A young plasterer from Belfast has been selected to represent the UK at WorldSkills Leipzig 2013.
Ken Wilson, 19, who attends Belfast Metropolitan College and works for Wilson Plastering, was selected for TeamUK for WorldSkills Leipzig 2013 after battling it out over four days of tough competition.
Ken will join 30 other young skilled people, who are currently in employment, completing an Apprenticeship or studying, as Team UK for WorldSkills Leipzig 2013. Ken will compete against the best young plasterers from across the world in the Plastering and Dry Wall Systems category.
Taking place from 2 – 7 July inLeipzig,Germany, WorldSkills is the largest international skills competition in the world. The event is held every two years in cities around the globe and the competition sees around 1,000 young people, aged 18 – 25, come together to compete for medals in more than 40 different skills.
Skills Minister Matthew Hancock said: “Those representing the UK at WorldSkills will play a hugely important role in promoting the importance and value of vocational skills and practical learning to young people, their parents and employers. I offer my congratulations to every member of the team.”
Many of the competitors were invited to compete in the selection process after excelling at the WorldSkills UK National Competitions, the finals of which are now held at The Skills Show. Ken will undertake an intense training programme from now until the Competition in July supported by his Training Manager Peter Moore. Peter is a lecturer at Redcar & Cleveland College.
TeamUK will be hoping to build on the success of the last WorldSkills Competition, held in London in 2011. At that Competition, the UK won five Gold, two Silver, six Bronze medals and 12 Medallions for Excellence in front of an audience of 200,000.
