Talented Pembrokeshire College learners proved once again that they are among some of the best young trainees in the UK. Last week they joined 48 learners from across Wales to bring back medals from this year’s WorldSkills UK competition held at the NEC, Birmingham.

A total of six Pembrokeshire College students secured places in the WorldSkills UK Finals after scoring highly in the national qualifiers. Their medal haul included silver medals for Richard Williams and Gwen Evans in the Inclusive Skills competitions, a bronze medal for Orry Franklin in Construction Metalwork and highly commended awards for Joshua Tuson in Welding and Theo Knipe in Graphic Design.

Although one of the smallest colleges in Wales, this impressive medal haul places Pembrokeshire College in the top three in Wales for medal wins - proof of the hard work, talent and commitment of our learners.

A further two students received golden tickets to compete after picking up medals at last year’s WorldSkills UK Final. Christopher Caine competed in Joinery, while Sam Everton competed in Culinary Arts. After exceptional performances, both Christopher and Sam have now been invited to join the training programme for Squad UK, which could see them representing the UK at the international WorldSkills competition due to take place in Russia in 2019.

Dr. Neil Bentley, chief executive, WorldSkills UK, said: “WorldSkills UK competitions are proven to enhance a person’s apprenticeship or training programme by enabling them to develop key character and employability skills. By using knowledge gained from competing nationally and internationally, we know we are working to benchmarks that will equip more young people with the right skills to help UK businesses compete better globally.”

The Pembrokeshire College students were among over 800 of the UK’s most talented apprentices and learners battling it out across 50 different skill areas to be named the ‘best in the UK’ in their chosen skill.

To find out more about the range of courses available at the college, go to www.pembs.ac.uk.