AGCO Apprenticeship - Year 1 - Tom Voase
14th April 2019
Tom Voase, 17, followed a slightly convoluted route, before embarking on his AGCO apprenticeship journey.
Having completed his GCSEs at Hornsea School and Language College in the East Riding of Yorkshire, Tom went on to complete the first year of a land-based tech course at Bishop Burton College, during which time he obtained his welding qualifications.
It was at this point that Tom saw the apprenticeship position advertised at Peacock & Binnington (P&B), one of the largest agricultural machinery dealerships covering Lincolnshire and Yorkshire.
“I was fortunate enough to get the position at the Halsham depot, and soon realised that several of the technicians, both at my depot and across the others had either completed or were undertaking the AGCO apprenticeship scheme,” explains Tom.
In fact, P&B even run their own Apprentice of the Year Award, demonstrating the importance the business places on the need to develop highly-skilled agricultural technicians. There are currently eight apprentices from P&B in AGCO’s Year 1 Cohort alone.
Tom does come from a farming background, although a fairly unique one, certainly for East Yorkshire. Farming since 1943, Tom’s family have been producing Hemp Shiv since 2005, under the name East Yorkshire Hemp.
The family run business grows and processes industrial hemp, producing Hemp Shiv for animal bedding and sustainable construction. It also produces hemp fibre to be used in textiles, loft insulation, and hemp briquettes for log burning stoves.
It is engineering where Tom identified his future, and P&B, through the AGCO apprenticeship and his training at the WCG (formerly Warwickshire College Group) Moreton Morrell campus, is providing this opportunity.
“At P&B I am working with Masseys and Fendts, as well as other brands, and really working on all the machinery you can think of, including balers and drills. This can be new or old kit. The access I have through the apprenticeship to working on relevant machinery is great,” says Tom.
“We have just started some more practical training at Moreton Morell, and I am looking forward to applying the new skills back at the depot, and continuing to develop my capabilities,” he adds.