Two Sunseeker apprentices who attended Bournemouth & Poole College for their Apprenticeship training, have achieved royal recognition at the annual and long-standing Queen’s Silver Medal competition, facilitated by the Worshipful Company of Shipwrights.
The Awards ceremony, which took place last week at Ironmongers Hall, London, was attended by senior members of the Shipwrights Court, including The Prime Warden, Mr. Archie Smith. Representatives from Sunseeker included Alex Bowman, Talent Manager, Michelle Wilkinson, Apprentice and Training Coordinator and winner, Louis Castle.
Marine Electrical Engineer, Louis, now working as a Test and Commissioning Engineer, won the top national prize – the coveted Queen’s Silver Medal.
Jacob Clark, a Marine Mechanical Engineer, now working as a Warranty Field Service Engineer, won the runner up prize. With strong competition from across the UK boat and ship building apprentice community, Jacob and Louis were selected as part of a group of 18 to attend the arduous assessment and personal development week at Kielder Water in Northumberland.
Commenting on the recognition, Alex Bowman, Talent Manager, said: “The Queen’s Silver Medal competition provides an advanced personal development opportunity for marine apprentices that money can’t buy. Winning the top two awards is testament yet again to the success of our internationally award-winning and long-established apprenticeship programme, providing rewarding career opportunities. Winning the medal is the ultimate accolade for a marine apprentice and it supports the retention and succession of talent within the marine sector.
The Queen’s Silver Medal competition was established in 1944 and has been administered by the Worshipful Company of Shipwrights since 1978. The Patron of the Shipwrights continues to be Her Majesty the Queen, with the Permanent Master HRH The Prince of Wales.
For over 35 years, Sunseeker has recognised the many benefits of developing apprentices; the company currently supports over 116 apprentices through its programme and recruits up to 40 new apprentices each year. Any interested candidates can find out more and register for recruitment alerts at www.sunseeker.com/recruitment
Press release provided by Sunseeker
