Six young CR Smith apprentices will be tweeting about life ‘on the job’ to mark National Apprenticeship Week (6-10 February 2012).

Adam Thomson, Darren McDougall, Euan Minnock, Ross Hazel, Darren Smith & Dudley Hughes will be on Twitter throughout the week to give others a glimpse of life as an apprentice. They can be followed @ApprenticesatCR and will provide updates on what it’s like learning to be a joiner and fitting windows with Scotland’s leading windows and conservatory company.

The initiative is backed by CR Smith boss, Gerard Eadie CBE who as a great supporter of apprenticeships wants to see more young people take up a trade as a career.

He said: "As a sixteen year old school leaver, an apprenticeship got me working. By the time I was 20, it had also given me my entry into business and means to start my own company. I’ve never doubted the good that it did me.

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"I believe that apprenticeships are crucial for future growth. We need a new army of tradesmen to help us out of the current stagnant economy and it is important to teach young people skills that will help build a strong nation and help fuel their personal ambitions."

Darren McDougall, 21, is a 4th year apprentice with CR Smith. When he left school at 16 he knew he wanted to learn a trade, as there is "plenty of money to be made". What surprised Darren was that although he didn’t like school, he really enjoyed the college part of his apprenticeship. He’s now looking forward to the next step, becoming ‘time-served’, getting his own CR Smith van and training up his own apprentice.

Adam Thomson, 18, joined CR Smith as an apprentice joiner straight from school two years ago. His ambition was to learn a trade and although the work is tough, with a 6am start, he is enjoying the challenge.

Mark Livingston (pictured with Nick Clegg on the Deputy Prime Minister’s visit to CR Smith in January), 24, is a newly qualified joiner, having completed his four year apprenticeship at CR Smith at the end of last year.

He left school at 16 and went to work in the mortgage department of a bank, but decided he wanted to learn a trade. Having lived in Spain for 5 years when growing up, he sees having a trade as providing him with the means to earn a living if he ever goes back. He said: "The four years went by very quickly and there’s a real sense of having achieved something when you get your own van and go out on jobs on your own."

(GK)