00:00 Hi, I'm Laura. I'm a mechanical engineering apprentice in my first year.
00:04 I'm from North London and I emailed Pleasure Beach on January 2nd 2023 and explained who I was,
00:15 explained why I was contacting them and they came back to me, asked me to give them a phone call
00:21 and then said that they wanted to meet me. I came down, I met some of the team and they asked me to
00:25 come back and do two days of work experience after I finished my GCSEs. So I came back in
00:30 July of last year and completed two days of work experience and was offered an apprenticeship and
00:35 moved to Blackpool. I've always loved being able, being really hands-on with what I do.
00:42 I've always struggled sort of with theory work in the classroom and sort of doing things,
00:47 just writing stuff down for hours. I've always found I've loved taking things apart, putting
00:51 things back together, doing a lot of manual work as opposed to a lot of theory work.
00:56 I think it's very much remembering the people that are positive around you. Remember who is there for
01:06 you, remember your team that actually support you. This was taught to me by one of our engineers
01:11 because even I went in here thinking I've got to be strong, I've got to be able to lift what they
01:14 can lift and he kind of stopped me and he's like, "You're going to get yourself injured, slow down
01:19 because your brain can be just as powerful." I'd say just go for it. You can't hold back,
01:27 you can't take your time. Just, if you know what you want to do, go for it. Don't worry about what
01:34 people think, don't worry about what people say. It's really important that you just breathe and
01:39 you just go, know what you want, that's what I did. I set my goal, I knew what I wanted and that's
01:44 why I'm stood here in the ICOM workshop today. Determination is really important. You're never
01:49 going to get anywhere if you don't have determination to do something. Once you get
01:52 that determination, stick with it no matter what people say because it will be worth it in the end.
01:57 I don't think there's anyone on my team who I would say has not helped me at all, especially
02:05 the guys I've been working with. They're brilliant people, they'll answer any question that I have.
02:11 Even from the start, they were getting me involved, they didn't leave me out. A lot of people think
02:16 apprentices are just there to do all the dirty work and all the greasing and all the cleaning,
02:20 but I've been treated like a proper member of the team straight away, even though I was brand new
02:24 and an apprentice. The train that we've got back there, I rebuilt all four seats on those
02:29 and that was just a couple weeks ago. I've done daily and weekly checks on here, I've done daily
02:36 on pretty much every ride. They are very much, they will get you in, they'll help you grow,
02:40 they'll help you develop. When you find a place that you're happy, stay there because this team
02:47 is the best team in the world and I don't think I would ever abandon them. Happy International
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