National Apprenticeship Week celebrated at James Hall & Co. Ltd

James Hall & Co. Ltd is celebrating Apprentices across the business during National Apprenticeship Week 2025.

Under the theme of ‘Skills for Life’, Apprentices in a range of departments from IT to Marketing, Food and Drink Processing to Facilities and Maintenance, and Butchery to Retail are being acknowledged.

Their contribution includes the success of James Hall & Co. Ltd and its associated brands SPAR, Clayton Park Bakery, Fazila Foods, Ann Forshaw’s Alston Dairy, and Graham Eyes High Quality Butchers.

In the last 12 months, several new Apprenticeships have been undertaken by employees at James Hall & Co. Ltd who are seeking to upskill, and these areas include Horticulture, Photography, Food Technology, Printing, and Recruitment.

The company is also working more closely with universities and colleges on Degree Apprenticeships, and more than half of James Hall & Co. Ltd’s Apprentices are completing qualifications at Level 4 or above.

Wendy Parkinson, Early Careers Lead at James Hall & Co. Ltd and national member of the Apprenticeship Ambassador Network, said: “We are extremely proud of our Apprentices and the significant contribution they make to our business performance.

“We offer continuous career development opportunities to our employees, whether that is young people starting out in their career, members of our workforce who are seeking to progress in their current role, or employees who retrain to go down a new career pathway within the business, such is the range of different careers within a company like James Hall & Co. Ltd.”

Current Apprentices, as well as those who have completed Apprenticeships, have spoken of the positive impact that knowledge and skills development has had on their careers.

The company’s Apprentices will be celebrated with colleagues studying a range of other qualifications at the annual James Hall Learning and Development Awards taking place later this month.

Grace Wood, a Level 2 Horticulture Apprentice, based at James Hall & Co. Ltd’s SPAR Distribution Centre, said: “I am really enjoying my Apprenticeship, and we have a diverse landscape within the depot grounds that continuously require attention to keep our site looking at its best.

“In the role I am in, you get the immediate satisfaction of seeing the improvement work that you have done. I love the opportunities my Apprenticeship is providing me to be creative through planting with different species and colours.”

Lavina Holt, a Level 2 Food & Drinks Process Operator Apprentice, at Ann Forshaw’s Alston Dairy, said: “I love my job and the Apprenticeship has made me feel more confident when carrying out my role. It has been useful understanding food hygiene and health and safety in greater detail, and a recent GMP audit which I shadowed was particularly interesting.

“I have had a mixed career, and I was nervous about taking up the Apprenticeship believing I was too old for learning. However, I have found the experience to be the complete opposite. I feel it has set me up well in a position I am happy in, with the potential for career progression.”

Steven Dennison, a former Team Leader Level 3 Apprentice, who is Assistant Store Manager at SPAR Wolsingham, said: “I have nothing but praise for Apprenticeships and the two that I have completed. They have supported my career progression and cemented my position in retail.

“I love retail because of its unpredictability with no two days the same. I began on a contract of 16 hours per week, before moving to a 30-hour contract at SPAR Lanchester. With the role I am in now in Wolsingham, there is the added challenge of the forecourt, deli, and butchers, and I will do a further Apprenticeship in the future.”

James Hall & Co. Ltd is a fifth-generation family business which serves a network of independent SPAR retailers and company-owned SPAR stores across Northern England six days a week from its base at Bowland View in Preston.

For more information about James Hall & Co. Ltd, please visit www.jameshall.co.uk.