SPOONER Industries was awarded the Yorkshire Post Excellence in Business award on Thursday, November 2 for their Apprenticeship Scheme.

The award was presented to Spooner’s longest serving employee, Brian Stockdale, having started his career working for Mr Spooner as an apprentice in 1962. This year will mark the 55th year he has worked for the company and he shows no signs of slowing down.

The company has been employing apprentices since 1932 by William Wycliffe Spooner, who was known locally as the industrial Peter Pan having set up the company when he was well in his fifties. Today the company provides a well-established apprenticeship scheme employing local pupils to learn whilst they earn and currently has 12 apprentices in employment, taking more on each year.

Mr Stockdale joined Spooner on April 24, 1962, earning £2 6s 8d a week and has worked his way up through the company and seen a magnitude of changes.

“Most of the managers at Spooner began their working life as apprentices,” said marketing manager, Kate Thompson. “We are very proud of our Apprenticeship Scheme and winning this award shows the culture of investing in our people and the future generations of Spooner is paying off!”

Today Brian, who is 70 years old and lives in Burley-in-Wharfedale, still travels all over the world commissioning Spooner’s industrial processing equipment which is all manufactured at the Railway Road site in Ilkley.

This year the company also celebrated the 85th year Spooner has been in business as it was established in 1932 by Mr Spooner as the ‘Spooner Dryer and Engineering Co Ltd’ with just two employees.

Employing over 150 people at the Railway Road site, the firm is a world leader in forced convection technology making ovens, dryers, coolers and air pollution control equipment for a diverse range of industries all over the world.