The Engineering College have this month, put new trainees and apprentices to the test in an Army engineering challenge.

Alongside a number of colleges, including The Manchester College, Wirral MET College, Lakes College in Workington and Blackburn College in Lancashire, students from The Engineering College have been testing their skills on a two day in an Army engineering challenge.

The engineering trainees were set tests such as recovering a stranded vehicle, hand-making their own vehicle parts and raft-building.

At Altcar Training Area on Merseyside, students were coached by soldiers of the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers to make vehicle bolts using just hand tools, and then learned how to work as a team to pull a stranded Army Land Rover out of a ditch using just basic hand tools.

At Swynnerton Training Area near Stoke, students then built bunkers, took on a shooting challenge, and used emergency rafts which they made from scrap materials – all under the supervision of the Royal Engineers.

Warrant Officer Class 2 Steve Hutchinson, youth engagement officer at HQ North West, said: “We’ve challenged these young engineers to use the skills they’ve learned at college to solve real-world problems quickly and in the difficult circumstances our own personnel sometimes face. It’s been tough, but I think they’ve enjoyed the experience.”

WO1 Steve Garrett a REME engineer based a 127 Field Company in Manchester, said: “We’re trying to ‘bring on’ the next generation of engineers while raising awareness of opportunities for engineers within the Army.”

Terry Weston,Chief Executive at The Engineering College, commented; “This is a great experience for our students,; understanding and appreciating that engineering is more than classroom and workshop based learning. A fantastic opportunity for new students to build rapport with their fellow colleagues”