All 11 of the EPS Technical Apprentices have successfully navigated their way through the first 6 months of training and education and passed the first assessment point.

They will now continue their journey with the University of Manchester……..Congratulations to all.

The website for the EPS Apprentices has now been launched.

The site contains a wealth of information about the apprentice programme, including details of how to apply, multimedia content, information about the initial cohort of eleven apprentices, a full FAQ, and much more.

You can visit the site here: EPS Apprentices

“Ghyll head has been an opportunity to challenge myself at tasks which I would not normally face. Through the communication and cooperation with others, I have succeeded in learning new skills in teamwork, which can be translated into everyday work.”

– Rosie Byrne, Laboratory Technician Apprentice

As Colin mentioned, a couple of weeks ago the TAP apprentices, along with a few members of staff from Manchester University, set off to Ghyll Head in the Lake District, for a week of team building, memories of which will no doubt stay with us for years to come, along with the skills we developed during our time there.

The trip was a chance not only to develop our team work skills, but also for the two groups of apprentices to get to know each other better. In the first few months of our apprenticeship, the Laboratory Technician Apprentices have had opportunities to work together, and attend college together one day a week, and the Mechanical apprentices have attended college together full-time, but both groups spending a week together meant we had the opportunities to share our experiences and talk about how our time at the university has been so far.

When we arrived at Ghyll Head, we were greeted by Sally Ozanne, who is not only a fantastic outdoor instructor who made sure we all got the most out of our experiences throughout the week and pushed ourselves to take on new challenges, but is also an impressive sportswoman who had just returned from Turkey where she won the European Adventure Racing Championship. After we’d had some lunch, and made our beds (a task which proved far more challenging for some than others!) we started on our first team building challenges.

We certainly didn’t drop the ball when it came to getting all eleven of us through a hoola hoop in the space of eleven seconds, which certainly took some cooperation, or racing to touch tiles numbered one to thirty in under a minute (the catch being that only one of us at a time could enter the circle that contained the numbered tiles). The same can’t quite be said for the exercise that included actual throwing and catching, although fortunately the golf ball didn’t go flying off in the wrong direction too many times, and everyone did at least remember each others name successfully which was the point of the task. We proved that we were capable of working together, and throughout the rest of the week we expanded on that, and had to actively use our abilities to cooperate to a much greater degree, in more ‘real’ situations.

The next activities we took part in involved climbing, so after we collected our harnesses and helmets we got ourselves into groups of three and mentally prepared ourselves for the heights. The first climb was up a pole, with a platform at the top, which three people (or even four if you’re daring!) can stand on at a time. Once three of us were up there, we had to put our trust in each other and hold elbows or wrists, and lean backwards. This particular task caused a fair few falls – safety ropes being held by the rest of the group meant that we weren’t in any danger of course – the first of which might have involved me (an embarrassing, albeit amusing moment).

One thing that Sally talked to us about with regards to our week at Ghyll head was ‘comfort zones’ and ‘stretch zones’. If you push yourself to do things outside of your comfort zone (in your ‘stretch zone’) the things that scare you become easier to accomplish next time around. We all pushed ourselves to do things outside of our comfort zone throughout the week, but we were all particularly proud of Josh Major, one of the Mechanical apprentices, who managed to climb to the top of the pole despite his fear of heights.

The second climb didn’t involve ropes or harnesses – or footholds! We had to work together as a team to get all of us over a dauntingly high wall, a task which I initially thought was impossible for me to accomplish. I was proved wrong however, and by working together we managed to get everyone over the wall (Rosie unceremoniously being almost thrown over, but I think she’s forgiven us).

After a break for dinner, we put on our walking books and got ready for our final challenge of the day. We were split into two teams, Team Apple and Team Banana, and given maps and pictures outlining a route we had to take to make our way back to the oak tree we started at. We were also given radios that we had to use to keep Sally informed of when we reached certain checkpoints, and in Team Banana’s case, to report the presence of a particularly threatening herd of sheep. Thankfully they made a daring escape from the sheep attack, and we all managed to make it back without getting lost, and take in a lovely view of Lake Windermere, before heading back to the bungalow for a well-earned rest to prepare us for day two!

I’ll talk about day two next week, but in the mean time, Sue Field suggested a caption competition, so feel free to let us know in the comments what you think the caption for the photo below should be!