Two apprentice engineers from the Isle of Man were among the winners at the recent North West Aerospace Alliance (NWAA) New Talent Awards, an event run in partnership with the Department of Economic Development and the Isle of Man Aerospace Cluster.
Held on 3rd March 2016 at the Imperial War Museum in Manchester, the awards recognise and reward the achievements of young apprentices and graduates from the North West of England and the Isle of Man’s aerospace and defence industry. The evening was attended by senior industry executives and Wing Commander Martin Higgins, Commanding Officer of the RAF Display Team, the Red Arrows.

Ashley Howard from Swagelok won The Outstanding Professional Award as part of the Business University Challenge, a one day event, where teams of 3 young engineers compete in a variety of different engineering and business tasks. Throughout the competition, judges were tasked to identify two individuals who displayed outstanding professional excellence in performance and/or leadership throughout the event.

Daniel Catlow, also from Swagelok, gained the Highly Commended accolade. To be eligible for this award, final year apprentices working in aerospace or defence in the North West of England and the Isle of Man were invited to present projects that demonstrated the development of their engineering skills during their apprenticeship.

Alfred Cannan, MHK, Political Member with Responsibility for Manufacturing, E-business and Information and Communication Technology, said:
‘The awards received by both Ashley and Daniel demonstrate the Isle of Man’s commitment to excellence and encouraging skills development in the engineering and aerospace sectors. I am immensely proud that our apprentices are able to excel under the expert guidance of the team at Swagelok and the Isle of Man College of Further & Higher Education.’

David Hester, General Manager at Swagelok said:
‘I was delighted that our Swagelok associates volunteered to represent the Isle of Man at this NWAA event and push themselves to compete against their peers from other aerospace companies across the North West. We are all very proud of their achievements and we will continue to invest in the education and training of our associates and give employment opportunities to students graduating from all the engineering related College courses.’

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