HRH The Princess Royal visits Xtrac Academy

Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal’s visited the Xtrac headquarters in Thatcham, Berkshire, on Wednesday, 11 May.

The visit followed the presentation of the Princess Royal Training Award 2021 award to 46 businesses at a special ceremony at the Mansion House, London.

The Princess met Xtrac apprentices and graduates to discuss their training. Her Royal Highness was received by Her Majesty’s Lord-Lieutenant of Berkshire, James Puxley who began the proceedings by presenting Dr Ann Limb, chair, and Kirstie Donnelly MBE, group chief executive of the City and Guilds of London Institute, also introducing Peter Digby, president, Joe Greenwell CBE, non-executive director, and Adrian Moore, chief executive officer of Xtrac.

“Having twice received the Princess Royal Training Award, including in 2018, we were delighted to accommodate this visit following the recent official opening of our new apprenticeship academy,” said Peter Digby. 

“We warmly welcomed her gracious comments about the hard work we put into our apprenticeship and graduate training schemes and that we should be justly proud of our success and achievements.”

Starting his career as a British Airways apprentice and Xtrac’s longest-serving employee, the company’s president has long supported the development of its apprentice scheme. 

“Our training programmes provide a solid foundation underpinning the technical and sales success we’ve achieved since the company started in 1984.  Today, we employ almost 400 highly trained staff in the UK and USA.”

During her visit, the newly built computer-aided engineering classroom facilitated The Princess and Ms Donnelly participating in a round table discussion on ‘Females in Engineering’ with apprentice Faye Cooke and graduate engineers Jessica Matthews and Katie Parton.  

Her Royal Highness also met in the Academy’s practical skills workshop with Xtrac’s professional training partners, including Shelly Van Meter, head of department and apprenticeships, and Cliff Newcomb, development coach, Newbury College. 

The Princess also met master coachmaker, Sarah Sillars OBE and coachmaker John Blauth, from the Worshipful Company of Coachmaker and Harness Makers, who support apprentices with educational bursaries.  

During Xtrac’s manufacturing facilities tour, Peter Digby and Adrian Moore explained its operations to The Princess, who met with former apprentice Ryan Bambrick and current apprentice Joe Monger, trainers Luke Barrington and Matt Ford, and former apprentice Jamie Rusbridge.

Xtrac’s high precision bevel-gear cutting, and meticulous grinding operations, were demonstrated by apprentices Wesley Bloom and George Englefield, former apprentice Stephen Gomm, accompanied by machinists Keith Dickinson and Chris Neal, team leaders and former apprentices Martin Carrick and Jason Woodley, trainer Neil Warwick, and apprentice manager, Warren Page.

In the quality department, apprentice Adam Tamcken and inspector Connor Englefield explained how Xtrac achieves full traceability of every component. While the apprentice Jamie Lawson, accompanied by trainers Alex Jennings and Jack Parkins, familiarised Her Royal Highness with Xtrac’s essential heat treatment operation. 

Other employees meeting The Princess included former apprentices Matt Booth, Chris Burn, Joshua Crolla, Dan Eggleton, Harrison Gale, Arron Marshall, and Lee Stannard, along with current apprentices Thomas Aram, Adam Bowes, Joshua Gaut, Alfie Gibbons, Joseph Jukes, Chris Marrs, and Louis Wilson.

The company’s chief executive, Adrian Moore, who began his career as an undergraduate sponsored by Rolls-Royce, is highly supportive of the company’s training programmes, which the board of directors and senior management team comprehensively endorse.

“Our training programmes strongly underpin the continual improvement of our capabilities,” said Moore.  “It receives the highest priority throughout the business, supporting the company demand for a highly trained multi-skilled workforce to ensure our customers have the best products and services.”

“It’s particularly relevant as we are at the forefront of a once-in-a-generation technology change as the motorsport and automotive industry transitions from the internal combustion engine to hybrids and electric vehicles. 

"Empowering our employees ensures we have the best people delivering innovative solutions to our customers globally. 

"The Queen’s Award for Enterprise similarly recognised Xtrac in 2020 with its Innovation Award for our advanced range of integrated lightweight electric vehicle transmissions.”

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