Riverpark Training Awards Night
On the 25th November 2010, Riverpark Training held its annual Awards Night to celebrate the achievement of their Apprentices in 2010. This Award Ceremony is held annually at Riverpark Training at the Blackwater Road site in Mallusk to celebrate the achievements of all the young apprentices who have gained NVQ Level 2 and 3 in Body Repair and Vehicle Refinishing and also for those who have received special recognition.
The Apprentices who achieved their NVQ’S are:
NVQ Level 2 Body Repair NVQ Level 2 Vehicle Refinishing
Matthew Bell Gareth Donnelly
Matthew Brooks Mark Ellis
William Howell Kyle Fullerton
Gary Surgenor Glen Gilmore
David Skillen Alan Huggins
Philip Allen Daniel McDowell
Nils Rankin
David Taylor
Thomas Shields
NVQ Level 3 Body Repair NVQ Level 3 Vehicle Refinishing
Stephen Craig Jonathan Clark
William Hanna Craig Hamilton
Sean Maguire Daniel Matheson
Alan McCartney Michael Montgomery
Ryan McGuigan Aaron Thompson
Marc McHugh Daryl Vance
Andrew Smith
The 2010 Top Achievers:
Most Improved Refinisher of the Year: Marc Reilly of Nigel Whanns Accident Repair Centre
Most Improved panel Beater of the Year: Leigh Fitzpatrick of Newry Crash Repair
Young Refinisher of the Year: Steven Gill of TBR Accident Repair
Young Panel Beater of the Year: David Skillen of Wrights ARC Carryduff
Apprentice of the Year: Matthew Quinn of Charles Hurst Accident Repair Centre
There were also awards from the 2010 Craft Awards Re-Presented to:
Young Painter of the Year Finalist: Daniel Matheson of Bryansford Coachworks
Young Painter of the Year Finalist: Gary Greer of Charles Hurst Accident Repair Centre
The Night itself had a good turnout with around 60 people attending, it started off with Colin Hagan giving a short speech about how the training has developed in 2010 and what Riverpark aim to achieve in 2011, this was followed by introducing the staff and special guests, Dr Robert Coulter MLA, Andrew Blair gold medalist in the world skills 2005 and Johnny Lloyd bronze medalist in the world skills 2007 all of whom presented the awards.
Devilbliss provided sponsorship for the young painter category for this event and supplied a top of the range spray gun, Riverpark Training supplied a snap on panel beating set to the young panel section and a specially designed glass trophy for the Apprentice of the Year. The awards night was attended by the apprentices, family, friends, employers and the IMI Sector Skills Representative (Martin Hutchinson).
VDA and Thatcham Escibe Update
Les Minton from Thatcham Automotive Training Academy has carried out a further 2 days VDA training course on the 31st January and the 1st of February. This will further strengthen the links with the industry leader in this area of training and will improve the ability of the bodyshops in Northern Ireland to achieve PAS125. Further VDA training dates are available by request and Riverpark Training would particularly like to extend this training to insurance field engineers and those who have not yet engaged in this requirement for PAS125. Riverpark Training is committed to providing value for money in this expensive area of training and will strive to keep the cost to the industry as low as possible but need good attendances to ensure they can keep this cost to a minimum.
