Decorating duo off to national finals
Posted: 10 September 2014
The waiting is over and the heat is on again for winning decorating duo from West Nottinghamshire College’s construction centre as they head for national success.
Anna Lodge and Frankie Hawson show off their gold and silver medals from the regional SkillBuild competitions.
Anna Lodge and Frankie Hawson have just discovered that their skills from the SkillBuild regional heats, which saw them win gold and silver awards respectively, has earned them a place at the national finals.
SkillBuild is an annual competition organised by the CITB (Construction Industry Training Board), and is aimed at finding Britain’s best trainee tradesperson.
Anna, 32, who works for Harrington’s Decorating company, and Frankie, 26, who works for Lane Sheppard and Co painting contractors, represented the college in April’s East Midlands regional heats of the senior painting and decorating competition.
It challenged them to transfer a drawing onto a large board, using their stencilling, painting and wallpapering skills from their NVQ Painting and Decorating Diploma, over a three-hour period.
They’re now honing their techniques ready to take part in the three-day national SkillBuild final at Birmingham NEC from 13 to 15 November where they will compete with ten other competitors from across the UK in a painting and decorating challenge.
Anna and Frankie’s tutor and programme area leader for painting and decorating, Dave Cope, said: “We’re all extremely proud of Anna and Frankie’s success. Right from the very beginning of the SkillBuild competition they worked incredibly hard and they’ve reaped the results with gold and silver awards.
“I’m going to be supporting them with some preparation work in the lead up to November’s finals and if they work as hard in the finals they’ll do brilliantly. I’ll be going to watch them on the last day to support them through the end of the three-day challenge.”
Success at the SkillBuild regional heats will give entrants the opportunity to challenge for a place on the WorldSkills UK team and progress to compete at the 2015 WorldSkills competition in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil.