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Local Construction Apprentices Scoop 8 Medals at the The Skills Show.

Five gold, two silver and one bronze medals were awarded in construction skills ranging from carpentry to wall and floor tiling. Three members of the team were also highly commended in carpentry, electrical installation and joinery.
The Skills Show is the UK’s largest skills and careers event, which celebrates the importance of skills to economic growth. Taking part enables competitors to build on their skills, test their knowledge against their peers and showcase their potential to current and future employers. During the three days of the Show, over 700 of the UK’s most talented apprentices and learners competed in front of 100,000 visitors in the WorldSkills UK National competition finals to aspire to be the best in the UK in their skill area.

Employment and Learning Minister, Dr Stephen Farry commended the Northern Ireland medal winners for excelling in their skill area. He said: “This is an excellent achievement for Northern Ireland. It is a great opportunity to showcase and celebrate the high level of skills we possess and the impressive talent of our workforce. It reflects the high standards of training in our colleges and the commitment to excellence demonstrated by the competitors. Northern Ireland should feel very proud of such an inspiring performance on the UK stage.

“It takes hard work, determination and a high level of skill to compete against the UK’s most talented apprentices and learners. Northern Ireland enjoys an impressive track record at skills competitions at regional, national and world level, and our local competitors’ success at the Skills Shows builds on this outstanding record of achievement.”

Barry Neilson, Chief Executive, CITB-ConstructionSkills NI said, “Congratulations to all the medal winners, it is a fantastic achievement on a local stage. This competition provides the perfect platform to demonstrate the enormous talent we have in the industry, helping to showcase the professionalism of our brightest recruits and industry as a whole. We have also to give credit to the trainers and the training network involved in the preparation of these young people for such prestigious competitions.”

Competitors from the Skills Show may be eligible to compete for a place in the team that will represent the UK at the next WorldSkills competition in Sao Paulo, Brazil, in August 2015. The WorldSkills Competition takes place every two years in cities around the globe and is the largest international skills competition in the world.

Pictured is Ian Magee - BMC, Gold Medal Winner in Plastering & Dry Wall Systems

Full list of the construction winners are listed below.

Carpentry                                  Mark Hawthorne           South Eastern Regional  College     Silver
Carpentry                                  Bryan McGurk               South West College                        Highly Commended
Electrical Installation                 Arron McCool                North West Regional College         Gold
Electrical Installation                 Kyler McCauley              South West College                       Highly Commended
Joinery                                      Nial Wallace                   South West College                      Bronze
Joinery                                      William Megaw               Southern Regional College           Highly Commended
Plastering and Drywall Systems Ian Magee                      Belfast Metropolitan College         Gold
Plumbing                                   Shane Branagan            Southern Regional College           Gold
Plumbing                                   Gary Doyle                   Southern Regional College            Silver
Refrigeration                             Chris Bailie                   South Eastern Regional College     Gold
Wall and Floor Tiling                 Martin McLaughlin         North West Regional College         Gold