Inspiring the next generation of engineers

The Southampton Engineering Training Association (SETA) opened its doors in Millbrook to young people from across the region in October for a hugely successful Workshop Taster Day.  This day enabled school and college pupils to have a go and get hands on with engineering activities, something that is increasingly rare in schools these days.  The activities ranged from wiring a plug, fabricating a set square by spot welding, hydraulics, mechanical maintenance, electronics, Computer Aided Design (CAD) all the way through to wiring an electrical lighting circuit.

Roopa Master-Coles, Engagement Services Manager said ”The event was a huge success with so many visitors attending along with their siblings and parents.  From the feedback we know we’ve opened up an engineering apprenticeship as a realistic post-16 option for the vast majority of those who attended.”

This was in part due to the incredibly important role that three Apprentices from DP World played in the day providing real life inspiration. Paige Rusdale (Apprentice of the Year 2019), Joe Macklin and Alfie Bloor did an amazing job, providing an inspirational presentation and talk about their experiences and real life journey as apprentices.  They are great, confident ambassadors for DP World, with Paige demonstrating a female role model within the sector.

Charlie Francis, Engineering Training Co-ordinator added “We are very proud of all three of them and what they have achieved over the past four years, especially with the added disruptions Covid caused for half of their apprenticeships. We can see they have become very dedicated hard working Engineers who have grown in confidence, maturity and are fantastic colleagues for everyone to work with. We are very excited to have them as the future of DP World Southampton.”