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David Bretten Endeavour in Engineering Award
This award is for creative and critical thinkers, who aspire to a career in engineering. College of West Anglia (CWA) engineering students may enter the award to win a prize of £500.
The family of the late David Bretten has made this donation to CWA, in memory of their father – a former engineering student of the College. David was a local man, not only running his own family business, but with links to many companies in the area. A problem solver and entrepreneur, David’s family would like his legacy to extend to the next generation of budding engineers, and they have pledged to fund the award for eleven years.
Details of the Endeavour in Engineering Award and how to enter
Award: £500
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Criteria
Open to students currently studying one of the following courses in the academic year 2024/25:
- Diploma in Engineering Technologies - Level 2
- Diploma in Performing Engineering Operations - Level 2
- Engineering and Manufacturing (Process & Control) - T-Level - Level 3
- EAL Extended Diploma in Engineering Technologies - Level 3
- Anglian Water Extended Diploma in Engineering Technologies - Level 3
- BTEC HNC in Engineering - Level 4
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Brief
Part 1: Evidence of Work
Please submit a piece of your course work that you believe demonstrates endeavour in engineering. Support your entry by briefly explaining why you are proud of this piece of work. -
How to apply
Click here to complete the application form and upload your submission.
If we require any further information about your submission, we will contact you.
Part 2: Application to Engineering
Your course director/tutor will submit an endorsement to accompany your entry against the following criteria:Ingenuity - no challenge is too big. You have the ability to be creative and think outside of the box to solve problems
Logical thinking - analytical and mechanical with impressive attention to detail
Commitment to personal development - determination to improve and strive for high performance in everything you do.
Selection process: All submissions will be judged by David Bretten's family. The panel will select the winner of the award by Friday, 2 May 2025.
Thank you for your application and good luck!
David Bretten (1941 – 2022) – A Biography
A local man all his life, David discovered his love and aptitude for engineering as a child in the family’s businesses of agricultural engineering and a petrol forecourt. He masterminded numerous intricate working models in Meccano – one of which, his combine harvester, was recognised by winning the ‘Meccano magazine’ prize.
Aged 11, David attended Gaywood Park High School (now King’s Lynn Academy) and from there, became a student at the County Technical College (now CWA), where he won an attainment prize for engineering. He went on to graduate with a BSc (Hons) in Mechanical Engineering at university in London.
His career began at Rustons Engineering in Lincoln, but he returned to manage the family business when his father could no longer do so, due to ill health. The business was relaunched as Belmec Engineering. The business achieved many notable firsts, with David creating a sugar beet washer and loader, a lavender harvester, a seed-coater and a carrot topper and tailer amongst other projects.
1975 saw Savages of King's Lynn centenary year. Founded by Frederick Savage, this was an engineering firm with a history of manufacturing fairground and agricultural steam engines. They closed in 1973 but patterns and drawings were saved by Bill McAlpine. David teamed up with Bill and David Braithwaite – a Savage enthusiast, as they plotted to build a full-size Savage engine from scratch - a huge undertaking even for David. Eventually, during the King’s Lynn Festival of 1975, the ‘Sally Rachel Claire’ (named after David’s daughters) left the works at St Germans. Attracting great crowds and interest, David drove the culmination of two years’ work slowly towards King’s Lynn.
Never one to rest, David’s engineering achievements extended outside of his business, including the restoration of the Model T Ford (1919), a 1912 Model T, a rare 1906 Model N and his 1915 Model T Roadster. Thousands of hours in his workshop also resulted in a fifth scale model Fordson tractor, for which he received the coveted Duke of Edinburgh Model Engineering award. His equal enthusiasm for vintage tractors similarly transformed piles of rusty metal into gleaming prize winners.
David’s technical ingenuity and vivid imagination became well known and he was happy to take on challenges presented by anyone. From bridge testers to the space shuttle (transportation mechanism for moving delicate objects), an oil rig to an Elton John concert (lighting gantries), he was always in demand to resolve engineering challenges – but never without his down to earth self-effacing humour. Across Europe the USA and Japan he designed, built and perfected stainless steel plants.