Cartwright apprentice Josh Redfern was this week named runner up in the prestigious EEF Future Manufacturing Awards in the regional finals of the First Year Apprentice Awards.
It is a tremendous accolade for the young 19 year old apprentice who beat off strong competition to attend the presentation and lunch which was held at the Salford City Stadium.
The First Year Apprentice Award was designed to highlight outstanding achievement by a first year apprentice and recognise the apprentice who has done the most to seize the training and development opportunities presented to them during the first year of their engineering or manufacturing apprenticeship programme.
And although Josh was pipped to the post by the overall winner he received praise from the judges for his efforts and commitment to the apprenticeship programme and remarkable achievements to date.
Now in the second year of his apprenticeship, Josh first joined the Cartwright programme just over 12 months ago having taken the decision that university wasn't for him.
He had previously been a student at the Lysander Sixth Form College in Warrington where he studied Business Studies, Sport and Public Service at A level.
Since then he has embraced every opportunity presented to him and not only was he named by Cartwright as one of the company's top three apprentices earlier this year, he has also secured a coveted place within the design team having been fast-tracked in the final part of his first year.
Cartwright first launched its apprenticeship programme in September 2012, with an initial intake of 40 apprentices, one of which was Josh.
In August of this year a further 40 apprentices commenced Cartwright's bespoke two year apprenticeship programme which leads to a Level 2 Engineering apprenticeship in conjunction with Stockport College where the apprentices study on a day release basis. On successful completion and subject to interest and aptitude, there will be an opportunity for the apprentices to continue to Level 3 and ultimately HND level to further enhance their career prospects within the industry.
John Cartwright commented: "We are incredibly proud of Josh for being named as runner up in the regional finals of the EEF Future Manufacturing Awards.
"It is a great achievement. Ever since Josh joined the scheme he has given 100% and sets a fantastic example for apprentices as a whole. We are thrilled he has done so well in such a competitive awards initiative."
Josh too was delighted to have reached the regional finals. He said: "Having come this far in the competition, I was obviously disappointed I just missed out as regional winner, but was still really pleased to be runner up.
"Joining the Cartwright apprenticeship scheme is the best thing I have done and to achieve recognition for my achievements to date is just brilliant and will spur me on to enter again next year."