Primary school pupils in South Cumbria have been awarded for their engineering achievements.
Barrow and District Association of Engineers gave bursaries and prizes to youngsters from Sacred Heart and Ormsgill primary schools were given £500 each to improve their engineering technologies and projects.
The association has presented awards to secondary school students for several years but said it recognised that inspiring younger children could have a long-term impact on their career choices.
The awards event was held at Furness College so that families could learn more about the education stages leading to engineering roles.
At the event, several experienced engineers gave speeches to inspire the younger generation.
Steve Timms, managing director of BAE Systems Submarines, talked about his experience moving from a craft apprenticeship to being MD of a shipyard.
Also at the event were presentations to show children possible routes into engineering across the area. The presentations aimed to benefit children as young as seven years old all the way to employment.
Barrow and District Association of Engineers member, Denis Lidstone, said: “Many engineering companies locally struggle to recruit suitable employees and we are keen to support a pipeline of high-quality engineers.
“By awarding young engineers with prizes for their commitment to engineering and by supporting schools to enhance their engineering provision, we hope that the Barrow and District Association of Engineers will inspire young talent.”
Furness education and skills programme manager, Caroline Vernon, said: “Following the pandemic, lots of young people have lost the motivation to learn.
“At the same time, there is a growing recruitment crisis in Cumbria. For both of those reasons, giving young people a reason to try hard, helping them meet employers and find out about exciting careers has never been so important. It is critical that we all work together, across the community, to support young people on a journey of real-world learning and skills development.
“There are so many brilliant career options in Furness and world leading engineering opportunities. This event is a real celebration of early achievement and the children’s first taste of professional success.”
