Stevenage 75th anniversary magazine | biz4Biz - Magazine - Page 49
MBDA
its apprenticeship programme. The goal
then was to source all its apprentices from
Stevenage and the local area. There was
even a company recruitment office in the
town centre.
Thousands of apprentices have passed
through the company’s apprenticeship
or graduate schemes over the following
seven decades. These schemes continue
to this day, and many apprentices
continue to come from Stevenage and
the surrounding area. Some are even the
second or third generation of families to
work at the site.
However, there was a time when the
company’s roots in Stevenage extended
beyond its industrial footprint. Bragbury
End was home to the company’s Sports
& Social Club for its employees and their
families.
The site was particularly renowned for its
sports facilities, making it an ideal base
for some famous guests in 1966. In that
famous year, the West German national
football team trained there in preparation
for the World Cup final at Wembley.
Whilst Bragbury End is now housing, the
Sports & Social Club continues to this
day. It now uses sporting facilities around
1980’s main site facing north
the town and continues to offer a wide
range of trips to its members. Including
the very popular Christmas Panto at the
Gordon Craig Theatre!
In the town’s 75th anniversary year the
company is continuing to evolve its site,
with brand new buildings that will house
an expanding workforce, as the company
is currently recruiting around 500 new
people in 2021.
MBDA is proud of its heritage in
Stevenage. In April 2013, a 7-metre long
tableau of this history marking 60 years in
the town was unveiled at the heart of the
site, showing the timeline of the company
in the country’s first New Town.
2000’s Site from west
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