Abigail Parkinson, 20 from Hoddlesden in Darwen is an Advanced Manufacturing and Engineering Apprentice at KAMAN UK, a subsidiary of Kaman Aerosystems who produce and market proprietary aircraft and components. She was awarded the North West Aerospace Alliance New Talent “One To Watch” trophy at a prestigious ceremony at the Imperial War Museum in Manchester earlier this month.

The aim of the prestigious award is to recognise the achievements made by Apprentices working in aerospace in the North West Aerospace Industry.

Judges said of Abigail’s achievement: “Abigail has the potential to be an exceptional engineer and to that end KAMAN UK has sponsored her to take an engineering degree.”

David Bailey, Chief Executive Officer at North West Aerospace Alliance, said:

“The New Talent Awards has become a key event for the North West’s Aerospace and Defence Sector. It is important that we continue to recognise and reward the achievements of the talent emerging in our industry. It is hugely important to our industry that we increase the numbers of talented young people into apprenticeships to plug the skills gap to ensure that we achieve the growth the aerospace market is experiencing.”

Jane Buck, Head of HR for KAMAN UK said: 

“The team at Kaman UK are incredibly proud of the achievements of all our apprentices. Abigail has shown herself to be extremely hardworking and winning this award is very well deserved. We know she has a fantastic future ahead of her and Kaman UK will continue to provide her with our full support”

Neil Burrows, Head of Advanced Manufacturing and Engineering at Themis said:

“Abigail has been a hard-working and diligent Advanced Apprentice from the moment she joined Themis and KAMAN UK. Her award was very well-deserved and we are extremely proud that Abigail’s talents have been recognised by the North West Aerospace Alliance at such a prestigious national ceremony. We hope her success inspires many more exceptional future Advanced Engineers to achieve their potential.”

  • Five of Themis’ Advanced Engineering Apprentices from top East Lancashire employers were selected as finalists in the “Best Aerospace and Defence Apprentice” category of the North West Aerospace Alliance’s  New Talent Awards
  • Three Themis Advanced Apprentices from Hycrome Europe Ltd made the finals of the North West Aerospace Alliance Business University Challenge at the same ceremony
  • Abigail’s colleague Advanced Apprentice Joe Burton reached the finals of the North West Aerospace Alliance New Talent Award for KAMAN UK