Happy National Apprenticeship week!

We have an exciting week ahead celebrating apprenticeships, and we wanted to highlight one of our earliest apprentices Mary Willis, since her birthday is in exactly one week (17/02/1797.)

Many may not know that Sykes’ founders were the Willis’. It was actually our founder’s granddaughter who partnered with John Sykes, for which our company takes its name.

As you can see from this 1851 census excerpt, she was a glazier, and would have served an apprenticeship, something rather uncommon for a woman to accomplish in the early 19th century!

Apprenticeships and fostering talent has always been a core part of Sykes’ ethos. We look forward to working together with our apprentices in the future!