Green Port Growth Programme helps nurture apprentices

This week is National Apprenticeship Week. Apprenticeships are a great way of setting a career in stone… or granite if you are Lewis May.

The 19-year-old from Market Weighton works for Goole-based domestic and commercial worktop, floor and surface manufacturer Cambrian Granite.

Supported by the Green Port Growth Programme, Cambrian Granite employed Lewis under the apprenticeship wage subsidy – designed to support employers linked to the renewable energy supply chain to create an apprenticeship place.

Lewis works on a variety of projects polishing, working on computer numeric control (CNC) machining and maintenance work and is a trainee fabricator, developing skills in electrical maintenance systems.

Lewis said: ‘It is great. I am loving every second of my apprenticeship and the training I am receiving at Cambrian.’

Vanessa Showler, financial controller at Cambrian Granite, said: ‘We at Cambrian Granite feel very lucky to be supported by the Greenport Growth Programme’s apprenticeship wage subsidy scheme. By having Lewis in our business, we are able to support both the future generation of skilled workers and help Lewis personally to attain his qualification. The company also gains a fully-skilled and site-qualified employee that we hope can support the business in future years.’

The Green Port Growth Programme delivers six business strands:

• employment and skills
• business support
• inward investment
• research, development and innovation
• business grants
• site assembly.

Councillor Jane Evison, cabinet portfolio holder for economic investment and tourism, said: ‘With National Apprenticeship Week taking place from Monday, 6 to Friday, 10 March, the council and its partners are keen to celebrate the important role apprentices’ play in our local economy.

“Apprenticeships offer people like Lewis a chance to earn-while-they-learn and develop the skills required to forge a career in a chosen profession.”

For further information about apprenticeships, visit www.getingofar.gov.uk or follow @Apprenticeships on Twitter.