South West College hosted the WorldSkills UK Carpentry & Joinery finalists from across the UK for a week’s intensive training and assessment as part of final preparations for the International WorldSkills Bi-Annual Competition in Calgary, Canada later this year.  The College acted as one of 5 centres to host the training event from across the UK participants.

Local student Trevor Woods, employed as an apprentice by McAleer & Teague, Dromore, also took part in the training and assessment.  Trevor has a strong competitive record in the Skills competition winning a gold Medal in the Worldskills NI 2007 competition and a silver medal at last year’s WorldSkill UK Finals.

WorldSkills UK provides over 70 quality assured skills competitions. Run annually these competitions aim to encourage young people and adults across England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales to excel in their vocational skills area.  WorldSkills UK is the UK's premier set of skills competitions for young people and adults. Their main aim is to help raise the standards of training and performance at work by strengthening the contribution of skills competitions to the UK economy.

This training event saw Trevor compete with other top UK Joiners in a battle to become one of the Joinery Apprentices that will be part of the UK Skills team who will represent the UK in Calagary.  South West College would like to wish all the students taking part every success in there bid to win International recognition for their specialised skills in Carpentry and Joinery.