Apprentice Ellie has TWO points to prove

Apprentice Ellie Shepherd has a double motivation to do well in her job - proving a point and showing what girls can achieve in a manufacturing industry.

Ellie (17) is completing her Level 2 Furniture Manufacturer Apprenticeship with Hill’s Panel Products (HPP), making her the company’s first female apprentice in a shopfloor role.

She decided to pursue a manual apprenticeship after seeing her 19-year-old brother Sam working as a cabinet maker, and was even more determined when her decision met with scepticism in some quarters.

Ellie said: “I was told I should think about working in a pharmacy, or some kind of work like that.

"But when I saw what my brother was doing, I said that’s what I wanted to do, and even though people said I wouldn’t be able to, I said I was going to prove everybody wrong!

“I want to get as many qualifications as I can to go higher in the company, becoming a supervisor and even a manager.

"And I want to prove that a girl can do that. I think more girls would like it, it’s never boring and you’re always busy.”

The former pupil at the Co-op Academy in Failsworth left school with six GCSEs and started her apprenticeship at another Oldham-based business, before joining HPP, which manufactures and supplies board, doors, fittings and accessories to the fitted kitchen and bedroom industry.

It means Ellie is now 10 months into her qualification with another eight to go, with her current work and studies based on learning about machinery, assembly and the jigs used to make the drawers.

Ellie, who lives in Chadderton, added: “I’m learning quickly, and I’m already signed off on the saw, which I’m buzzing about.

"Everyone here is dead friendly and very professional.

"I’m grateful I’ve got this opportunity; they’re teaching me such a lot.”

Dan Mounsey, HPP’s Marketing and Business Development Director, said: “We were originally recruiting for warehouse and logistics, but after we interviewed Ellie it was clear that the role she would be doing with us would fit the Furniture Manufacturer qualification, so it made sense for her to carry on with that rather than start again and lose all the progress she had made.”

Ellie is HPP’s second young apprentice this year, joining 18-year-old Warren Booth, from Fitton Hill, who started out on a government-funded, eight-week traineeship before embarking on his Level 2 Warehouse and Logistics Apprenticeship.

HPP was formed in 1991 with the sole aim of supplying components to the furniture industry.

Since then, the company and product range have expanded greatly to more than 6,000 products.

These cover a huge range of full and processed sheet material, vinyl wrapped furniture doors and furniture fittings.

Its own products include Avanti doors, Glide sliding doors, and Aspect and Aspire kitchens and bedrooms.

It also supplies products by brands such as Blum, Egger and Kronospan.

The company is headed by brothers Martin and Stephen Hill and managing director Keith Wardrope.

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