Gary lifts gold medal in Brazil

Gary lifts gold medal in Brazil

26 August 2015

FOUR local students have returned home after a successful time at the WorldSkills competition in Brazil.

Castlewellan man, Gary Doyle, won a gold medal in the plumbing section, while there were silver medals for Saintfield landscape gardener, Jonathan Gill, and Killinchy refrigeration student, Chris Bailie, and a bronze medal for Ballynahinch girl Rebecca Wilson for her car painting.

The four were part of a Northern Ireland contingent which returned from Sao Paulo with one gold, two silver and one bronze medal as well as a medallion for excellence as part of Team UK.

Northern Ireland was the top UK region on medal success, winning over 40 per cent of the overall UK medal total.

Gold medal winning Gary is a plumbing student at Southern Regional College; Jonathan is a former landscape gardening student at the College of Agriculture, Food and Rural Enterprise; Chris is a student at South Eastern Regional College, and Rebecca, who trained at Riverpark Training, and is now employed at CM Accident Repair Centre in Downpatrick.

Their success followed four days of intense competition against more than 1,000 of the world’s most skilled young people.

Gold medallist Gary said being selected for Team UK was an amazing achievement in itself, but to win a gold medal and to be named the best plumber in the world is such an incredible feeling. 

“The whole of Team UK worked really hard and the experience of the competition is something we will never forget. We have all learnt so much during the process, knowledge and new skills that we can take with us as we progress in our careers.”

Welcoming the young people back to Northern Ireland, the Minister of Employment and Learning, Dr Stephen Farry said: “This is an outstanding achievement not only for the young people, but also for their families, employers and tutors who have supported them throughout their training and during WorldSkills, and I want to congratulate them all on their awards. 

“Their hard work shows how far apprenticeships and professional and technical training can take young people, and the skills they are learning will help drive them towards an exciting and rewarding career.

“This success is testament to the high standards of technical and professional training in our colleges and the commitment to excellence shown by our young people. Northern Ireland has once again demonstrated on the world stage that we have a talented workforce with the high level skills which keep us competitive in the global economy.

“All the Northern Ireland members of Team UK deserve the highest of praise for their achievement in making it as far as Team UK to demonstrate to the world how highly skilled they are.”

Taking place every two years, WorldSkills is the world’s largest skills competition and is held around the globe to celebrate skills and share best practice between industries and countries.