“THE STANDARD OF ENTRIES FOR STARS OF THE FUTURE THIS YEAR WAS EXCEPTIONAL” Stars of the future 2021 (from left to right): Luke Thornton, Lucy O’Rourke, Amy Wicks, Liam Basson, Beth Doel, Jim Baraclough and Dean Johnston.
AN INDUSTRY IN SAFE HANDS
Graham Black reports on the potential leaders of our industry, as apprentices get the recognition they deserve ollowing the worst of the pandemic, the Construction Plant-hire Association (CPA) hosted one of the industry’s first live events, to honour outstanding apprentices and trainees within the plant industry. Over 220 people attended the Stars of the Future awards ceremony, held at the Heart of England conference centre near Coventry. This national awards scheme is
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intended to recognise and reward outstanding individuals. People who not only bring ability and commitment to their learning and work, but also possess something more: attributes that mark them out as being not only the future foundations of the industry, but also potentially its leaders. Despite the many challenges that employers, training providers and apprentices have faced over recent
months, the number of entries was one of the highest ever in the award programme’s nine-year history. As well as receiving national recognition, Stars of the Future winners won prizes on the day, including Snap-on tool kits, training courses, iPads, vouchers and an all-expenses paid trip to a factory in Germany. Kevin Minton, chief executive of the CPA said, “The standard of entries for Stars of the Future this year was exceptional and we were delighted to welcome the nominees and winners to the awards ceremony and congratulate them in person. The judges really had a difficult task choosing the winners, and it was reassuring to see that the future of the construction plant sector really is in safe hands.” I echo Kevin’s words, as I was part of the external judging panel, which had the difficult task of whittling down the shortlists, which were made up of the
EARTHMOVERS NOVEMBER 2021
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