Stubble Trouble

I am still in business at 78. From 1951-1974 I had electrical contracting and plumbing and heating companies employing many apprentices. In those days, sensibly, you were allowed to employ apprentices at 14, so by the time they were 21 they were fully fledged tradesmen. We then stupidly put the school-leaving age up to 16 and told girls and boys who would never be any good at school to stay on, making them more lazy. By the time they leave school with no qualifications they want an apprenticeship but now with good money. These are not the tradesmen of today or tomorrow. Once they've finished their apprenticeship they don't want to be the skilled tradesmen they want to be the supervisor, estimator, etc. Derek Ward, managing director Envirograf Download the full unedited version of Derek's letter here. Well worth a read – ed