By evening, he'd met them all, and they had been vetted by the older apprentices.

Unless one of them happened to be an apprentice to somebody older and wiser.

The apprentices, 18 to 25 years old, "come from all walks of life," he said.

The older apprentice appeared to think about this for a moment.

Charlie, the older apprentice, was getting out of a minibus which had drawn off the main road.

As they did so, the older apprentice looked up and saw her watching them.

"It was for him, I think," said the older apprentice, gesturing at the younger one.

McManaman signed as a 16 year old apprentice upon leaving school in 1988.

Since the old apprentice system died out, everyone's been trained the same, and most of us know each other.

He also knew he'd had a hint of something the oldest apprentices would die to hear.