We think BAE Systems is 'so important' to the Fylde coast and Lancashire
Two former BAE Systems apprentices have spoken to the Gazette about the company’s importance to the Fylde coast and the role major employers play in supporting the local area.
Alice and Laura are both employees at BAE, and have worked across the company’s Warton and Samlesbury sites. Speaking to the Gazette at a preview event for the upcoming Combat Air Demonstrator, they discussed the impact BAE has on the Fylde coast and Lancashire.
Laura, 32, is a Delivery and Enabler Programme Manager. She has worked for BAE for 11 years, describing it as a ‘great’ place to work. She said: “It's been a great experience, it's given me so many opportunities. I've seen a lot of the world from having worked at BAE that I probably wouldn't have seen normally.
When asked about BAE’s role as an employer on the Fylde coast and across Lancashire, particularly for young people, Laura added: “It's so important.
“The amount of people coming into the business from an early careers perspective and from a young person's perspective, the fact that they're able to work on the type of programmes that we have to offer, and the development and skill set that they are building, I think is completely different to anywhere else in the region. I think that is so important.
“Likewise, for those of us that have been here for a while, it still has an awful lot of opportunities. I still feel like I'm trying to map out what my career path looks like, and it's exciting to recognise that there are so many different avenues I could potentially go down and so many different things that I still haven't yet had an opportunity to experience within the company. So I think it's really, really important from every angle.”
22-year-old Alice also works at BAE as in Project Management Integration. She added: “It's a really exciting place to work. I'm really early on in my career, so it's great to have so many opportunities right in front of me. My grandad used to work at BAE. He worked across multiple different programmes, one of which being EAP Demonstrator.
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“I think that's what inspired me originally to apply to BAE. It's also given us a connection, something to talk about and something to relate to, which is really nice. I think he's super proud of what I'm doing and sees a lot of what he did in what I'm doing now, which is really nice.
“We had a chance to bring our families to a family day and show around what we do and what we're working on at the minute. I got to bring my grandad, and my grandma.
“He absolutely loved it. It was quite emotional because he hadn't been to BAE in so many years, so to see his face light up when he walked through the doors made it a really special day.”