Needlemakers' Apprentice presented to HRH The Princess Royal

Carl Clark is supported by the Needlemakers' Charity Fund during his City and Guilds apprentice course. He met HRH Princess Royal at a Reception hosted by City and Guilds at Fishmongers Hall on Tuesday May 26. He was introduced to HRH by Senior Warden Martyn Chase and the Chairman of City and Guilds Sir John Armitt, also shown in the photo.

The background is that our Company is a founder Member of City Guilds and we support an apprentice nominated by them: City and Guilds match fund our contribution. We look for an apprentice with an engineering interest (ideally machine tool) as that is similar to needle making skills.

Carl was recommended to City and Guilds by Help for Heroes. Carl is an ex-Royal Anglian Soldier and a veteran of the Afghanistan campaign. He was medically discharged from service in December last year having been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and is now undertaking his qualification in motorsport engineering. He is doing his apprenticeship at with FF Corse, who look after clients Ferrari cars at Silverstone (http://ffcorse.com ).

It may be a bit way off needle making but our support for Carl has tuned his life around, as he told the Princess. HRH in turn mentioned Carl in her speech at the end of saying she was not sure she wanted to drive a Ferrari herself but was pleased to hear about such a good opportunity for an apprenticeship!