Ten young welders have been shortlisted to compete in SkillWeld 2014 – the annual competition that aims to recognise welding skills and promote welding as a career.
SkillWeld is a national competition for trainee welders, run by the SkillWeld Committee. The competition showcases the skills of trainee welders and aims to show the important role played by colleges, training providers and employers in supporting the development of welding skills.
The final stage of the competition will take place at The Skills Show at the NEC in Birmingham in November 2014. The WorldSkills UK team judges will also be talent-spotting at the event and contestants could be selected to compete internationally at WorldSkills 2017 in Abu Dhabi UAE.
Air Product’s, the lead sponsor of the competition, marketing associate for UK & Ireland, Colin Kennedy, said: “All the shortlisted finalists have done well to reach this final stage of the competition and their work to date has been of a very high standard indeed. Welding skills are important to the future of our economy and more needs to be done to draw attention to them and to encourage more young people to take up training opportunities.
“Welding can open doors to some great careers including marine engineering, precision engineering for the automotive and aerospace industries, and construction work for the oil and gas industry. These sectors are relying on a pipeline of welding talent and this competition will help create this.”
The welders include contestants from Tata Steel, Metalcraft, Main Port Engineering and L&G engineering.
