Coleg Meirion-Dwyfor student Ned Pugh has won The Worshipful Livery Company of Wales (WLCOW) Financial Numeracy Improvement Award for developing his financial skills.

Ned, 21, from Llwyngwril is in the second year of the BTEC Level 3 Enhanced Engineering course, studying at the Pwllheli and Dolgellau campuses.

He won the award after significantly improving his numeracy and maths skills while at college, using his number-crunching prowess to support his own enterprise cleaning and detailing cars.

Ned also, indirectly, had help from ‘Money Saving Expert’ Martin Lewis after he completed MSE’s free Academy of Money course to help with his finances.

Lecturer Emlyn Evans said: “Ned is a model student. His work ethic and effort is of the highest standard.

“I know Ned would not consider himself a candidate for an award, but he really is deserving of the accolade. He brings a smile with him to every lesson regardless of any obstacles he has had to overcome over the past two years, and he has applied himself to every task given to him, showing the highest degree of competence.”

Fflur Rees Jones, Assistant Principal of Coleg Menai and Coleg Meirion-Dwyfor, said: “Ned has worked really hard to develop his numeracy skills. As a college we are very proud of Ned’s achievement and wish him well with his future studies.”

Ned hopes to move on to a Higher Education apprenticeship next year, having applied to study the Level 4 Higher National Certificate (HNC) in General Engineering at the Dolgellau campus from September.

Ned said: “I have enjoyed my journey so far. The staff at Coleg Meirion Dwyfor have been very supportive throughout all the courses I have completed. I have been able to grow my engineering skills and my confidence each step of the way.”

Ned plans to use the money from the WLCOW award for a new laptop to aid his career ambitions.

He said: “My current plan is to find a local apprenticeship in the field of engineering. The award will help me greatly to fund a new laptop which will help me with continued studies and a future role as an engineer.

“I have also applied for the continued progression to study the HNC at Coleg Meirion Dwyfor in Dolgellau next year, so an apprenticeship and a day release would serve me well next year.”

Applications are now open for the HNC General Engineering September 2024 intake.