Hyde seeks next generation of talent

The teams set about establishing their mini-manufacturing businesses with enthusiasm, choosing job roles, customer groups and then creating, marketing and selling their multi-functional, unmanned rescue vehicles to a team of 'Dragons'. In a closely-contested heat, Longdendale Community Language College of Hollingworth, Hyde took the winning trophy with its 'All Terrain Ambulance'. Designed with tank treads to negotiate all territories, room for ten injured personnel and an in-built operating theatre for emergencies, the presentation impressed the Dragons and secured a place in the regional Make It in Aerospace Challenge final next summer. Reddish Vale Technology College of Stockport was awarded second place. Matthew Murray, HR director at the Tameside based Hyde Group – which creates airframes, aero engine components, and engineering and tooling for the likes of Rolls-Royce and BAE – said: "We were delighted to sponsor the event again this year because we believe it is important to engage young people and dispel the misconceptions they have about careers in engineering and manufacturing. Our cutting-edge business requires people with high level skills and so we need to attract the brightest and best talent. Events such as this go a long way towards achieving this goal". Nicola Eagleton-Crowther, Make It campaign manager at The Manufacturing Institute added: "Today's event has been extremely successful in highlighting the future career opportunities that the aerospace sector – which employs almost 50,000 people here in the North West - can offer young people. At the start of the day only 25% of the youngsters said they would consider a career in manufacturing yet this rose to 63% by the end. We still have a long way to go to improve the image of manufacturing here in the UK but days such as these are an excellent start".