Bosses go back to the floor for National Apprenticeship Week

To mark National Apprenticeship Week 2014, the AMRC Training Centre invited senior managers from local manufacturing employers - all of whom currently have apprentices at the Training Centre - to go back to the floor and spend a day as an apprentice. The bosses were given an apprentice to look after them, and a simple machining or welding task to complete under close supervision. For many, it was a return to the earliest days of their own careers - and a chance to see how apprentice training has changed over the past decades. Participants included Mick Hood, HR director, Tata Steel; Clive Porter, managing director, Darron SBO; Mark Webber, managing director, Tinsley Bridge; David O'Hara, finance director, MTL Group; Vince Middleton, chair, Newburgh Engineering; James Selka, production and HR director, AES Seal; Craig McKay, general manager and joint MD, Evenort; Charles Robinson, managing director, Helix Tools; and Alison Bettac, director of training, AMRC Training Centre. "It's a walk down memory lane for me - it takes me back 34 years to when I started my apprenticeship," said Mick Hood of Tata Steel. "It gives me a real insight into modern training, which is important because we have our own people here. It's good for someone who's been away from this environment, but is responsible for putting people through it, to understand what they're going through." James Selka of AES Seal, who also started his own career as an apprentice, was also impressed with the AMRC Training Centre Facilities.