Guest of Honour at the event was army veteran, Simon Weston CBE, who gave a moving and motivational speech about his life after the Falklands War to the guests in attendance, which included students and their families, representatives from colleges, sponsoring employers, local and international industry and members of the North East business community.
TTE, which was founded in 1990, is a registered charity that provides vocational technical training, including apprenticeships, for young people on Teesside. It also delivers technical training to technicians from international industry in the UK and around the world. The surpluses from its commercial activities are re-invested in supporting the training of young people.
A series of awards were presented to students training at TTE whose programmes are funded by Derwentside College, Redcar & Cleveland College and South Tyneside College. The awards highlighted the achievements of a number of students training in electrical, instrumentation and process disciplines.
Awards were also presented to sponsored Apprentices who have either excelled in their training at TTE’s facility in South Bank, Middlesbrough or during their time as part of the workforce of their sponsoring employer.
The prestigious Managing Director’s Award was presented to Chris Robinson, who has a positive attitude to learning, and helps and motivates fellow learners. He is tenacious and pushes himself to achieve good results.
Four special recognition awards for continuous improvement, outstanding achievement, health and safety and being a team player were awarded to Jack Leach, Adam Bytheway, Omar Gother and Andrew Newton, respectively.
Emma Hughes secured the Community Learner award for giving up numerous hours of her time to support disabled and disadvantaged children in the region.
TTE staff who have supported the leaners both inside and outside of the workshop were commended for their efforts. Jeff Stephenson was named Most Inspirational Trainer, Mike Ingram as Most Supportive Workplace Assessor and Amanda Garbutt was given the Outstanding Achievement Award.
Steve Grant, Managing Director at The TTE Technical Training Group, said: “The young people on our training programmes are resourceful and innovative, which will make them excellent additions to the pool of skilled workers for North East industry and employers around the world. They epitomise the “Spirit of Teesside” and are a valuable resource for companies looking to invest in Teesside.”
“During the current academic year some students have made remarkable progress and these awards acknowledge their achievements and commitment, which often goes above and beyond what is expected of them.”