July 2018
Celebrating the 21st edition of Seawork, the inaugural Young Person’s Development Award was presented to Robert Deakes - CQC/Bideford College at the European Commercial Marine Awards evening held at Seawork on Tuesday 3rd July.
The award was presented by Andrew Webster- CEO of Mercator Media who commented, “We are pleased to be able to help and support the future generation within the commercial marine sector. Robert’s application stood out as someone who is already making a difference within the industry and we wanted to be able to facilitate his further educational growth as a future key player.”
Robert joined CQC, as an apprentice, 3 years ago and now works on producing the Fibrelight range, with every single Fibrelight Recovery Cradle and Emergency Ladder being made by him. Robert intends to use the £850 bursary on a hot-air welding course, enabling him to help the development and prototyping of new safety equipment within CQC.
Robert commented “Winning this award was a massive surprise and great for the team – whilst I was the one to receive the award there are lots of people in the background like R&D and Production who have been working on Fibrelight for a while: without their efforts I wouldn’t have been in a position to be even considered for the award. The framed award is in the factory for everyone to see but no one is getting their hands on the trophy!”
Tim Craig-Harvey, Head of Business Development at CQC Ltd added, “I’m delighted that Rob’s efforts have been recognised publicly; he’s a cracking example of everything that is great about the apprenticeship scheme. Rob is a grafter and I’m thrilled that this award will enable him to gain additional qualifications to enhance his career prospects. Seawork was his first visit to a maritime exhibition, so it was a great week all round. Thanks are due to Mercator Media for sponsoring this initiative, I very much hope that Fibrelight will be in a position to enter similar categories next year.”
CQC look forward to nominating other employees for next year's awards and to exhibit at Seawork 2019.
