Golden celebration for Faculty of Construction
26/03/2010
Guest Speaker Ian Crockford presents ‘Student of the Year’ John Murfitt with his award
2010 marks the 50th anniversary of the first students to complete their course and achieve a qualification from the College's Faculty of Construction. To celebrate their Golden Jubilee, the flagship Faculty, which has been offering young people in the area industry-relevant training since 1960, pulled out all the stops to ensure this year's awards ceremony, to honour student achievement, was a truly glittering affair!
Students and their families received invitations to the ceremony which was held in the Longley Building at the Crawley campus, on the evening of 17 March, and on arrival, Deputy Principal Maureen Kilminster gave a welcome address, before outstanding students from a selection of construction-based courses, which ranged from plumbing to bricklaying, were presented with their awards.
Amongst the thirty four awards presented on the night were The Sir Norman Longley Memorial Prize for the student who has given the most effort to secure their achievements, which went to Lewis Leake, 19, from Copthorne, who demonstrated his commitment to his course by attaining 100% attendance; The Alfred Manly Memorial Prize for the best work-based learning apprentice, which went to Michael O'Grady, 19, from Furnace Green, for his outstanding work as a plumbing apprentice; and The Cyril Branch Memorial Prize for the student whose efforts and achievements have earned them the 'Student of the Year' Award, which this year, went to John Murfitt, 22, from Burgess Hill, who spent several years at the College training for a career as a plumber. Having completed his NVQ Level 2 in plumbing last year, he now works for F Goddard & Sons in Haywards Heath.
One of the highlights of the evening was the speech given by guest speaker Ian Crockford, ODA Project Sponsor for the Olympic Stadium and Aquatics Centre, and formerly Project Manager for the building of the London Eye. Before he presented the awards to the successful students, Mr Crockford spoke about his career in the Construction industry, and in particular, about his work on the London 2012 Olympic site, which was particularly interesting in light of the recent announcement that Crawley is to play host to the Barbados National Olympic squad during the games, with the team using the state-of-the-art facilities at K2 leisure centre to train. The Faculty of Construction was thrilled to secure such a high profile speaker for the event, and following the event, Ian Crockford said "It was an honour to attend the Construction Awards Ceremony and meet some of the students who may become the future stars of the industry. It is thanks to institutions such as the Central Sussex College that the UK has such a highly-skilled and world-renowned construction industry. The London 2012 project is already showing what the UK design, engineering and constructions sectors can achieve and we hope it will leave a skills, employment and training legacy after the Games."
Further addresses during the ceremony came from Teaching and Learning Manager for the Faculty, Jeremy Ridley and Director of the Faculty, Dean Wynter, before students and their guests were invited to enjoy further refreshments. Guest Christine Palmer, from East Grinstead, attended the event with her son Rikki, who was presented with The Marshalltown 'Tools for Schools' Award for the best student on the Schools Links programme. Christine thought the evening was a fitting tribute to the student's achievements, saying "it was truly an inspiring evening for both myself and my son, and we very much enjoyed the evening. Ian Crockford is an inspirational man and his talk was extremely informative." Rikki Palmer, who is currently a student at Imberhorne School in East Grinstead, is very much looking forward to starting a full-time bricklaying course at the College this September.
