WorldSkills UK Wales

Celebrations for Golden Brush Strokes - and more!

We spent the day in London yesterday at the WorldSkills UK 2009 Competition Awards. The event celebrated the fantastic achievements of gold medal winners from this year’s WorldSkills UK Competition cycle.

Held at London’s IMAX Cinema, celebrity chef James Martin was on hand to congratulate the crème-de-la-crème of this year’s talent pool.

Wales’ celebrations included the winning brush strokes of Matthew Evans, (pictured here), who scooped the gold medal in the SkillBuild Painting & Decorating competition organised by ConstructionSkills in October 2009.   

Charlotte Cooke, (Advanced Floristry) and David Randles (CNC Milling) also accepted their trophies with their proud supporters cheering them on. 

Charlotte Knowles (Performing Arts: Acting) and Philip Foulkes (Plastering) completed Wales’ bank of 5 gold medal winners.

Around the venue there were some wonderful displays of work produced by WorldSkills UK competitors - all of such high standards that we felt we were truly in the presence of greatness!

(Acknowledgements for use of photograph: UK Skills)

Help raise the profile of vocational skills, WorldSkills and skills competitions in Wales

Dean and Cliff – Well Done Guys!

Safely back on Welsh soil, it wasn’t long before we asked Dean Jones and Cliff Williams to come to Cardiff so we could celebrate their achievement at WorldSkills Calgary 2009.

Recently, we held a select gathering in the city so we could meet the lads and give our formal congratulations. (They are pictured here with John Griffiths, Deputy Minister for Skills).

Dean brought home a medallion for excellence in automobile technology – awarded to competitors who achieve 500 points or more, (the threshold for world class standards). A mere 3 points separated Cliff from a medallion, but importantly his high score contributed to the overall Team UK position of 7th in world. So, Cliff too, proved that he could hold his own against his WorldSkills carpentry competitors on an international level.

We are very proud of their accomplishment as are they! We talked to them about their amazing experience and asked our guests what they thought about their success. Here's what they had to say:

Help raise the profile of vocational skills, WorldSkills and skills competitions in Wales

What a Performance!

Wales upped its WorldSkills UK medals tally again recently with winning performances by Charlotte Knowles and Pip Johnson.

Both were students at Yale College and took part in a number of acting competitions, leading to the WorldSkills UK final. Charlotte won the gold medal and Pip took the silver, beating their competitors from across the UK.

Both have clear ideas about the direction of their immediate futures…. Congratulations both!

Help raise the profile of vocational skills, WorldSkills and skills competitions in Wales

Gold Medal for Welsh Engineering Champion

Dave Randels took the top prize recently at the WorldSkills UK CNC Milling competition, held at Yale College, Wrexham.

His route to the top included victory at our SkillsCompetition Wales regional event, before beating his UK-wide competitors at this final.

Dave’s success may take him to the next WorldSkills International competition when it comes to London in 2011. His tutor at Yale College, Paul Green, should have some worthwhile tips to give him as he has been out in WorldSkills Calgary participating as a technical observer!

Wales secured two other medals via Yale College, with Paul Howard taking the silver, and Harry Morgan taking the bronze, in CNC turning. These students too will have their eyes on WorldSkills London 2011.

For those of you who don’t know, CNC milling and turning requires individuals to use computer numerical control (CNC) machines to cut and shape metal into components used in manufacturing. Operators control the automated tools digitally using numerical codes, and they need to understand the manufacturing process in order to programme the machines accurately. 

As our supporting picture shows, whilst the skills required are highly technical, the result is quite a work of art!

Help raise the profile of vocational skills, WorldSkills and skills competitions in Wales

Floristry in Focus

Team UK’s Joe Massie won the bronze medal in floristry at WorldSkills Calgary 2009. Whilst our eyes were focused on the ultimate competition, a little closer to home Wales’ own budding floristry stars were showing their skills recently.

Charlotte Cooke, from Abergavenny and a Coleg Gwent student, won the gold medal at the final of the UK Skills Floristry competition. She competed in the over two years’ experience category.

Another Welsh competitor, Amy Doyle from Kinmel Bay in Conwy, won the bronze medal in the under two years’ experience category.

Competitors are required to work with a previously unseen selection of flowers, foliage and sundries to create a variety of floral designs, including wired pieces, bouquets, body adornments and room decorations.

We’ll be keeping our eyes on these talented individuals as their skills blossom further!

 

Help raise the profile of vocational skills, WorldSkills and skills competitions in Wales