Matthew Wood,
Apprentice at Myerscough College, took home the Gold at the Association of
Professional Landscapers (APL) WorldSkills final at WorldSkills UK LIVE at the
NEC Birmingham.
Sam Gordon, The
Gardenmakers and APL Apprentice, took home the Silver, with Reece McKay from
CAFRE taking the Bronze.
The APL WorldSkills
final took place last week from 15-17 November at WorldSkills UK LIVE held at
the Birmingham NEC in front of over 100,000 visitors over the three days.
The first of four
days was a training and familiarisation day, then the competitors had 16 hours
to individually build a garden from scratch designed by head judge and APL
General Manager, Phil Tremayne.
This year’s
competitors were Brian Hughes, College of Agriculture, Food and Rural
Enterprise (CAFRE), Reece McKay, College of Agriculture, Food and Rural
Enterprise (CAFRE), Matthew Wood, Myerscough College, Sam Gordon, The
Gardenmakers, Connor Pegler, Warwickshire College and Douglas Beck, Wiltshire
College.
During the final
competitors were marked on elements such as paving including recessed drain
cover detail and block paving provided by Marshalls, decking and fencing using
EcoDek composite decking, planting with plants provided by J A Jones, lighting
provided by Landscapeplus, health and safety and the overall appearance of the
garden. The final also included a plant ident created by North West based
nurseries J A Jones, designed to test the competitors plant knowledge.
Judges for the
competition included Head Judge Phil Tremayne, APL General Manager, Steve Smith
of Shore Landscapes, and 2011 WorldSkills UK Silver medal winner and
International training manager, Simon Abbott.
The APL also hosted
the Horticulture Inclusive Skills competition on the Saturday of the show.
Inclusive Skills Competitions enable young people with learning difficulties
and disabilities to showcase their work skills and growing independence. The
competitors were tasked with planting houseplant baskets, which they designed
and planted themselves.
The competition was
once again a great success, and as of next year the Inclusive Skills
competitions are being fully integrated into the show. Many thanks to
Flowervision Birmingham for the plants supplied.
The APL would like
to thank sponsors EcoDek, J A Jones, Landscapeplus, Makita and Marshalls for
their support of the competition, without whom this would not be possible.
APL WorldSkills UK
2019 opens for entries in March, but you can register your interest now at https://www.worldskillsuk.org/champions/national-skills-competitions/express-your-interest-in-worldskills-uk-competitions-2019
For more information
about the WorldSkills UK and what they do, visit https://www.worldskillsuk.org/
