Valero Pembroke Refinery’s flagship apprenticeship programme has been celebrated at two separate events recently, further highlighting the support the company gives to young people seeking vocational education and careers in industry.

On March 23, Valero was presented with the ‘Large Employer of the Year’ award at the Pembrokeshire College Apprenticeship Awards ceremony, in recognition of the refinery’s exemplary commitment to training and supporting young people. In particular, Valero was praised for its prompt and decisive action in taking on the 12 Murco apprentices employed at Milford Haven Refinery following its closure, allowing them to complete their apprenticeship frameworks.

Speaking after receiving the award, Valero training manager, Nicky Howells, said: “This award is a wonderful recognition of Pembroke Refinery’s well established apprenticeship scheme, which has been in operation since 2005, with 95 apprentices recruited since its inception. Valero is committed to training, mentoring and supporting young apprentices and students, and we believe that our successful apprenticeship scheme is an integral part of our business success.”

This commitment and the quality of training provided was clearly demonstrated when an apprenticeship team competed in a regional competition designed to develop understanding of their engineering skills.

On March 24, a team of first year Valero apprentices attending Pembrokeshire College won the ‘Best Working Model or Prototype’ award at the Engineering Education Scheme Wales awards, part of ‘The Big Bang Fair’ at Swansea University’s Bay Campus. Over 70 teams from across South Wales took part in the competition, and after being set a very challenging brief, the Valero team of James Griffiths, Tom Preece and Jordan Gough triumphed in their nominated category with their hydrostatic test monitoring device.

Valero senior technical trainer, Paul Evans, said: “Being nominated in a category at these awards is a massive achievement on its own, let alone winning. The brief given to the apprentices was a complex one, but throughout the project we saw this group of apprentices apply the engineering skills and knowledge obtained from their course, as well as develop new important business skills, to build a fully functioning prototype suitable for use in a real life industrial application.”