Acrobats, confetti bombs and a magician were part of glitzy celebrations to mark the end of a nuclear graduate scheme.

A dinner celebration has taken place at Energus, at Lillyhall, for Cohort 9 of the programme called nucleargraduates.

At the stroke of midnight on Wednesday night confetti bombs were let off to mark the end of the two-year scheme for the thirty-strong group.

Kath Walker, business systems lead at Energus, said the event was about "bringing everyone together to celebrate their achievements".

"It was a celebration dinner. It gave them the chance to say good bye to each other and to us."

The graduates, who are in the mid-twenties, have been employed by Energus and have been sponsored by 12 companies.

Over the past two years, they have had the chance to work on numerous secondments with their sponsors and the wider industry as well as travel around the world for different experiences.

A number of graduates celebrated successes at the formal dinner on Wednesday evening.

Grace Frost has been named Scientific Graduate of the Year 2017 at the National Skills Awards.

The annual awards are presented by the National Skills Academy for Nuclear and Cogent Skills in recognition of excellence in performance within the nuclear industry.

Grace was presented with the award by Jean Llewelyn, OBE, who is the chief executive of National Skills Academy for Nuclear.

Ben Govier-Moore won first place in the Spark! Contest 2017.

He fought off competition from young industry professionals from France and Britain, including his fellow nuclear graduates Ben Percy and Jessica Taylor who finished third.

Jonathon Bew, Jamie Graham and James Ferriday, who are part of the Cohort 10 nucleargraduates programme, also reached the final.

Rachel Curtis won a poster competition organised by The European Nuclear Young Generation Forum. Her winning submission was based on: “How important is a positive nuclear safety culture in ensuring the continued success of the nuclear industry?”

While Scott Houston was awarded the Top Gun award which recognises his progression over two years.

Before the scheme officially ended, all graduates took part in consolidation and learning exercises. These included beach cleaning at Workington with students from Lakes College and building a bee hotel on the Energus site.