With a family background that involves steam engines and a local boat yard, 18-year old Liz Williams was unlikely to look outside engineering for her future career.
Though it took a visit to a Shropshire Young Farmers meeting at Shrewsbury livestock market for the door to open to a full-time career, as Kubota dealer Battlefield Machinery’s Richard Evans explains.
“We supported the event and gave a talk about how our own careers had taken shape,” says Richard. “Liz came for a chat afterwards, and showed a lot of interest in what we did, along with four other attendees.”
As a result, that led to Liz carrying out two days’ work experience in Battlefield Machinery’s workshops, every week throughout January. The work experience process created the opportunity to see if Liz would fit in and also enjoy the role, and for dealer staff to assess Liz’s willingness to learn and get along with the rest of the team.
“We were so impressed, that we offered Liz a full-time apprenticeship that started in February,” says Richard. “And it’s linked to a three-year block-release Kubota Apprenticeship course with Llysfasi College near Ruthin, north Wales. Liz is our third apprentice to have joined the business through an apprenticeship.”
Liz Williams comes from a family of highly skilled engineers. Her father Alan, and uncle, Paul, were both heavily involved with industry, along with a background in farming and agricultural contracting.
“I’ve grown up around engineering, and thoroughly enjoyed being involved at the boat yard, along with some of Dad’s steam engine projects,” Liz explains. “When I left school, I enrolled at Colleg Cambria Yale to study a business course, because at that point, I didn’t know what I wanted to do.”
But when the opportunity came to have a chat with Richard Evans and the Battlefield Machinery team at Shrewsbury livestock, Liz knew this held the key to her future.
“Battlefield Machinery has a family feel, it’s very personable, and very hands-on with some great learning opportunities,” says Liz. “It’s also giving me a great opportunity to develop my long-term career in the agricultural industry working with some well-respected machinery brands.”
