An apprentice at Beatson Clark has won an award from his training centre and is hoping to be taken on full time by the Rotherham, UK glass manufacturer.

Alex Bywater, 21, has been a mechanical engineering apprentice at Beatson Clark since October 2016.

He won the Maintenance Apprentice of the Year Award at a ceremony staged by AMRC Training Centre in Rotherham earlier this month and received his award from BBC Look North television presenter Harry Gration.

The judges said Alex won the award for displaying great passion for his work and for being extremely confident in his role.

Alex will finish his Mechanical Engineering Apprenticeship (level 3) later this year and he has already impressed his employers.

“Alex has become a valued member of my team,” said Richard Hastings, Site Mechanical Engineering Manager at Beatson Clark.

“As he's currently still an apprentice I have him teamed up with Josh Tinker and between them they are designing and/or building small projects to try to reduce spillages in the mixing shop.

“Josh is leaving the company in January to go travelling and with Alex due out of his time in October the position will be held open for him.

"He is a great forward-thinking lad with lots of ideas and he will be an asset here at Beatson Clark.”

Alex commented: “The support from Beatson Clark has been good – just trusting in my ideas and knowledge is a lot more than many other companies would do.”

“I’m hoping to secure a job as a mechanical engineer here at Beatson Clark once I’ve finished my apprenticeship.”

Alex was nominated for the award by his NVQ assessor and had to give a 10-minute presentation in front of a panel of judges.

“I believe the factor that won it for me was my cyclone project which started out as college work but which is now being slowly implemented into the mixing shop.”

Pictured Left to right: Alex Bywater, Tim Gears from sponsor Hexagon Manufacturing Intelligence, and presenter Harry Gration.