Nick Hillman and Freya Kendall, apprentices at Poole Borough council, have been recognised by their trade union, UNISON, at a regional awards ceremony.

The Young Members of the Year Award was presented by Kendal Bromley at UNISON South West’s Get Active event in Taunton last week.

This comes on the back of their brilliant campaign work for apprentices at the council. By using the employers Learning Agreement and the Union Learning Fund the duo set up an apprenticeship network with over 20 apprentices attending.

Previous meetings of the network have seen participants share best practice, hear from guest speakers and the creating of a work shadowing agreement whereby apprentices can shadow other apprentices to gain more experience across a variety of different workplaces.

In the forthcoming year the group have sessions planned including a celebration of National Apprenticeship Week in March.

Nick and Freya also currently share the Young Member’s officer role for their Branch and actively promote the benefits of joining UNISON as well as helping to create and promote our regional campaigns; ‘My Mind Matters’ and ‘Respect Your Youth’.