(Our Apprentices pictured above left to right: Nathan, Sam, Peter, Liam and Tierney)
Our Contracts Manager, Andrew Scotland gave the following presentation:
“I would like to welcome you all here today for the presentation of the Apprentice of the Year Award 2025. This year seems to have flown by due to how busy we have all been.
2025 is the 24th year this Award has been presented. The first winner back in 2001 was Keith Goodwin. It is also the 15th year it has been known as the Freddie Blue Memorial Award. For the benefit of Tierney and Sam, Freddie was George Nicolson Decorator’s very first Apprentice. He was a great guy and one of a kind. He was a friend aswell as a work colleague and is still sorely missed to this day. It is right that we remember Freddie through this Award.
2025 saw the Company continue with its policy of growing its own workforce and advertise for Apprentices. In all, we received 141 applications which were all assessed. Applications were whittled down to 11 who were invited for an interview. These interviews were carried out by Avril, Billy and myself with the 2 who impressed us the most were Tierney and Sam. They have both continued to impress us since they started with very good feedback from both college and on site so well done to you both. Please continue to carry this on into the New Year and beyond with your ultimate aim of achieving a Contract of Employment.
This year saw Keiren, Peter and Liam pass their Skills Test so well done to the 3 of you. Keiren was offered and signed his Contract in Spring and graduated to a Tradesperson and deservedly so. Peter and Liam, also having done so well, signed their Contracts early and have also graduated to Tradespeople so again well done and thoroughly deserved. This is something Nathan, Tierney and Sam should be looking to achieve and it shows it can be done.
January this year saw Avril post an article on the Company website regarding The Circuit, suggesting the workforce download free apps on their phone (Crowdsav and What3Words) so to be emergency ready. I’m not sure if you took advantage of this but if not, it is worth considering as you never know.
In March, at the SDF/CITB Awards, Peter achieved Overall Apprentice of the Year Award, a very prestigious Award so well done to you. The Company also won Private Domestic Project of the Year Award for a residential property in Morningside. In addition, one of our project manager’s won Hospitality Project of the Year Contracts Manager. Just thought I would slam that in there! The Company also received recognition as a Finalist of Employer of the Year for First Aid Excellence 2025 at the Scottish First Aid Awards.
The Company also released posts on their social media supporting Men’s Health Week in June.
The GN Annual Newsletter was recently released which I hope you have all read.
During this year, the company continued its policy of investing in training. A total of 35 days have been spent training the workforce. Topics covered included Manual Handling, Frist Aid for Mental Health, Emergency First Aid at Work, Asbestos Awareness, SSSTS, Working at Height, IPAF, 1 Day H & S (SCORE), PASMA, First Aid. Legionella Awareness, Fire Marshall, Fire Extinguisher and Mental Health Awareness. This shows the Company’s full commitment in training and developing its own workforce.
I mentioned mental health wellbeing. This is something the Company feels very strongly about. Some of you have attended a Mental Health Awareness course and there are also a number of Mental Health First Aiders spread throughout the Company. Mental health illness is real. You are just as likely to suffer from mental health issues as physical issues so if any of you are feeling low, anxious or in a dark place, please reach out for help as it is there. Please do not suffer in silence. Things can get better. The proper help is there , you just need to reach our for it. I have witnessed this for myself and seen the difference it can do for someone experiencing issues.
This year’s Award is slightly different due to circumstances. We are only awarding first place for Apprentice of the Year due to it only being between Liam, Nathan and Peter (as Tierney and Sam have not been with us long enough to qualify until next year).
It was great to see where the votes were spread among the 3 of you which is great for us to see as it shows we have real quality across the board. Well done to all 3 of you.
So now to the actual Winner. This Winner of this year’s Apprentice of the Year Award is Peter (pictured left with Andrew Scotland, Contracts Manager).
A second person will also receive a Special Recognition Award. This is for someone who has done exceptionally well and also received a good share of the votes over the last couple of years. The Special Recognition Award goes to Liam. (Pictured right between Ewan Nicolson and Barrie Nicolson, Joint Managing Directors).
Congratulations to you both.”
