LAST month Monahans’ first Manufacturing Breakfast of 2015 shone the spotlight on the world class career opportunities that are on offer to young people considering apprenticeship programmes.

BMW’s head of Apprentice and Associate Training Programme in the UK, Simon Farrell, joined several senior colleagues from Swindon to explain to Monahans guests at the breakfast how BMW is making considerable investment in apprenticeships, including higher level apprenticeships.

As my colleague and lead in Manufacturing for Monahans Iain Black, who hosted the event, remarked, the stars of the morning were undoubtedly the two BMW apprentices, Chay Tucker and David Robinson, who spoke eloquently and passionately about their academic and vocational training programmes, and both demonstrated a level of professional authority and maturity well beyond their years.

Our event was completed with a talk by the principal of Swindon’s University Techniocal College, Angela Barker-Dench, on the need to attract more of our most imaginative and curious students into engineering and to increase the number of female students choosing this career path.

Working as closely as we do with some of Wiltshire’s premier manufacturing companies, we at Monahans recognise the huge contribution that manufacturing makes to the British economy.

People like Chay and David deserve no less – and our economy will be the stronger for it.

Anyone who is involved in manufacturing and would be interested in attending a future Monahans Manufacturing Breakfast can email Zoe.Meaden@monahans.co.uk to express their interest and find out more about the events.

Simon Tombs Monahans Chartered Accountants (01225) 785520