A 20-YEAR-OLD apprentice from Rangeworthy has claimed the top prize at a prestigious manufacturing awards.

Ben Townsend, who works as an apprentice pattern-maker for Gloucester-based Advanced Insulation, won the Intermediate and Advanced First Year Apprentice Award at this year’s EEF Future Manufacturing Awards in London.

He beat a host of talented individuals from companies such as Dyson, BAE Systems and Airbus.

Winners were selected for regional and then national awards by a panel of judges drawn from business leaders, industry experts and academics.

As part of the final, Ben had to give a talk to a roomful of people about how to get more people into engineering, with very little time to prepare.

He said 15 years of doing panto with Rangeworthy’s Court Players, and working behind the bar in the Rose and Crown, helped prepare him for his speech.

Ben so impressed the judges with his passion for engineering and role as an ambassador for apprenticeships that he was crowned the winner.

Delighted with his victory, Ben said: “This is a massive honour and a privilege to have this award not just for myself and my company, but for all apprentices on their career path.

“It’s been a fantastic experience in the first year of my apprenticeship and I’ve developed so much and winning this tops it all off.”

Ben attributes his early interest in engineering to making things in his grandfather’s workshop from a young age, and taking part in his family’s self-build home project at just 12-years-old.

Andrew Bennion, managing director at Advanced Insulation said: “Ben’s dedication to his craft has set him apart from apprentices in some of the UK’s most prestigious manufacturing companies.

“Ben has worked on projects worth hundreds of thousands of pounds and is learning each day from Tony Nash, senior patternmaker and the patternshop team, here at Advanced Insulation.

“The transfer of these types of skills is crucial if the UK is to breach the often-cited skills gap in the industry.”

Ian Mynett, chief executive of BEMA, Ben’s Yate-based training provider, said: “The progress Ben has made with BEMA and Advanced Insulation is nothing less than spectacular. It’s great to know that all the investment in his training has enabled him to reach the highest standard in his field."