THE North York Moors National Park is paying tribute to the work undertaken by its apprentices, as part of National Apprentices Week.

As well as the traditional skills of dry stone walling, building fences and maintaining rights of way, outdoor apprentices in the park are also taught a new set of skills to help with the challenges facing the environment today. An example of this was the construction of woody dams in the upland streams north of Pickering to prevent flooding downstream.

Jordan Horsfall, southern apprentice at the North York Moors National Park, met with HRH Prince of Wales last month to explain how the dams had been built.

He said: "It was fantastic to be able to welcome the Prince of Wales. Although it never stopped raining throughout the visit, it gave us the opportunity to show the dams and timber bunds that the apprentices had helped to construct in action."

Ian Nicholls, assistant director of corporate services at the National Park, said: "We offer a brilliant range of opportunities for apprentices. We feel it’s really important to provide training for young people to help them to live and work locally."

Another apprentice project has been constructing access stairs for volunteers at Goathland Railway Station.

Mr Nicholls added: "Apprentices make a real difference to the work we do, and we have different apprenticeship roles, from working outdoors to providing business and admin support to being front of house in our visitor centres, helping visitors enjoy their time in the National Park."

On Friday, apprentices from the park, along with apprentices from Redcar Borough Council, will be working together on a drystone walling task in Danby Dale.

All 18 apprentices will be helping to repair the boundary wall and replace a stone stile, which will be an opportunity for the apprentices to learn new skills from a local stone wall expert.