Prime Minister's Award

Having first won the NSW leg of this year's prestigious Prime Minister's Award for Excellence in Community Business Partnerships, Chess has gone on to win the National Award in the Medium Business Category.

Our local Federal Member of Parliament . Daryl Melham visited Chess on Friday 18th of April to pass on his congratulations and to have a tour around the Fairford Road Site.

The award was made to Chess in partnership with not-for-profit community organisation Canterbury Bankstown Career Connections. It recognises the achievements of the two organisations in raising awareness in local youth of the career opportunities available in the traditional industrial trades. Over the last two years, Chess Engineering has opened the workshop doors to work experience and structured workplace learning students, community tours and the Federal Government's Adopt a School program. All of these activities are organised by Canterbury Bankstown Career Connections with supervision, equipment, tuition and materials provided by Chess.

We work in a part of Sydney where manufacturing is the major industry but we also have high levels of youth unemployment. On the one hand we face an acute skills shortage while on the other we have a large pool of young people who only need good career guidance and training to help us alleviate that shortage. The programs we undertake with Canterbury Bankstown Career Connections help us give something back to the local community and serve the greater good of industry at large by informing young people of the options available so that they can choose rewarding, productive careers