Volkswagen Group Apprentices Bound for Success

Apprentices from across family-owned Swansway Motor Group took part in the Volkswagen Group outward bound course as part of their course.

Jack Moore, who is working towards his Level 3 Customer Service apprenticeship as well as being well on the way to becoming a Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles accredited Service Advisor, explains how he got on:

Being totally honest, I can’t say I was looking forward to the outward-bound week, it’s not something I’d usually do and so was well out of my comfort zone.

The course takes place in Penrith, in the middle of the Lake District, and the weather was not kind to us! To start with we climbed a mountain…in a blizzard, but the amazing thing was we did it, which gave us all a real sense of achievement.

Then there was a team building and bonding exercise which involved us using our newly learnt orienteering skills as a team; we had to find clues and then when we’d found them all, that led us to the parts to build a raft.

We then had to build the raft and race across Ullswater lake. We won! We managed the crossing in 16 minutes, while the other team took 25 minutes, and it was genuinely good fun!

Just for good measure we also climbed a waterfall. It was a week which I may not have looked forward to, but where I learnt a lot about myself and found that far from hating it, I really enjoyed it!

To all the other apprentices who will have this as part of their course, I’d say, don’t be put-off, or worried that’s it’s not your thing; you’ll surprise yourself, meet new people and have a brilliant time.

Jack Moore, Apprentice Service Advisor at Swansway’s VW Van Centre in Preston