A future talent in the making
We love a success story here at Gibbons Engineering Group, especially when it involves a young and talented member of staff.
Every year, we partake in the work experience program from the Thurstable School in Tiptree, and in 2018 we welcomed two bright students, one of whom was Alfie Knights. Alfie joined us for two weeks and spent most of his time working alongside our engineers in the rewinds and repairs workshop. It’s safe to say that Alfie impressed us with his work ethic and desire to learn about engineering and was welcomed back to Gibbons during the summer holidays whilst studying for his GCSEs, and then again during his time at Sixth Form College.
University calling
In 2019, Alfie was accepted into Swansea University and studied for a bachelor’s degree in (BSc) Computer Science (Hons). This was during a time of turbulence for all students in Great Britain as the unprecedented COVID-19 disease spread across the world. Despite having to spend his first year at University in lockdown, Alfie still passed with flying colours, earning a 1st class honours degree with an average of 81.79%.
As a future career, Alfie would love to get involved in robotics and artificial limbs and is certainly on the right track. Despite having his university lectures via a Zoom call, and fresher’s week being tainted slightly with social distancing rules, Alfie clearly wasn’t put off and wanted to expand his knowledge further by studying for a master’s degree at Bristol University.
While studying at University, Alfie would return to Gibbons every Summer to help our agricultural department build fans during busy periods and quickly established himself as a valued member of the team. We still welcome new students each year from the Thurstable School and in the Summer of 2023, Alfie took another potential future engineer under his wing and showed him the ropes in the workshops, a testament to his likable character and strong work ethic.
Gibbons Managing Director, Matthew Gibbons had this to say about Alfie Knights: “It’s a bittersweet feeling here at Gibbons. While we are undoubtedly proud of Alfie’s achievements and future career prospects, we do also realise that we will be losing a talented future engineer. But, I would like to wish him all the best in his future endeavours.”
It must also be noted that Alfie is the son of our very own rewinds engineer, Dave Knights, who I’m sure along with his wife Michelle, must be extremely proud of Alfie and everything he has achieved in his career so far.
