Tyne Valley Plastics says its apprentices break the mould

A North-East based plastic injection moulder has successfully recruited two apprentices that it says will be “instrumental” in helping the company meet its future goals.

Tyne Valley Plastics (TVP), based in Prudehoe, Northumberland, says 18-year-old Sam Stoves and James Whittemore decided to venture straight into the workplace after studying for their ‘A’ Levels and are keen to carve a practical career in industry.

“It’s refreshing to see young people choosing an apprenticeship and wanting to invest in a career as 18-year-olds,” said Gill Rice, TVP’s Managing Director.“We’re very happy to have Sam and James on board at Tyne Valley Plastics, as we plan for further growth.”

Stoves joined the company in March 2015 and is on a Modern Apprenticeship via Derwentside College. TVP says he has finished all his coursework for the first year of his apprenticeship, despite being only seven months into the programme, and he is keen to start the work for his year two assignments. 

After a thorough grounding in TVP’s factory learning how to operate machines and set tooling, Stoves is now moving into new product development and liaising with clients.

Whittemore joined TVP in September 2015, after completing his ‘A’ Levels. He is on an Advanced Apprenticeship via Tyne North Training in Newcastle. The first three months training is off-site, so James will join the Prudhoe team in January 2016.

Whittemore says that he chose to go straight into a career rather than going to university because he wanted to do something practical. Like Stoves, Whittemore will be learning about product design and TVP says both apprentices will be instrumental in helping the company as it works towards its ISO9001 status.