APPRENTICES and organisations have been recognised at a Wigan and Leigh College awards ceremony.

The college's Apprenticeship Awards took place on Thursday which rewarded the contributions and achievements of apprenticeships in their placements as well as their employers.

There were 12 categories on the evening with guests treated to a keynote speech from a former finalist of BBC's The Apprentice, Adam Corbally, about how he turned his life around.

He is also an advocate of the way apprenticeships offer experience to people starting out in their careers.

Daniel Swanton, an apprentice at Allied Infrastructure, won the Professional Apprentice of the Year award.

He said: “I am overwhelmed as I was not expecting to win.

"My apprenticeship has opened up so many different paths and more training opportunities and I would recommend it to anyone.

"My career prospects have definitely been improved.”

Wrightington, Wigan & Leigh NHS Foundation Trust (WWL) won the Innovation Award due to its support of apprentices through their "grow your own strategy and clinical care initiative".

WWL learning and development manager, Anne Forrest, added: “Including apprentices in our workforce is key to us being able to support local people to gain the skills to work in the NHS and become qualified in all kinds of jobs.

"We have fabulous apprentices who come to the college.”

Wigan and Leigh College works with over 1,500 employers in the area and offers more than 50 apprenticeship pathways.

Principal Anna Dawe added: “As the largest college provider of apprenticeships in Greater Manchester we were delighted to welcome all the nominees to celebrate their outstanding contributions."

Full list of winners

Public Sector: Commitment to Apprenticeships – Wigan Council

Public Sector: Innovation Award – Wrightington, Wigan & Leigh NHS Foundation Trust

Medium and Small Employer of the Year – Active Case Management

Construction Apprentice of the Year – Will Newbury

Engineering Apprentice of the Year – Patryk Potrapeluk

Care Apprentice of the Year – Jean Fletcher

Professional Apprentice of the Year – Daniel Swanton

Service Industries Apprentice of the Year – Jiraporn Jolley

Traineeship of the Year – Sarah Morris

Intermediate Apprentice of the Year – Nathan Davies

Advanced Apprentice of the Year – George Comins

Degree Apprentice of the Year – Thomas Weeder