30.03.2016

Female engineer takes award

Katie Long has won the Best Apprentice of the Year - under 25s award in the UK’s 2016 Woman in Construction awards.
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Long is presented the award at the Women In Construction Awards in Manchester

The 20 year-old works for UK based telehandler rental company UK Forks and is based at its Exeter branch. She is currently employed on a three year apprenticeship which includes periods of block release training at Myerscough College in Lancashire. She is due to graduate from the programme next summer.

The college specialises in crane, access and telehandler mechanics apprenticeships at its £5.5 million engineering centre in Bilsborrow, just north of Preston.
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Long currently works for telehandler rental company UK Forks in Exeter

Long, said: “I completed a short engineering course whilst at school. For me the apprenticeship is a fantastic way to earn, learn and pave a career path within the industry. In the future after I qualify I would like to gain permanent employment and hopefully progress within the company. I would also like to look at higher education options and gain as much knowledge and experience as I can. I would recommend apprenticeships to other young people as a fantastic way to enter the industry.’’

Myerscough College principal, Ann Turner added: “Becoming the first woman to become principal of the college, I know how tough it can be to succeed in traditionally male domi-nated sectors. The achievements of Katie and our other female apprentices should be cele-brated and I’m sure they’ll go onto fantastic careers within their chosen fields. Myerscough College is proud of its reputation as a leading provider of training for the land based and specialist industries. I wish Katie every success for the future.’’