A FORMER Hereford school pupil who now works as an engineering apprentice has beaten off competition from around the country to scoop a national award.

Philippa Dressler-Pearson, of Worcester-based Southco Manufacturing Ltd, was named the 'Best National Advanced Apprentice' at a prestigious SEMTA (Sector Skills Council for Science, Engineering and Manufacturing Technologies) awards ceremony at the Park Lane Hilton in London.

The former Bishop of Hereford's Bluecoat School pupil also picked up the final award of 'Best of British Engineering' in front of government ministers and high ranking British business executives.

Ms Dressler-Pearson, who has been training with Herefordshire and Worcestershire Group Training Association (HWGTA), said: "This is an incredible honour. I started my apprenticeship four years ago and after 18 months the company I previously worked for went into administration. Being told we were all going to be redundant was devastating.

"I picked myself up, my training provider (HWGTA) and college were incredible. Southco came along, we bonded, I went in for an interview and the rest is history. I would say to anyone be enthusiastic, enjoy what you do and you will succeed."

Alan Jones, HWGTA engineering manager, and Grahame Davies, HWGTA engineering training instructor, had the honour of watching Ms Dressler-Pearson pick up the awards.

She was also very generous in her praise of HWGTA staff who have supported her throughout her apprenticeship journey and particularly thanked Grahame for his support and for nominating her.

Since starting work for Southco, she has finished her BTEC level 3, a foundation degree and an NVQ Level 3.

Her role at the firm involves manufacturing access hardware – ranging from the glove box latch in motor vehicles, the security lock in a data storage cabinet, plus much more.

She said: "My role includes the modification of these products. A customer can come to us with a requirement for a different colour, or head style, of latch. This is the type of project that I design and manage. I also help with any technical support queries customers and colleagues may have. It often takes a vast amount of product knowledge to answer these questions, and this is something I am getting better at, the more I do."

A spokesman for HWGTA said Pippa was a 'fantastic and inspirational' apprentice role model for current and future generations.

"She is already working closely with us again on promoting apprenticeships in both Herefordshire and Worcestershire," the spokesman added.