SW Durham Training builds on its track record

WWII fighter ace Sir Douglas Bader performed the official ceremony when SW Durham Training centre first threw open its doors to apprentice engineers in 1967. 
Nowadays they would probably hand the honour to North-East comedian Vic Reeves, himself a product of the centre's renowned mechanical engineering course.
Led by George Hurry, the team setting up the centre had approached Sir Francis Chichester, fresh from his becoming the first solo yachtsman to circumnavigate of the world, to cut the ribbon. His unavailability saw Brian Bean one of the centre's first instructors draw on his RAF connections to call on another Boy's Own hero for the grand opening.
Brian, who worked for 32 years at the centre, recalls: "From my National Service days I knew a chap called James "Ginger" Lacey. During the Battle of Britain Ginger shot down one of the bombers that had attacked Buckingham Palace. Through him we persuaded Douglas Bader to come up.
"Douglas was a great guy and a real inspiration to the young trainees who met him that day." 
Among that first intake was Dave Allison who later returned as an instructor and is now SWDT's health & safety and facilities manager.
SWDT was a product of the 1964 Industrial Training Act.
Poor training had been blamed for Britain's relatively lacklustre post-war economic performance and the problem looked set to escalate when the children of the post-war baby boom left school in the 1960s. The Act placed levies on larger companies and the money was given back to those which agreed to take on apprentices. It was a simple but very effective method of ensuring the factories, mines and railways could draw upon a steady stream of skilled labour.
A group of the larger companies in the Darlington and Aycliffe area, including Underground Mining Machinery (UMM), Chrysler Cummins Engines, Torrington Bearings, Darchem and Toledo Woodhead Springs, joined forces to set up a new training centre that would provide them with state-of-the-art training facilities. With training board backing a centre was built at Aycliffe. It was staffed by skilled craftsman and overseen by an unpaid executive council of local company directors under the chairmanship of Franklin Callaby.   
An agreement with the National Railway Museum in York saw the centre train apprentices for the museum's sister site in Shildon. SDWT trainees ended up working on historic engines such as Tornado, Locomotion no. 1  and the Blue Peter, as well as the replica of the Sans Pareil. 
The centre was extended in 1969 and again in January 1975 in response to growing demand from local companies. By the late 1970s it was turning out more than 200 apprentices every year.
"The impact of the centre on industry, both in this region and across the country should not be underestimated," reckons Dave Allison who points to Mike Matthews, managing director of Nifco UK and the company's European operations officer, in Eaglescliffe, near Stockton; Caroline Robinson, managing director of Husqvarna, in Spennymoor, County Durham, and Mike McCabe, the former plant manager of Cummins Engines, in Darlington as being among the some 10,000 trainees to have cut their teeth at SWDT.
Mr Matthews, believes that his time as an apprentice allowed him to gain much more than just practical skills.
"I started my training to become a toolmaker with SWDT in September 1980 and though, over the years, the technical skills I was taught there have become less critical to my role, they will always provide me with the strong foundation needed to succeed in business," he says.
"While I realised reasonably quickly that my ambition and interest in business would take me away from the factory floor, I really do believe that the practical and theoretical skills I gained during my apprenticeship have made all the difference to my career progression, and as a result, I am a real advocate of apprentices in general, and SWDT in particular.
"As a business, Nifco UK works with SWDT to source and train its apprentices. The track record it has built over the last 45 years, and my own positive experience of studying there, meant that we chose to work with the company to appoint our first apprentices in more than a decade in 2011. And we have made a further commitment to apprenticeships by pledging to appoint at least two apprentices every year that we add to our headcount."
Towards the end of the 1980s the Industrial Training Boards were wound down and the levy system was abolished.
After falling into disrepair SWDT was given a new lease of life in the 1990s.
In 1994 Nissan managing director John Cushnaghan opened a new extension which doubled the size of the centre and provided a new area for electrical and mechanical maintenance training and the first fork lift training bay. In 1998 due to demand for material handling training a new extension was opened by BBC reporter Kate Adie.
Last year, in a bid to keep up with the demands of advanced manufacturing, a 3.6m high-tech extension was opened to keep pace with the changing needs of advanced manufacturing.
Brian Bean adds: "I came from a railway background which was an industry that played a key role in the centres development. It is very exciting that after all of these years we are going to see things come full circle with the new Hitachi factory opening nearby."
Charl Erasmus SWDT chief executive explains the challenge ahead. "If you consider what is going to happen in Acliffe over the next five years with the likes of Hitachi, the growth of the subsea sectors etcetera, it's clear there is a lot of work for us to make sure that our training is aligned with what industry needs.
"Thousands of jobs are coming our way, but there is a diminishing pool of people. Our job is about preparing people with the skills that will be needed." 
Last week's event to mark the 45th anniversary included a speech from former SWDT apprentice Gareth Berry, who is now vice president of Electrolux Major Appliances, and from Terry Scuoler, chief executive of EEF, the manufacturer's organisation.
Mr Berry said: "The team at SWDT really instilled a strong work ethic in me, and that has stuck with me right through my career, more than 20 years on.
"I really do believe that apprenticeships offer a great balance between academic and practical skills and, as a result, they produce well-rounded employees with experience and aptitude that sets them apart.
"My involvement in the event was really about showing people that there shouldn't be a limit - and with apprenticeships, there really aren't any."