‘Glass-y’ win for apprentice

By Lachlan Ellis

A local apprentice has won a state honour for his work at a Moorabool business, and says the award came as a shock.

Twenty-year-old Darcy Lachner-Marion from Greendale has won this year’s Australian Glass and Windows Association (AGWA) Victorian Apprenticeship Award – Commercial, for his work at Ballan’s Paarhammer Windows & Doors.

The award was delivered personally by AGWA CEO Clinton Skeoch, who paid a surprise visit to the Ballan factory from the Association’s headquarters in Sydney.

Mr Lachner-Marion thanked AGWA and the team at Paarhammer Windows & Doors, and says he loves his job.

“I was a bit surprised, I didn’t even know he [Clinton Skeoch] was coming. He rocked up and I thought ‘who’s this guy?’ and he pulled out the award and handed it to me. I wasn’t expecting it at all, I sort of just go to work and do my job, so to win an award is pretty big,” he told the Moorabool News.

“I’ve been an apprentice here two and a half years. The work’s awesome, every day there’s something different. I get to work on some really cool projects, a lot of circles and arches and angled windows, they’re really cool to make. It’s awesome coming from raw timber down to this beautiful, finished product.”

Mr Lachner-Marion is undergoing a four-year apprenticeship, and said that while he was originally meant to finish in September next year, at the rate he’s advancing he could finish in February instead.

As for the future, he hopes to stick around at Paarhammer Windows & Doors and show new apprentices the ropes just as he learned.

“At the moment I’ve been moving into a more managing position and sort of starting to run things, and work more independently, and start helping others. It’d be good to stay here and move up a bit more, maybe take over from my boss and he can go into the office,” he said.

“I’d like to give a big thanks to Tony, Edith, and Thomas Paarhammer for giving me the job and the opportunity to start doing well. And especially my supervisor Mat Thorne, he’s taught me everything…I wouldn’t be where I am without his guidance and help.”

Paarhammer Windows & Doors manufacture high performance windows and doors for energy efficiency and bushfire safety, and their products get delivered Australia-wide for residential and commercial projects. As an industry leader in regional Victoria, the company has always been committed to training and apprenticeships with more than 50 tradespeople qualified since its inception in 1990.

The company currently has a vacancy for a self-motivated person with good maths skills for an apprenticeship.