A teenager from Walsall is one of the latest recruits at an aircraft conservation centre near Wolverhampton that has won a string of awards for its work with apprentices.

The success of the Michael Beetham Conservation Centre (MBCC) at RAF Museum Cosford is evidence of the vital importance of engineering apprenticeships in an area where manufacturing still plays a vital role.

Across the Black Country boroughs of Wolverhampton, Walsall, Dudley and Sandwell manufacturing is still the biggest single sector in the local economy.

The most recent figures from the Business Register and Employment Survey found that in 2010, 67,100 people in the Black Country were employed in manufacturing – 15 per cent of the area’s total workforce.

One of the industry’s latest recruits is Ella Middleton, aged 18, from Walsall, who has joined 17-year-old Bethany Colburn from Gosport as new apprentices at the Michael Beetham Centre.

They have joined a team of seven advanced apprentices at the museum. Its apprentice scheme is now in its sixth successful year, and, for the second year in a row, was awarded the West Midlands regional winner of the ‘Small Employer of the Year Award’, at The National Apprenticeship Awards 2011.

MBCC training manager, Mick Shepherd said: “The Royal Air Force Museum apprentices undertake all their hands-on heritage skills training in-house at the museum’s conservation centre, where they each work side by side with a master craftsman who mentors them through their daily tasks.

“Many of our aircraft are ‘sole survivors’and supporting documentation and procedures don’t exist; our apprentices are encouraged to use their own initiative to develop, in consultation with their mentor, novel ways around complex and unusual engineering issues.

“Like those before them, Bethany and Ella will work on a wide variety of aircraft including the long term restoration and conservation of the Museum’s Vickers Wellington and Handley Page Hampden Bombers.

“In each of the six years our apprentice programme has been running we have adjusted what we do to ensure our youngsters get the very best practical training and the associated support they need to give them the best possible start in their chosen careers.

“This year our two new advanced apprentices will attend Wolverhampton College where they will receive training in welding and fabrication before moving on to a BTEC Extended Diploma in Engineering Manufacture as well as an associated level 3 Vocational Qualification in Aeronautical Engineering”

Aviation fans will be able to gain behind-the-scenes access to aircraft conservation work when the conservation centre opens to the public from November 14-19.

Visitors will have a rare opportunity to view current projects including the Wellington and the Hampden and the chance to speak with the skilled Technicians and Apprentices about their work. Open from 10.15am – 1.00pm and admission is free. For more information on the conservation centre open week visit www.rafmuseum.org.