It is not lost on me how important engineering is in the work we do every day in Vanderlande. On the 28th of October, I was a part of an event where we celebrated six colleagues who are now official Vanderlande Service Technicians. Four took the traditional apprenticeship route, and two took an alternative pathway moving from our General Operative role. The event was a celebration of their achievements and an opportunity for us and their family and friends to celebrate them and let them know how proud we are of them.
We have put a lot of hard work and effort into ensuring we grow a talent pipeline through our apprenticeships and other pathways. Charlie Futerill, our Apprenticeship Manager, has been instrumental in that success. Charlie, himself an engineer, joined Vanderlande in 2018 as a Team Leader in Terminal 3 before taking on his current role. Thanks to him, we have seen significant improvements in ensuring a robust, sustainable and engaging apprenticeship route that not just meets the needs of today but is scalable for the future. The new technicians and the representative from Kingston College spoke very highly of Charlie. We are fortunate to have him lead on this for us.