A former Brockenhurst College student has become the first of its pre-cadetship programme to become a fully qualified officer at sea.

Fair Oak man Tom Welch, 20, recently took up his post as third engineering officer on the newest Carnival UK cruise ship Queen Anne.

He also worked on Queen Mary 2, the only ocean liner making regular Atlantic trips between Southampton and New York.

Tom was one of the first to study Brockenhurst College's pre-cadetship for the Merchant Navy Level 2 Diploma, launched in 2019.

After completing the programme, he gained a fully sponsored cadetship with Carnival UK to study at Warsash Maritime School, part of Southampton Solent University.

There, he completed his Higher National Diploma in Engineering and was shortlisted for the Maritime UK Solent award for Apprentice or Cadet of the Year.

Tom posted on LinkedIn: "I was the first and the youngest person in my cohort to qualify, and none of the above would have been possible without the exemplary team that has trained me from my Pre-cadetship at Brockenhurst College."

Brockenhurst's head of curriculum, Lesley Chantler, said: "We are really proud of Tom’s achievements – he was a very dedicated student who always grasped the opportunities available to him.

"His progression is also testament to the quality of Pre-cadetship teaching and learning here at Brock, and I have no doubt that his success story is the first of many."

Brockenhurst College is one of a few UK institutions offering pre-cadetship learning and also launched a Level 3 pre-cadetship programme in 2023.

In the same year, the college aligned its pre-cadetship teaching with Warsash Maritime School's degree course admission requirements.

Both courses are now branded as Warsash Maritime School pre-cadetship at Brockenhurst College and are based at Brock's Construction and Marine Technologies Training Centre in Marchwood.