Simon Manchester is 20, lives in Pinxton, works at Woodhall Textiles and is currently on an Apprenticeship in Using Information Technology.

Simon left school with (in his words) 'not very good' GCSE results and started his working life with factory jobs that included laminating and packing chocolates. Simon eventually got a job working for Woodhall Textiles, running textiles machines. Although he enjoyed the work he felt he wanted to do more with his life. Simon started to look seriously at training opportunities and because he had an interest in computing, began a basic computer class at night school. At this time, Simon's employer offered him a change of job and he began his Apprenticeship.

Simon says "I'm getting on really well with the course. My tutor is great and helps me a lot, he comes to see me at work at a time that is convenient and the work I do on the programme is all work related so I can put it into practice immediately. This is definitely the way forward for me and I am hoping to go onto an Advanced Apprenticeship which shouldn't be too long now. I am also going to night school again to start a computer programming course. I'd definitely recommend Apprenticeships to anyone. Very nice!!"