APPRENTICES at Shipley-based CarnaudMetalbox Engineering have a hat-trick of golds in their cupboard after success at the Birmingham NEC Skills show for the third successive year.

At the show organised by WorldSkills UK, CMB apprentices Andrew Joyce, Isaac Khan and James Thomason won gold in the Manufacturing Team Challenge, and the team will now go through to the selection process for the UK World Skills competition to be in the final squad to represent the UK in the forthcoming international finals in Kazan, Russia in 2019.

The team’s new project is to develop an electric wheelchair, and they have the next 18 months to develop their skills and work on their brief. CMB will provide support to the team to help guide them through the process of getting to the selection, but also the finals in Russia if selected.

During the three-day event, almost 500 young apprentices and students took part in the national finals, competing in 55 disciplines – as diverse as aircraft maintenance to 3D game design, cabinet making, plumbing to beauty therapy and cyber security.

Karl Hatfield-Waites, CMB Engineering’s marketing manager said: “To win gold highlights the skillset of our young apprentices, but also showcases the importance of our apprenticeship schemes to the manufacturing industry in the UK.

“It has been a terrific year for CMB; appearing in this year’s Parliamentary Review, having apprentices representing us on the world stage at the WorldSkills finals in Abu Dhabi, and now gold at the Skills Show competition is the icing on the cake.”