Pendennis Apprentice Community Week 2024

Pendennis celebrates National Apprenticeship Week every year, and this year we've seen employers, training providers, schools and students embrace how apprenticeships provide skills for life. Since 1998, our apprenticeship offering has become a key part of who we are as a company, having now trained over 350 young men and women in the boat industry over the past 26 years. Many of our apprentices have progressed to senior positions within the company such as project engineers, trade, and project managers.

During National Apprenticeship Week, our apprentices volunteer their time and skills to local charities and organisations in a week we affectionately refer to as "Pendennis Apprentice Community Week,". Our apprentices get the chance to work on key skills, such as project management and project coordination as well as communicating with external contacts and with colleagues from different trades. Not only does Pendennis Apprentice Community Week boost the apprentices' skills, it provides a sense of fulfilment by helping out several worthy causes in our local community. Our apprentices tell us year after year how the experience improves their confidence and inter-personal skills and as a company, we are happy to be providing a well-deserved boost to community projects.

This year, our apprentices volunteered at The Garden Pre-School, Falmouth Cricket Club, Blind at Sea, The Sunrise Centre at Treliske, Falmouth Gig Club and Kennall Vale School.

At The Garden Pre-School, the apprentices helped with some maintenance work on the outdoor play area, and also laid artificial turf. Falmouth Cricket Club received help with indoor painting, and outdoor maintenance including guttering work and power washing the patio. At Mylor Yacht Harbour our apprentices helped the sailing charity Blind at Sea by working on their yacht Lucienne. Work included boat maintenance, antifouling and electrical improvements. At Treliske, the apprentices painted indoors and varnished planters and furniture. At Falmouth Gig Club, our surface finishing apprentices worked on the Gig Club's prized award-winning gig with some paint works. At Kennall Vale Primary School, the apprentices worked on some outdoor repairs, including making improvements to shed roofs, repainting them, laying a brick pathway in the garden area and they painted a small fibreglass boat.

In the video below you can hear from the apprentices, charities and organisations that were involved, and listen to what the week meant to them.

As well as helping with community work, our apprentices attended local events such as the Apprentice Games at Cornwall College and the Apprentice Awards at the Eden Project.

The Apprentice Games is Cornwall College's annual fun-filled event where apprentices from across the county compete in several rounds of challenges to test all kinds of skills. The Pendennis apprentices competed against 18 other local employers' teams, winning the Communication Award.

The Apprenticeship Awards took place at The Eden Project. The event celebrates the best apprenticeship employers in Cornwall, and we were thrilled to take home the large Apprentice Employer of the Year award.

Recruitment for this years intake of Pendennis Apprentices was announced during the week; we held an Apprentice Recruitment Open Evening at our shipyard on Wednesday 28th February - the turnout was fantastic. It was inspiring to see so many young people interested in pursuing a career with Pendennis.

Applications are now officially open for our apprenticeship scheme, application packs are available to download from the apprenticeships page of our website. Click here to visit our apprenticeships page where you can learn more.