Having no work placement for the first two years of his apprenticeship was challenging for Ricky. He joined HCT at age 16 and after 2 years of training he was eager to get in to real life industry. It wasn’t until he met the team at Shires Oak through his father that he secured a work placement there. “I really enjoyed woodwork at school and now I like being out and about on site doing it. It is a really broad range of work, a lot of private housing and some new builds. I like going to different places and meeting new people. I know college really well now and think I’m ready to move on to working full time. The great thing about being an apprentice is that I’ve learned so much from both college and work so hopefully that will lead to a secure job at the end of my training.”

Shires Oak’s Joinery Apprentice, Josh Arkell, comments about what it is like working for company owners/directors Andy and Kim Pugh. “I like working for them because they have very high expectations and deliver high quality work, this is very encouraging for me as an apprentice as I can keep developing my skills further and further.” Having set up the company 5 years ago Shires Oak has thrived and is now a nationwide company. Their recently promoted Workshop Manager, Matthew Cruse, was also a successful HCT apprentice 6 years ago and was awarded an ‘Outstanding Achievement Award’ for his success at the College. When asked about his achievements Matt commented “I concentrated on my work, have a lot of ambition and I enjoy it, which is really important.”

Despite the economic climate Shires Oak are positive about their growth “We’ve downgraded a little during the recession though we are very positive about how work has picked up since, we are lucky that our work is so specialised and we are still able to maintain a high-quality and specialist service.”