Jack the Lad! Apprentice electrician wins accolade

Craft Apprentice of the Year Award: Jack Stanton – Apprentice Electrician

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Jack Stanton is the toast of his colleagues at Rochdale Boroughwide Housing (RBH) after winning the overall Trainee of the Year award at the organisation’s recent awards ceremony.

Jack said: “It genuinely came as a bit of a shock, I was just really surprised to win!” He added, “I think the Trainee and Apprentice Awards give everyone something to aim for and keeps us all working hard.”

RBH celebrated the achievements of its current crop of trainees and apprentices at a ceremony held at Rochdale Town Hall.

Jack’s supervisor, Mick Stringer said: “RBH has a longstanding commitment to creating employment opportunities for local people. Each year a new intake of trainees and apprentices are given the opportunity to acquire the skills, knowledge, experience and qualifications for a successful future career. Just this year RBH has taken on 14 new trainees and apprentices.”

All trainees and apprentices are automatically entered into the award - the candidates are then whittled down against an assessment report provided by their respective supervisors and college tutors. Shortlisted candidates are then invited to an informal interview with a selection panel of RBH personnel.

Mick added: “Jack is a great lad; polite, a quick learner and excellent with the customers… I couldn’t speak highly enough of him.”

Chief Executive, Gareth Swarbrick said: “RBH is proud of its track record of giving training and employment opportunities and it is important to annually celebrate the individual and collective achievements of our trainees and apprentices. As a unique housing mutual we are seeking to scale up this type of activity so that we really make an impact in terms of tackling unemployment in our neighbourhoods.”

Along with their trophies, each of the winners and runners-up in the various categories at the awards receive high-street shopping vouchers.

The full breakdown of categories, winners and runners-up is as follows:

RBH Trainee of the Year 2012: Jack Stanton

Craft Apprentice of the Year Award:
Jack Stanton – Apprentice Electrician
Runner-up
Richard Harrison – Apprentice Electrician

First Year Craft Apprentice Award:
Tom Freeman – Apprentice Joiner
Runner-up
Aiden Dunnington – Apprentice Central Heating Engineer

Housing Trainee of the Year Award:
Darrione Penlington – Trainee Admin Assistant
Runner-up
Paul Blayney – Trainee Community Support Officer

Selection panel: Head of HR and Learning, Elaine Taylor, Vice Chair of the Board, Philomena Renshaw and Caretaking Manager, Peter Bamford.