{"id":240741,"date":"2019-07-31T16:41:58","date_gmt":"2019-07-31T06:41:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/?p=240741"},"modified":"2020-07-18T17:00:17","modified_gmt":"2020-07-18T07:00:17","slug":"south-burnett-shines-at-awards","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2019\/07\/31\/south-burnett-shines-at-awards\/","title":{"rendered":"South Burnett Shines At Awards"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Amanda and Mick Astill … regional winners at the Queensland Training Awards for the second year in a row<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

July 31, 2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

The South Burnett has picked up two major awards at the regional finals of the\u00a0Queensland Training Awards, held in Gatton on Friday night.<\/p>\n

Astill’s Electrical Services, based in Kingaroy, was named\u00a0Darling Downs South West Region Medium Employer of the Year, beating strong competition which included Cherbourg Aboriginal Shire Council.<\/p>\n

This is the second year in a row Astill’s has won a regional training award – and they’ve only entered twice!<\/p>\n

Last year, Mick and Amanda Astill took home the regional Small Employer of the Year award, but because their workforce has grown over the past 12 months, they were judged this year in a higher category.<\/p>\n

The latest trophy has topped off an exciting few months for the couple.<\/p>\n

Astill’s shifted into larger, custom-built premises in Kingaroy Street two months ago after leasing at a nearby location for many years.<\/p>\n

In fact, the business has come a long way in a short time.<\/p>\n

“It is 10 years in September since we started in a garage in Wondai,” Amanda said.<\/p>\n

They now have 26 employees, based across Kingaroy and the Sunshine Coast, including seven apprentices and one administration trainee plus 14 vehicles on the road.<\/p>\n

Mick is proud of the fact their very first apprentice, put on just a couple of months after the business started, is still working for them almost a decade later.<\/p>\n

And he’s also proud the business hires locally: 16 members of their current team are all former Kingaroy State High School students.<\/p>\n

Astill’s handles everything from broken powerpoints to large commercial jobs, as well as solar power and air conditioning installations.<\/p>\n