Local training award recipients were told on Monday night that if they wished to continue their success then they would have to face the challenges of sacrifice and performance.

That message came from the Airport Fire Department's Assistant Fire Chief Daryl Bean at the Apprenticeship and Training Council's annual awards presentation.

The men had received awards for practical and theoretical work in a variety of trades including air conditioning, plumbing, masonry, electrical installation and auto cycle mechanics.

AFC Bean -- who will become Fire Chief at the Airport in 16 months -- told the award winners that they were not at the end of something but at the beginning.

And he said they each had a decision to make now: What were they going to do with what they had acquired so far? They had fulfilled the requirements of their structured programmes and the skills they had learned would help them in the unstructured programme they now faced -- life.

To maximise the opportunity they had, said AFC Bean, they now had to make a choice about where they wanted to go in their careers and choose to put the effort in to get there.

This would mean sacrifices, he pointed out, but this would set them up for long term success and comfort. They would not be alone either, he added, as there would be other people like them offering support along the way.

And after making the sacrifices, it would be time to perform, continued AFC Bean.

Quality of service was the key for success in any career, he said, and it showed in the achievements of people who operated at and beyond set standards.