A BRITISH Gas apprentice from Blackwood was given the opportunity to showcase her talents during a meeting with Baroness Randerson.

Now a fully-qualified British Gas service and repair engineer, 21-year-old Kirsty Williams showed the Wales Office’s parliamentary under secretary of state how she is applying two years of vocational training.

This involved a visit to a British Gas customer’s home in Hengoed, where Ms Williams carried out a routine service of the boiler to show her day-to-day work in the local community.

The visit followed Baroness Randerson’s interest in learning more about British Gas’ commitment to creating apprenticeships and employment opportunities to serve customers in around 400,000 homes and 50,000 businesses across Wales.

Ms Williams is one of 3,300 apprentices who have successfully completed programmes with British Gas over the last ten years. In Wales, British Gas currently employs around 2,270 employees, including over 500 engineers.

One of British Gas’ Apprentices of the Year, Kirsty was inspired by her father, an engineer with British Gas, to apply for an apprenticeship.

She said: “I left school and I was really looking for a job that would let me do something different. Working as an engineer may not be a traditional role that you’d imagine a woman working but I’ve enjoyed every part of my time with the company so far.”