An engineer from Chesterfield — named ‘Apprentice of the Year’ at the University of Sheffield’s AMRC Training Centre’s annual awards earlier this year — won the opportunity to visit aircraft giant Boeing’s facilities in the USA.

Leigh Worsdale, an 18-year-old apprentice at automotive-parts supplier Foxwood Diesel, visited Boeing’s sites in Los Angeles, Portland and Seattle.

She said: “I never thought when I began my apprenticeship that I would be given an opportunity like this. It was amazing to see all the Boeing factories and go to places where members of the public don’t usually get to go.”

The most interesting part of her trip was the visit to Boeing’s Renton factory in Seattle, where she got to see at first hand how the company designs, tests and builds its 737 aircraft. “The factory is so big we had to get a golf buggy to travel around it!”

AMRC Training Centre director Kerry Thompson said: “We’re very proud of what Leigh has achieved on her apprenticeship, and it is brilliant that Boeing is able to support our Apprentice of the Year in this way.”