Durham's top apprentices attend Town Hall awards ceremony

But the pioneering apprentice awards' scheme is overseen by an organisation whose roots reach back into Durham’s medieval history.

A newly-forged partnership, embracing the city’s freemen, New College Durham, Durham University and Durham Cathedral, saw awards made to 13 young men and women, judged “best in class,” across a range of trade skills.

One of the group, 20-year-old Anna Cullen, whose meteoric rise took her from trainee to company executive in less than two years, was voted overall Apprentice of the Year by the partnership’s four-strong selection panel.

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She and the other winners were presented with awards by County Durham’s Lord Lieutenant, Sue Snowdon, at a Town Hall ceremony in Durham.

The freemen group, whose origins are believed to go back to 1327, have continuously represented the city’s crafts people across the intervening centuries.

At one time as many as 16 trade guilds exercised significant control over the city’s commercial and economic life, assuming responsibility for training apprentices and ensuring high standards of workmanship.

John Booth, chairman of the wardens of the eight surviving guilds, with 270 members, said: “These awards give us a 21st Century opportunity to work directly with training organisations and employers to develop a strong partnership which recognise excellence in craft skills of both men and women.

“It also gives us a unique opportunity to celebrate a success which spirits us back to our roots.

“We are already committed to extending this venture into next year and beyond, reaching out to embrace the success of more apprentices in the Durham area and the companies which employ them.”

New College Durham now has 1,300 apprentices studying on more than 60 training programmes and has established contacts with a network of 450 employers across the region.

The college’s director of apprenticeships and partnerships, Sharon Bennett, said: “We are privileged to be part of the inaugural Durham City Freemen’s Awards.

“As a leading college of further and higher education we appreciate the vital role apprenticeships play in the region’s economy.

“Our courses provide the training and work experience the apprentices need to progress their careers and offer employers a cost-effective way to plug skills gaps and upskill their workforce.

“We are delighted the awards recognise both the apprentices and employers of Durham City.

“We have been incredibly impressed by the passion and dedication the freemen have shown in organising the event and can’t wait to take the awards to another level next year.”

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Overall winner, Ms Cullen, from Chester-le-Street, left Durham’s St Leonard’s RC School with A-levels in English Literature, Psychology and Media Studies in the summer of 2021.

Within weeks the teenager, whose parents both work in the banking industry, joined award-winning Sunderland-based chartered architects and engineers, Building Design Northern Limited, as a digital marketing apprentice.

The impact on both her colleagues and college tutors became quickly self-evident.

Her “initiative and pro-active attitude” helped win new business and promote key projects, one of them the transformation of a derelict school in the Deptford area of Sunderland, which provided her company with a new headquarters and, at the same time, incorporated a range of new apartments-to-let.

She has also been involved with a new £2m food, drink and leisure complex, now under construction on the site of former stables near the Stadium of Light.  The college’s apprenticeships skills co-ordinator, Mary Summerson, said, at the same time, Ms Cullen’s college studies also advanced at a pace.

“Anna went a long way in a very short time and the quality of her contribution was inspiring.

“Her final portfolio was amazing, earning her a rare distinction.”

The challenges facing some of the other award winners during training varied widely.

Andrew McCartney’s journey to becoming an advanced site carpenter took him through college courses in Sunderland, Gateshead and Durham.

But, to get the site experience employers demanded, he worked as a volunteer, a move which finally clinched him a Durham County Council apprenticeship.

Alfie McKie’s outstanding attendance record and willingness to put in extra hours on assignments earned him top exam results and, “set a high standard for others to follow.”

Information technician Luke Hegarty’s ability to work on his own initiative and streamline his company’s “difficult to use” internal systems won him a permanent job.

Former primary school teacher Rachel Turner opted for a career change to fulfil her passion for hairdressing and it paid off handsomely.

Her college mentors singled out her “remarkable ability” which they predicted will earn high marks at the end of her course.

Senior apprentice Reece Spurdens, 23, has spent four years working on electrical installations at Durham University, impressing his tutors, and he plans to go on to take a Higher National Certificate.

His skill and imagination also impressed his bosses when he developed a fail-safe system that improved safety on electrical items left on charge overnight.

Prior commitments forced three winners to miss the ceremony.

Twenty-year-old Jed Williams, from Shadforth, near Durham, has been part of a team of Durham Cathedral stonemasons renovating the 17th Century Monks’ Garden Wall, a major undertaking on the west face of the historic building.

In his spare time he is an accomplished all-round musician, playing the trumpet, tenor horn, bass and drums.

But he is currently with the Tall Ships Youth Trust, training as a deckhand ahead of the Rolex Fastnet Yacht Race at the end of this month.

The event, the world’s largest offshore race, covers more than 600 miles in up to six days and will bring together an expected 300 yachts.

Ccompetitors’ face a round-trip starting in the Solent and taking them around Land’s End to the Fastnet Rock, off the south west coast of Ireland, and back. Andrew McCartney and Alfie McKie were both on holiday.   

The award winners, who each received a framed certificate, an engraved crystal trophy and a £50 Amazon voucher were digital marketer Anna Cullen, 20, from Chester-le-Street, who was also named Apprentice of the Year.

In Carpentry and joinery 16-year-old Ty Caile, from Crook; and Andrew McCartney, 20, from Washington, were the winners.

Bright sparks Alfie McKie, 17, from Witton Gilbert, Paul Swindell, 39, from Lanchester, and Reece Spurdens, 23, from Brandon, were winners in electrical installation.

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Rachel Turner, 44, of Esh Village, and 17-year-old Jessica Jackson, from Consett, were the hairdressing winners.

Luke Hegarty, 16, from Kelloe, was the top information technician, Zinnia Young, 27, from Sunderland, made his mark in painting and decorating.

Luke Bell, 22, from Spennymoor and 17-year-old Logan Reed, Ferryhill, emerged top in plumbing and gas, while Jed Williams, 20, from Shadforth, was the top young stonemason.