With the economy in the UK only narrowly avoiding a triple-dip recession and unemployment reaching almost 8%, everyone needs to be focusing on using every opportunity, especially when it comes to getting young people into work or training.

At Mainstage, we’ve always believed in fostering young talents and helping people learn and improve. Continuing professional development is a big focus here.

So when the opportunity arose, it seemed only natural to team up with Lancaster & Morecambe College and start accepting apprentices into our workshop to hone their skills and train them to be ready for employment in their preferred trade.

At Mainstage we recognise that these apprenticeships are a valuable opportunity, both for the students and ourselves. There are always new apprentices, eager to take the opportunity to get a year of on-the-job training and a respected qualification at the end of it. Therefore we have endeavoured to make sure there will always be an apprenticeship position at Mainstage.

This year we have been lucky to have Guy Spence working with us as a welding apprentice. We’ve been so impressed with Guy’s work and attitude that when his apprenticeship ends in the not-too-distant-future, we will be retaining his services as a full time welder and also then taking on a new welding apprentice!

You may be thinking, “what’s with all the welding?” well, I’ll tell you. We are one of the UK’s best manufacturers of customisable staging. Bleacher and Debut are two of our most popular lines, and both are made from steel. We need skilled welders to ensure the basic structure of the products is sound and crafted to the highest standard, and then to conduct any required customisations for the customer.

When a customer has a unique request, there is great excitement here at Mainstage. We have been creating stages and seating for over twenty years now and we love a bit of a challenge. For example we recently turned a 1950’s performance nightmare into a gorgeous, grade 1 listed school theatre. We couldn’t screw into or drill the existing architecture at all, but our Cameo proved to be the ideal solution.

When you have a unique staging requirement, call Mainstage on 01524 844099, and you’ll know that you’re well on your way to getting impeccably produced staging which can be customised to solve any problem, and you’re supporting a business who supports the training and development of young people.