Garvagh carpentry apprentice to compete at prestigious ‘Skills Olympics’

Patrick McCloskey, a Level 3 apprentice carpenter at the College’s campus in Coleraine, fought off stiff competition in a series of inter-campus and regional qualifiers to secure his place at the national finals which take place from November 21 - 23 at the NEC, Birmingham. The finals are at the heart of WorldSkills UK LIVE, the UK’s largest skills, apprenticeship and careers event.

Over the three days there will be competitions in 70 different skills across the Digital, Technology, Engineering, Construction and Hospitality industries with finalists having to a set task or series of tasks in their respective skill area within a limited time and front of the 70,000 plus visitors attending the event. The original entry of over 3,000 has been whittled down to just 500 for the national finals and Patrick is one of the Northern Regional College competitors to make the cut.

The other finalists accompanying him from across the College’s six campuses, are: Abigail Reilly, Ballymena (Plumbing); Jack Marshall, Newtownabbey, (Web Design); Ashton Logan, Ballymena (Bricklaying); Tadas Dobrovlskis, Newtownabbey (Welding); Philip Park, Ballymoney (Graphic Design); and Maciej Twardowski, Magherafelt (IT Software Solutions for Business).

Patrick is hoping to follow in the footsteps of his carpentry classmate Samuel Gilmore who won a gold medal and was named UK Champion at last year’s LIVE finals. Samuel has since gone on to be crowned Europe’s Best Apprentice at the European Alliance for Apprenticeship Awards, held in Helsinki in October.

Despite the pressure, Patrick is feeling optimistic about the opportunity: “I am really excited to compete at WorldSkills UK and see how I fair against some of the best carpenters in the UK. I will have a total of 18 hours across three days to build something and demonstrate to an expert panel of judges my speed and accuracy whilst working.”