These young men and women, all aged between 17 and 22 were chosen for Squad UK after a tough three day selection competition which took place at SkillsLondon, Excel and Acton & West College, London, last week. In total, 55 hopefuls competed at the event in skills ranging from floristry to landscape gardening to mechanical engineering. The selected squad are: 

- Floristry – Joe Massie (Fishlocks Florist) and Lauren Curry (Sarah Ann Florists)
- Industrial Electronics – Melanie Adlam (MBDA) and Andrew Fielding (MBDA)
- Mechanical Engineering CADD – William Darvill (Bournemouth University) and Martin Eusebi MB Roberts Aerospace)
- Cooking – Oli Lloyd (Claridges), Christopher Kenny (Le Manoir Aux Quat Saisons) and Adam Smith (The Ritz)
- Landscape Gardening – Grant Finch (Scarborough Council), Simon Ginger (Otley College), William Gadd (Otley College) , Joshua Kitchen (James Pond Landscaping Ltd) and Luke Denby (Roderick French Groundworks)
- Bricklaying – Sam Fairgrieve (Jelson Holmes Ltd), Tom Coppock (self employed) and Adam Metcalf (Hobson & Porter)
- Stonemasonry – Nathan Smith (Stone Firms Ltd), Oliver Clack (Cathedral Works Organisation (CSO)) and Marc Pate (Wells Cathedral Stonemasons Ltd)
- Painting & decorating – Mark Nevin (Nevin of Edinburgh) and Heather Adgie (Bell Group UK)
- Cabinet Making – Liam Gardner (Phillip Bastow’s Cabinet Makers) and Luke Griffiths (Cimitree furniture/Chichester College)
- Carpentry – Gareth Evans (self employed) and Cliff Williams (Anthony Rees)
- Joinery – Neil Macartney (Haymills Contractors), Richard Ellwood (self employed), Beau Hewlett (Bryan Gelder Joinery) and Adam Bushnell (Rosewood Joinery Oxford).

Now that they have been selected for Squad UK, they will need to increase their training to ensure a place on Team UK to compete at WorldSkills Calgary 2009, which will be announced in June. They will be joined by further squad members who will be chosen at the next selection competition to be held in January. Edge is the official supporter of Squad UK and Team UK.

WorldSkills is an international skills competition held every two years, where 51 member countries meet and compete in over 40 different vocational skills, including Beauty Therapy, Web Design, Cabinet Making, Floristry and Engineering. This intense, four day competition takes place from 2nd – 5th September in Calgary, Canada. Over 200,000 spectators are expected to attend the competition.

Team UK and Squad UK is managed by UK Skills. Simon Bartley, Chief Executive of UK Skills, said: 'These boys and girls have certainly earned the right to be in Squad UK but the hard work hasn’t finished yet. Squad UK will be enduring tough training regimes for months to come to make sure they are World Class before they are selected for the team heading to Calgary. We send our congratulations to them all for being selected for Squad UK and wish them luck in their training.'

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. We look forward to working with the squad and their mentors to help them develop from being the best in the UK to being the best in the World.”

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.
 

- Ends -

For more information please contact:

Alaine Biggs - Praise PR - 07957 344 547 - alaine@praisepr.co.uk
Eddie Blower - Praise PR - 07968 983 553 - eddie@praisepr.co.uk
Kathryn Crookenden - UK Skills - 0207 612 9261 - kathryn.crookenden@ukskills.org.uk

Notes for Editors

1. About UK Skills www.ukskills.org.uk
UK Skills is a not-for-profit organisation which champions skills and learning for work through competitions and awards.

The organisation was established in 1990 with the primary purpose of raising skill levels in the UK through skills competitions and managing the UK team which competes in the WorldSkills Competition and the new EuroSkills competition. In recent years we have widened the scope of our operations to include management of the National Training Awards and organising of other skills related events.

2. About WorldSkills www.worldskills.org
The WorldSkills Competition is the biggest skills competition in the world and is held every two years in one of its member countries. Its sets world class standards in over 40 skill categories ranging from cabinet making to web design.

Over four days of tough competition, young people drawn now from 52 member nations test themselves against tough international standards. The ultimate prizes are gold, silver and bronze medals.

Locations of previous and future WorldSkills competitions:
2003: St. Gallen, Switzerland
2005: Helsinki, Finland
2007: Shizuoka, Japan
2009: Calgary, Canada
2011: London, UK

Edge is the Official Supporter of Squad UK and Team UK. Edge is an independent education foundation dedicated to raising the status of vocational and practical learning.

3. About Edge www.edge.co.uk
Edge is an independent education foundation. It is dedicated to raising the status of practical and vocational learning, so that all young people have the opportunity to achieve their potential, and the UK’s future workforce is equipped with the skills to be successful in the modern economy. Edge believes that ‘learning by doing’ is as important as academic learning, and that there are many paths to success.

4. About Skills London 2008
Skills London 2008 was the UK's biggest careers event in 2008 for 14 to 19 year olds.
UK Skills hosted a Skills Competition Zone, which featured:

• exciting live skills competitions - watch competitors fight it out for a place in Squad UK from which Team UK, the team for WorldSkills Calgary 2009, will be selected
• competitions in Cooking, Floristry, Industrial Electronics, Mechanical Engineering CADD and Landscape Gardening
• interactive 'have a go' areas where students can gain hands on experience in various skill areas. Some of which Include Automobile Technology, Beauty Therapy and the skills featured in the live competitions
• the Skills Garden Cafe for teachers where they can join us for some well deserved refreshments as well as to network
• The Competition Zone was sponsored by City & Guilds.

5. About City & Guilds
City & Guilds is the UK’s leading provider of work-related qualifications. City & Guilds works closely with industry and employers and offers over 500 qualifications in 28 different industry areas, through colleges, training providers and employers.

For more information about City & Guilds’ range of qualifications, log on to www.cityandguilds.com.