About Us
An alliance of those committed to the preservation of engineering heritage and skills
Heritage Engineering Apprenticeships were born in 2018 as a result of the government's revamp of apprenticeships making them more employer-led.
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They are a result of a great deal of collaboration between many organisations and individuals whose valued help and dedication to preserving engineering skills and heritage has resulted in a thriving programme of restoration apprenticeship training.
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The programme developed from the earlier Classic Vehicle Restoration Framework created in 2014 as a partnership between the Federation of British Historic Vehicle Clubs and The Institute for the Motor Industry.
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The Federation Skills Trust
The Federation Skills Trust is a charity registered in England number 1192334 whose charitable object is: "The advancement of education by promoting, whether directly through financial or other support, the training and teaching of engineering skills and processes and by encouraging and supporting the development and transference of skills appertaining to the repair, maintenance, preservation and renovation of all types of heritage transport, historic vehicle and machinery."
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The FST and its predecessor have made grants of over £500,000 to support the development of Heritage Engineering Apprenticeships since 2014.
Karl Carter
Chair of Trustees
Karl has been actively hands-on in developing the Heritage Engineering programme through his roles as Director of Skills at the FBHVC since 2013 and as Chair of the Federation Skills Trust.
Tristan Judge
Trustee
Tristan has had a lifelong interest in motoring and his early years were spent engineering at Ford Motor Co.
More recently he enjoyed success in online auctions, marrying process skills from Ford with previous entrepreneurship experience and an almost-unhealthy knowledge of classic cars.
John Evans
Trustee & General Counsel
A lifelong car enthusiast, John spends his spare time messing about with and talking about old cars and is a regular classic rally participant, often with one of his sons or daughter alongside.
He is passionate about encouraging enthusiasm for the historic motoring scene in young people and about supporting apprenticeships in traditional engineering.
His legal training and background complement the skills of the other Trustees and land him with responsibility for the paperwork.
David Whale
Trustee
David is well known for his work as a volunteer leading the Federation of British Historic Vehicle Clubs for over 10 years. More recently David has been involved in the establishment of the Federation Skills Trust, a charity spun out of the Federation of British Historic Vehicle Clubs with the objectives of training and teaching engineering skills for the repair, maintenance, preservation and renovation of all types of historic transport, not just motor vehicles.
David Cooke
Treasurer
tbc.
Francis Galashan
Trustee
Founding Chairman of Bicester Heritage, Francis picked up the phone in 2013 and called the Federation of British Historic Vehicle Clubs to see if they could work together to form an apprenticeship programme in classic vehicle restoration. The rest, as they say, is history.
Trailblazer Group
This is the employer group who define what is taught in the apprenticeship Standard. The Heritage Engineering Apprenticeship Standard is an employer-led apprenticeship and so we encourage employers who want to help define what is taught and how to reach out to the contacts below and to get involved.
Example Employers
There are well over 100 employers with apprentices enrolled on the programme to date with companies ranging from sole-traders, through start-ups to large well-established players.
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Organisations range from general restorers, marque specialists, EV-conversion companies, museums, pre-war specialists to race preparation and support firms.
Training Providers
These specialist Apprenticeship Training Providers cater for employers from across the country via week-long block release schemes.
Supporters
Thanks to the many organisations who have supported the development of this programme over the years both financially and in spirit including the example organisations listed below: