IT was celebration time at Coleg Ceredigion once again as the college celebrated the achievements of its learners at its two annual awards ceremonies.

The event at Cardigan was held at’ Y Man a’r Lle’ and attended by the Mayor of Cardigan, Cllr Richard Jones along with staff, family and friends, governors, town councilors and local employers.

A total of 30 awards were presented at Cardigan by the chair of governors, Maria Stedman. During her address, she highlighted the college’s various activities and successes over the past year including success at the Urdd National Eisteddfod, the opening of Welsh Language Centre “Y Man a’r Lle” and developments to the facilities at both campuses including new state-of-the-art equipment..

The ceremony had a touch of the Oscars this year as four of the award winners were unable to be present having travelled to North Wales to take part in Construction Skillbuild competitions the next day. To enable them to be part of the ceremony a live Skype link was established with the students and projected on to a large screen.

At the Cardigan campus, several external awards were presented, including one to Robyn Barber on behalf of Soroptimist International Cardigan and District by Mair Morris and Avril Reynolds, and awards in the hairdressing department given to the college by Jackie Edwards – the awards were awarded to Mary Davies for the most improved student and to Niamh Channon for consistently high quality work.

The perpetual shield for the college’s Apprentice of the Year donated by former Cardigan Town Mayor Catrin Miles, was awarded to Deiniol Organ. Since Deiniol was present on the Skype Link current Cardigan Town mayor Richard Jones presented the shield to Deiniol’s father.

The CITB Apprentice of the Year award was presented to Declan Harries by Richard Gwynn of CITB.

Two annual memorial prizes were also awarded to students in the carpentry department. The Norman Phillips Award was presented for the first time to Ifan Faulkner in memory of Norman, a former member of staff and governor at the college, by his widow Mrs Bethan Phillips.

The Wyn Bowen Memorial Award was presented by Mrs Gwenda Bowen to Rhodri George.

Coleg Ceredigion’s new principal, Barry Liles, said: “This year’s awardss have once again shown that learners are fulfilling their full potential at Coleg Ceredigion. It was truly heart-warming to see the learners receive their awards, and to hear the citations prepared by their tutors shared with the audience of family, friends and local dignitaries.”

The ceremony was followed by a buffet prepared and served by the catering students and staff.