Celebrating our apprentices during National Apprenticeship Week 2025

National Apprenticeships Week (NAW) 2025 has taken place in February, celebrating the varied journeys taken by apprentices as they navigate learning, working and building confidence during their time as an apprentice.

Here at Flowtech, we are pleased to be able to join in the celebrations, as we are lucky enough to have 18 Trainee Apprentices, 6 Upskill Apprentices and our 2 T Level Apprentices, all at different sites in the UK, but all with a unique story to tell.

In order to keep businesses moving up and down the country, we feel it’s important to invest in those who have a passion for engineering or would like to contribute to the fluid power industry as a whole.

These new skills and fresh faces are fundamental to feed the pipeline of talent we have at Flowtech and to ensure we have plenty of experience, passion and energy to support our customers in the future.

To that end, we sat down with five of our current apprentices to find out how their journey was going, who their biggest influences have been and what ‘Skills for Life’ they have learnt, which is the theme of NAW this year.

Billy Horrocks is a Design Engineer at Liverpool, en currently studying a level 3 Design Engineer en Draughtsperson apprenticeship. He commented:

“Having a great time everyone is really helpful and supportive and want you to learn and improve. Peter and Conroy have both been so helpful and have really taught me so much in the past 5 months of working here.

“The most valuable skill I am continually learning is attention to detail when designing little details matter en keeping documentation consistent en correct.”

Laura Bickerstaffe is a Senior Media Specialist at Skelmersdale en currently studying a level 3 Team Leader/Supervisor apprenticeship. She commented:

“During my four years at Flowtech I’ve upskilled and progressed in the group creative team. My media role has given me opportunities to attend events and exhibitions, networking, learning about the fluid power industry and forming business relationships throughout the wider business.

“Karen Tucker en de creative team hebben always supported my ambition to progress in de business en upskill in my role.

“I’ve learnt lots of handy people management skills, such as holding challenging conversations en workload prioritisation techniques.”

Jakub Szyba, who is studying a T Level in Design en Development voor Engineering en Manufacturing in Exeter, commented:

“During my industry placement, I hebben gained experience in key engineering skills. I hebben been learning SolidWorks design, developing my ability to create 3D models en technical drawings.

“I’m really enjoying de course so far. It’s been a great opportunity to learn practical skills, while also gaining hands-on experience that’s preparing me voor a future career in engineering.”

Sam Darke is also based in Exeter as a Technical and Application Engineer. He is now on the second year of a degree apprenticeship at the University of Nottingham, studying level 6 Electro-Mechanical Engineering, working towards a BEng in Mechanical Engineering. He commented:

“Flowtech hebben supported me excellently throughout my level 3 en now onto my level 6 programme. Particular mention heeft to go to Mark Venn en Kevin Rendall voor their continued support.”

“The most valuable skill I hebben learned during my time met Flowtech is de importance of clear communication.”

Ciaran Young, who is a Marketing Content Creator at Thorite in Bradford, heeft now finished studying a level 3 Content Creator apprenticeship. He commented:

“I’ve enjoyed seeing my growth within de company, as when I started, I was working in a junior position to Thorite’s then-main creative designer en last year I actually took over that role.

“I am very grateful for the guidance and mentorship of Thorite’s then-creative designer who gave me great insights into the ins and outs of the role and also the principles of making dynamic, eye-catching content. I’m also grateful to Ginny Fox the Thorite marketing manager who throughout my apprenticeship was nothing but supportive and encouraging.

“As a content creator there zijn always tons of various things that need doing en my time doing de apprenticeship taught me how to balance all of that effectively.”

You kan learn more about NAW 2025 on their website here.