Furness College’s success at Golden Apples

DEDICATED, committed, inspirational, outstanding, extraordinary and exceptional. These were just some of the words used to describe the high fliers being honoured at the second annual CN Group Education and Learning Awards – the Golden Apples.

More than 200 people gathered together to enjoy a drinks reception and a sumptuous three-course meal, before the event got down to business with the handing out of the 19 trophies. Guest speaker for the night was Stephen Henwood, chairman of the University of Cumbria’s board of directors. The awards were presented by ITV Tyne Tees and Border presenter Tim Backshall.

Furness College was very well represented with finalists in most categories, even though some of them were not winners on the night – Gillian Mahaffy for the “Against All Odds” award, Jadwiga Kulik for Apprentice of the Year and the Furness College Art Department for the Innovation of the Arts award.

However two of the trophies did make their way back to Furness College, with the first going to Barrow Borough Council for Employer of the Year – through the training they have undertaken with Furness Training, the business development arm of Furness College.  The council was honoured in recognition of how it works to continually train its staff and improve their skills base.

The most prestigious award of the night, the Lifetime Achievement Award, went to Graham Hodgson, the recently retired deputy principal of capital projects for Furness College. Mr Hodgson is credited with being behind Barrow’s £40m new build, from bidding for the limited central government money to finance the project, to overseeing its construction. He said: “I’d been round to visit a lot of new colleges in Birmingham, London, Newcastle and I saw no reason why Barrow shouldn’t have the same. That was my motivation.” But Mr Hodgson refuses to take full credit for the project. He said: “Right from day one we’ve had brilliant consultants and design teams, then the contractors just created the reality of our vision.” Mr Hodgson, who joined the college in September 1984, was also praised for his warm personality, compassion and kindness. He said: “It’s just so nice that people say that about you and appreciate you. It’s absolutely lovely, remarkable. I find it quite humbling. To have had such a fabulous working life and then be presented with this award, it really has just been the cherry on top. It cannot get any better.”