AWARDS were handed out to young apprentices at a special ceremony at the Arc Theatre in Trowbridge on Thursday.

More than 100 guests attended Wiltshire College’s annual apprenticeship awards, which honoured young people for their work in agriculture, carpentry, engineering, customer service and teaching, among others.

Mayor Deborah Halik said it was a privilege to see the outstanding work the young workers had put in.

“I was very proud to see what the students had accomplished. It was reiterated by businesses how well apprenticeships are valued,” she said.

“These are just as viable as degrees and my no means are they seen as second best, they are on a par.

“It was great to see how our young apprentices have worked with some first rate businesses and what they have achieved is really excellent.

“I was honoured to be part of it all and I wish them all the best in the future.”

Seventeen individual awards were presented to apprentices on the night, many of which were presented by Swindon and Wiltshire Local Enterprise Partnership Director Paddy Bradley.

This year, three awards were also presented to small, medium and large apprentice employers of the year, the winners for which were Busy Bees Pre-School in Westbury, GoSkydive at Old Sarum and Cross Manufacturing in Devizes respectively.

Principal Amanda Burnside said: “I was delighted to welcome our guests for a night of celebration of achievement.

“The future delivery of skills in this country is firmly fixed on apprenticeships and Wiltshire College is playing its part in this.

“The apprenticeship awards is a wonderful opportunity to celebrate our apprentices and I congratulate them all for all their significant achievements and wish them even greater success in their chosen fields.”

Melanie Ritchings, who completed an advanced apprenticeship in leadership and management, won the Outstanding Apprentice of the Year award. She worked full time as a Hotel Services Manager for North Somerset Community Partnership.

Some other special guests included Apprenticeship Ambassador Debbie Williams and her husband John from John Williams Heating Services in Chippenham and Wessex Water Apprenticeship Manager Becca Thurston, both of whom gave a talk about the benefits of apprenticeship

Wiltshire College is currently working with more than 1000 apprentices in 93 different pathways and more than 650 employers, from small local companies to multinational companies.