Tom was the recipient of the Electrical Apprentice & College Apprentice of the Year award in 2020. His employer, Alderney Electric (AEL) nominated him for the award for being "an outstanding apprentice. It has been many years since AEL has had such a fine example of what a mode l apprentice and employee should be."
AEL also noted that Tom "will never hesitate to step forward and get on with any work that needs doing and I have never once heard him complain or try to avoid any job no matter how hard or dirty" and noted "(Tom is ) well turned out in his appearance and has an easy and knowledgeable manner when dealing with customers."
Tutors at TGI supported the nomination stating " Tom’s commitment to his course of study is exemplary.... he has excelled in both his practical and theoretical classes producing work to an exceptionally high standard"
In Tom's own words he explains his apprentice journey below:
What my apprenticeship has meant to me:
The apprenticeship at Alderney Electric (AEL) has been a brilliant opportunity to learn a huge range of aspects within the Electrical industry from wiring a 13A plug, to putting up the island's Christmas lights, learning about the generation and distribution side of electricity to working on the 11,000/415 Volt network and switchgear.
It has been very interesting to be a part of the team involved in the High Voltage network upgrade and the modernisation of Alderney Power Station. This has enabled me to see how the technology has evolved in the last 50 years or so, in terms of engineering and safety. It has also helped to understand the theory side of Electricity in much greater detail as I get to follow it from being generated, transformed and then distributed around the island and finally consumed by customers in various domestic, commercial and industrial premises.
The staff at AEL have also made the apprenticeship extremely enjoyable with their knowledge, fun working attitude and patience (especially in the first few years when electricity didn’t make much sense to me). I felt that if I didn’t understand something that I could ask for it to be explained in different ways until it made sense without feeling like I should understand after being told once. This has been a huge part of my apprenticeship and not being expected to know everything straight away prevented any stress or pressure in what can be a very dangerous job.
The college tutors Rick and Adam have been brilliant. They have made the theory side of the apprenticeship fun, interesting and easy to understand. Again, their patience whilst electricity doesn’t make sense in the early years made them approachable to ask questions about things that I didn’t understand to help get through college with very little experience in domestic wiring.
