Four young engineers get the chance to represent the UK in biggest skills competition in the world.
Melanie Adlam (21) from St Albans, Andrew Fielding (18) from Bolton – who both work for MBDA UK – William Darvill (19) from Clevedon, who is a student at Bournemouth University and Martin Eusebi (20) from Glasgow who works for MB Roberts (Aerospace) have all been chosen to be part of a squad of 30 skilled young people by UK Skills. They hope that they will be ready to take on the very best in the world at the biggest skills competition ever, WorldSkills Calgary 2009, which will take place in Canada in September 2009.
Melanie and Andrew competed in Industrial Electronics and William and Martin excelled in Mechanical Engineering CADD. They were chosen for Squad UK after a tough three day selection competition which took place at SkillsLondon last week. Now they will need to increase their training to ensure a place on Team UK, which will go to Calgary in 2009. The team’s line-up will be announced in June.
On behalf of the four engineers, William said: “We’re already proud of what we’ve achieved. Just getting onto the squad means that we’ve proved we’re good at what we do. We enjoy our professions and want to be the best we can be and now it’s important that we train hard to make sure we can compete against the best young industrial and mechanical engineers in the whole world!”
WorldSkills is an international skills competition held every two years, where 52 member countries meet and compete in over 40 different vocational areas. These include Beauty Therapy, Web Design, Cabinet Making, Floristry and Engineering. The intense four day competition will take place between 2 – 5 September. Over 200,000 spectators are expected to attend the competition.
Team UK and Squad UK are managed by UK Skills. Simon Bartley, Chief Executive of UK Skills, said: “Melanie, Andrew, William and Martin have all earned the right to be in Squad UK but the hard work hasn’t finished yet. Squad UK will be enduring training regimes for months to come to make sure they are world class before they are selected for the team heading to Calgary. We wish them luck in their training.”
Skills Minister Lord Young said: “Having seen these young people in action at the selection event I am already in awe of how talented they are. They are proving what talent there is in this country and I hope they can show other young people just how fulfilling vocational careers can be.”
Andy Powell, chief executive of Edge, said: “As a nation we do not value highly enough the skills young people have in this country and the many paths to success which are available, It should be seen as a huge honour to be selected as part of the WorldSkills squad and flying the flag for all practical learners in the country and the staff who make this success happen. ”
The UK’s WorldSkills team is managed by UK Skills working in partnership with the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills, the Department for Employment and Learning Northern Ireland, the Scottish Executive, the Welsh Assembly Government and key partners from education, government and industry.
