4 July 2007

Record entry sees eleven young people win BPIF educational scholarships for 2007

A record year for applications saw the BPIF Educational Scholarships  completing its fourth year of funding with the presentation of  cheques to eleven successful young people at a ceremony hosted by Canon UK at its London showrooms on June 27.

The Scholarships now in their fourth year are sponsored by the BPIF, the Printers’ Charitable Corporation and Unite and seek to help young people pay for education and training in pursuit of a career in the UK printing and graphic arts industries. Each bursary is to the value of £2500.

The presentation ceremony was attended by senior representatives of the three sponsoring organisations including Mr Mike Taylor, President of the BPIF, who presented the awards,  Sir Clive Martin President of the PCC and Mr Bernard Rutter,  Head of Organising Skills and Learning at Unite the Union.

 Welcoming the successful young people, Michael Johnson, Chief Executive of the BPIF, said :  “You are the talent we want to have in our industry  and we are delighted to help you get the head start you require.” 

Sir Clive Martin added that the Scholarship winners were the future pioneers. “You have joined a great industry in the tradition of Caxton, Senefelder, Plantin and Benjamin Franklin.”

For Unite Bernard Rutter spoke of the quality and determination of the winning applicants. “You will add to the quality and status of our industry” he said. 

The 2007 winners who will use their awards to fund University Course fees and living costs, books and computer software  are :-

Derek Henderson, a 30-year-old ink technician working for Sun Chemical  at Mayr Melnhof Deeside and studying for an Impresse BSc at Leeds University.

Jay Nash, a 26-year-old  colour printing apprentice at Clays and a highly commended candidate in the BPIF Apprentice of the Year competition, aiming with his company’s support to study colour print management .

Simon Bowles is a 20-year-old self adhesive label printer with Tyco Electronics studying for a BSc Honours Course in Printing Packaging & Graphics .

Claire Cottam, a 22 year-old single parent needing help to complete a BA Honours degree in Graphic Design at the East Lancashire Institute .

Philip Thompson,  a 28-year-old project manager with BPIF Business.  Philip has a BSC in mathematics and computing and seeks to top this up with a Postgraduate Certificate in Management at Loughborough University .

Will Renwick is a 24 year old working with his family’s business at Mardon in Kent. He sees big opportunities for his company’s speciality printing in China and has signed up on an intensive course in London to learn Mandarin . 

Simon Cooper, a recently married 28-year-old is a production controller with Webmart, Bicester. His award will fund the third year of a BA in Print Management at the London College of Communications.

Pia Matikka, a   30-year-old who hails from Finland, has a BA Honours degree and an MSc in Digital and Photographic Imaging  and her award will fund her ambition to achieve a Phd  in Image Quality.

Jamie Farr, a 26-year-old  customer care executive with Polestar Chantry comes from a family who have worked within the UK printing industry for three generations, is set on completing an Impress BSc at Leeds University and his award will buy a necessary laptop and software and help with his commuting costs to and fro Leeds.

Paul Barlow (23) has battled against the odds  to complete his NVQs 1 and 2  in lithographic printing and now aims for Level 3 before a BTech National Diploma in Graphic Design. 

Darren Hill (22), a printer with F Benders Ltd, Wrexham, has completed his third year of an Impresse BSc  in Printing & Packaging at Leeds but need some help to complete his important fourth  and fifth years. 

Issued on behalf of the BPIF, PCC and Unite by Terry Ulrick (Scholarships Secretary) of Terry Ulrick Communications Tel. 01444 831918  Mobile. 07850 105027  E-mail. [email protected]