Students from Coleg Cambria have been crowned the best young welders in Britain for the third time at the sensational final of our national live welding competition, Weld Off 2016.
Four Coleg Cambria students from North East Wales College took the top spot and prizes worth more than £3,000. Matthew Hughes, Gareth Phillips, Owen Fitzgibbon and Thomas Lavender wowed judges with their breath-taking replica of the Queen’s Royal Carriage, complete with a gilded crown, ornate royal detailing and even a piece of red carpet inside which the Queen herself has stepped on.
Now in its third year the competition in association with Speedy Services, attracted students from across the UK employed as welding apprentices or in college.
Four finalist teams of students between the ages of 16- 26 years old from across the UK challenged each other in three rounds comprising a Q&A round, a skills section and a creative test using Morris Site Machinery’s ArcGen 300 Amp welders to design and produce an inspiring exhibition piece based on the theme of ‘God Save the Queen’.
National business broadcaster, Steph McGovern, winner of ‘Young Engineer for Britain’ at just 19 years old, attended the 2016 Weld Off competition as a special guest, assisted the judges and provided moral support for all the contestants throughout the day.
The national judging panel was made up of welding specialists from across the industry including Michael Scarrott from Awarding Association for Industry Qualifications, EAL, who was head judge; our own Richard Denholm, Sales Director and Welding Specialist from Morris Site Machinery, along with Mick Link from Speedy.
Our Managing Director, Phil Winnington, said: “This has been an outstanding year for the Weld-Off and it was a truly competitive atmosphere! Every year the bar is raised and we have been astounded by the level of creativity, quality and interpretation of the theme which celebrates Her Majesty at 90.
“British manufacturing is seeing a renaissance and we wanted a theme which would complement this. Our competition attracts and uncovers a wealth of talent and skills we have in the UK. This is something we wanted to champion and encourage more young people into engineering to ensure that Britain’s skills base and manufacturing heritage are retained as best as possible.
“Coleg Cambria continues to set the standard every year and we would like to congratulate them on their performance and achieving a hat-trick. We would also like to thank all the teams who entered and especially those who competed to make this year’s competition the best yet.”
The highly commended runners-up included apprentices from the City of Wolverhampton College, who created a robust interpretation of London’s famous Tower Bridge; students from Training 2000 in Lancashire, who also took cues from the Royal Family and welded a Royal Carriage and the team from New College Durham who produced an afternoon tea setting complete with French Fancie cakes fit for the Queen and any garden party.
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