FBHVC Receives Sir Henry Royce Award for Creating Restoration Apprenticeship

Published: 03/04/2017

At a glittering white tie awards ceremony held at London’s Mansion House, FBHVC chairman, David Whale was presented with the Sir Henry Royce Memorial Foundation Trophy for the outstanding achievement of creating its Historic Vehicle Restoration Apprenticeship.

The annual award endowed, in 1983 by the Sir Henry Royce Memorial Foundation, is made by city livery company, The Worshipful Company of Carmen, and is for outstanding achievement in the field of transport. Previous winners have been such diverse recipients as F1 teams Brawn GP and Williams, landspeed record breakers Drayson (electric), JCB (diesel) and Thrust (gas turbine) and such notable individuals as Sir John Egan, and Nigel Mansell.

The citation which accompanies the award, which takes the form of a silver sculpture of the Spirit of Ecstasy, the famous Rolls-Royce symbol, reads, ‘For its apprenticeship scheme to NVQ standards, in its third year, with 48+ apprentices in two centres and more due in 2017; the industry employs 35,000 with £5.5bn turnover and one million classic vehicles, needing 180 new craftsmen annually’.

Accepting the award on behalf of the Federation, chairman, David Whale said, “This is a very prestigious award held previously by some giants of UK technological achievement in transport. We are honoured and delighted that our work to inspire young people to acquire the skills to enable them to cherish and preserve our transport heritage has been recognised in this way”. 

Picture: David Whale, FBHVC chairman and Karl Carter, (holding award) FBHVC director responsible for creating and launching the FBHVC restoration apprenticeship.