Celebrating Apprentices at The Welding Institute Annual Dinner

Last Friday (17 April 2026), the Teesside branch of The Welding Institute held its 71^st annual dinner at Middlesbrough Football Club, in celebration of the high calibre of welding capabilities in the region – and we were delighted to attend.

The event was a great opportunity to connect with the welding industry, familiar faces and new, as well as champion apprentices.

Since 2011, we have been supporting apprenticeship programmes in partnership with local colleges and universities, whilst delivering welding training in-house that is dedicated to skills that meet the requirements of sheet metalwork. We are proud that our current apprentices make up almost six per cent of our workforce. This, alongside also continuing to employ a number of former apprentices demonstrates our commitment to developing future talent.

The dinner also included an awards ceremony in which our third-year Level 3 Metal Fabrications apprentice, Natasha McLaren was a finalist and announced runner-up in the award for Practical Welder. Our Level 6 Degree apprentice Sam Pilcher was also nominated for Apprentice Welder of the year. We couldn’t be more proud of their achievement, skills and hard work.

We’d like to extend our sincere congratulations to all that were nominated and recognised on the night.

Alan Bailey, Welding Co-ordinator at Hydram and committee member for The Welding Institute, commented: “This was my second time attending the dinner and once again it really was  great coming together and celebration of the talent in the industry.

“The evening really embraced and empowered future talent through the bond of the welding community in the North East and it was humbling to be able to showcase the investment and dedication of the Hydram team to training and development.

“Congratulations to all of the award winners on the night, you are part of a very special group of people and you should be so proud of your achievements. We were especially honoured to see our apprentice Natasha McLaren being awarded runner-up in her category.”

As a company we encourage employees to take up relevant memberships, such as with The Welding Institute, and support training and professional development alongside our apprenticeship programme.

To find out more about our apprenticeship programme, get in touch or if you’re looking to join a leading subcontractor that works across industries and values its employees through a number of investments and commitments explore our current vacancies here.

Want to know more about the Hydram team and our capabilities to support your project? Read how we deliver full-service, precision-engineered solutions which combine advanced manufacturing capability with comprehensive project management to meet the stringent quality and high-volume demands of sectors such as rail, critical infrastructure, and defence.

Header image: (left to right back, and left to right front line) Adam Heslop (East Durham College), Lee Bailey (Software & Systems Engineer / Apprentice Liaison Officer at Hydram) Lee Goodhall (Operations Director at Hydram), Kurt Stubbs (AWeldI), Sam Pilcher (Robot Welder at Hydram), Claire Willians (SHE Manager at Hydram), Alan Bailey (Welding Co-Ordinator at Hydram), Chris Brennan (East Durham College), Nathasha McLaren (3^rd year Level 3 Metal Fabrication Apprentice at Hydram), Katie Bingham (HR Manager at Hydram), Jake Westmoreland (Welder at Hydram)

Image 2: (left to right) Dan Churchill (WB Alloys, Award Sponsor), Natasha McLaren

Image 3: (left to right) Lee Bailey, Lee Goodhall, Natasha McLaren, Chris Brennan (East Durham College), Adam Heslop (East Durham College)