at a ceremony held at the Madejski Stadium in Reading. Both will go onto the national finals at the NEC in Birmingham in November. 

Fun and rewarding experience 

Lydia, 22, a former student at Lord Williams’s school in Thame, who is in the fourth Year of her apprenticeship at the Culham Centre for Fusion Energy, was delighted to win and is looking forward to the finals. She said: “It is a great feeling to have won the Advanced Apprentice Award for the Thames Valley. I have put in a lot of effort and worked hard throughout my apprenticeship and in return it’s been a very fun and rewarding experience.”

Tony Shepherd from DAF Trucks was pleased that his company had been recognised for the work it does with apprentices. He said: “Winning this award is a reflection of the great work that goes into the DAF Apprentice Programme. It is particularly rewarding to be recognised this way at a time when we are currently reviewing all aspects of the programme in line with our continuous improvement philosophy.”

Remarkable achievement 

Paddy Patterson, from Oxfordshire County Council, who leads the Oxfordshire Apprenticeships group, said: “There are around 50,000 Apprentices across the Thames Valley, so to be nominated either individually or as a company is a remarkable achievement. To have category winners from Oxfordshire is an excellent advertisement to prospective candidates and employers about the quality of the Apprenticeship scheme locally.”

SOURCE: Press release