Member Article

Ryan gets new electric avenue

When the company he was working for was wound up during the second year of his apprenticeship, Ryan Murley thought the plug had been pulled on his hopes of becoming and electrician.

However, having seen what a bright spark the 20-year-old was, Sunderland based McNally and Thompson stepped in to give him the chance to complete his training at a time when his future in the trade looked uncertain.

“I’m delighted to be given this opportunity,” said Ryan, from Houghton-le-Spring: “I’m now hoping to finish my apprenticeship and develop my skills so that I can one day become involved in the engineering and design side of the industry.”

Ryan completed his A-levels in 2010 and applied to join the RAF. He passed all the assessments but was then told that recruitment had been halted due to the economic climate, so he decided to look for an apprenticeship. “I’ve always been good with my hands and knew that learning a trade was something that I wanted to do,” he added: “I started looking for electrical apprenticeships and was offered a place with Rotary Northern in Newcastle.”

Two years in, Ryan was learning the trade, studying for his GNVQ level 3 City and Guilds and working toward his AM2 qualification when the company went under, leaving him without a job and a half served apprenticeship. “I returned from holiday to find that I didn’t have a job anymore which obviously halted my training. I was devastated.” Said Ryan: “Being part way through proved to be an obstacle to getting onto another apprenticeship and I was starting to feel like I had wasted the last two years.

“People kept telling me that I was too qualified to start again and no one seemed interested in taking me on part way through - until Fred called me from McNally and Thompson. He asked me in to find out what I could do and thankfully gave me the opportunity to finish my apprenticeship.”

Ryan will now join the team carrying out electrical installations for domestic, business and health related clients throughout the North East. McNally and Thompson Director, Fred Hood, said: “As a growing company we are always on the lookout for new, talented and enthusiastic people to bolster the team. We hope Ryan settles in well and I look forward to seeing him progress within the business.”

With over forty years’ experience, McNally and Thompson has built a reputation as one of the leading electrical companies in the North of England. Recently named medium sized business of the year in the Portfolio Awards, it has just completed the most complex project in its history at the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle. This included installing the £200,000 specialist lighting systems in the new Culture Centre – which has been hailed as the jewel in the crown of a £300 million, eight-year construction project.

The company is about to begin work which will provide a site-wide low voltage network, fire alarms, call systems, door entry, CCTV, data installations, general lighting and power to 175 apartments at a new retirement village in Fordfield Road, Sunderland.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Paul Dobbie .