Think the following statement might be proved to be incorrect. "
"Partrick 753 certification was nothing more than marketing hype. I doubt Raleigh, Peugeot, or any of the other BIG names had any real apprenticeship program, they mainly wanted workers who could work on an assembly line and braze 100 forks a day. I think most guys who came up wanting to be builders apprenticed at the smaller to middling sized shops".
I think you will find until Derby Industries and a
well known venture capitalist both American got their
hands on Raleigh and raped it they had previousely a
very good apprentice scheme. High value Nottingham
property prices, asset stripping and cheap Vietnamese
labour put pay to Raleigh.
Interesting Radio documentary on Raleigh at:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/
Thats all for now. Keep those wheels spinning, in your memories if not still on the road. Be lucky Mick Butler Huntingdon UK.