Apprentice electrician Gracie Donaghy (right) has beaten more than 3,000 apprentices from across the UK and Ireland to be crowned one of two champions at this year’s Screwfix Trade Apprentice competition.

 

Gracie, aged 22 from Bridgwater, Somerset, is a third-year electrical apprentice studying at Weston College. And despite being encouraged to go to university, it was a conversation with her dad about hands-on careers that sparked her passion for the trade.

 

For the first time in the award’s history, two apprentices took home the title, with apprentice stonemason Petra O’Flaherty also named as a winner.