Construction Students Build on Skills for Competition

On Thursday 21st January, construction students at Riverside College took part in an in house competition, with the winners to represent the College at the Regional SkillBuild Competition, held at Stockport College.

Designed to test skills they have learned so far on their courses and prepare them for working in industry, the event was held at the Colleges £3.6 million Engineering and Construction Skills Centre. Competitions were held in different construction disciplines; Brickwork, Carpentry and Joinery, Painting and Decorating, Plumbing and for the first time Electrical Installation.

Timber and builders merchant Travis Perkins sponsored the Brickwork, Painting and Decorating, and Joinery competition areas for the second year running. Widnes branch manager David Harari attended the event and presented the prizes to the winning students. He commented, “It’s great to support the college and to be involved in such a fantastic event”.

Widnes Electrical Supplies Ltd sponsored the Electrical Installation competition and donated prizes. Staff from the branch were very impressed with the College facilities and had nothing but praise for all the Electrical Installation students.

The Ormskirk branch of Plumbase supplied t-shirts for all Plumbing category competitors and also donated prizes, along with the winners shield. The Widnes branch of Howdens Joinery also provided prizes for successful students in the Carpentry and Joinery category.

After a full day of hard work from the future industry workers, the student’s efforts were judged by the sponsors. Ellis Mckeown, 17, from Widnes was crowned winner of the Brickwork category. Daniel Brennan, 25, from Runcorn took first place in the Carpentry & Joinery competition. Suzy Baines, 35, from Runcorn won in the Painting & Decorating competition. Stephen Chapman, 34, from Prescot took first prize in the Electrical Installation area. Jake Price, 17, from Runcorn beat the competition in the Plumbing category.

Darren Moore, Deputy Head of Construction at the College, said, “We have been running our Internal Competition for 6 years now and always aim to improve from the previous year’s efforts, but this year’s event has been by far our best. The support from our sponsors has been amazing and is very much appreciated by all our staff and students.

“Each trade area had a great deal of difficulty in judging their competition as the standard of work the students produced was so high, which is a credit to all the teaching staff within the Engineering and Construction department. The next step now is to enter our winners into the Regional SkillBuild Competition, which is being held at Stockport College this year. If our students can perform as they have today then we have a very good chance of being successful in Stockport.”
 

Winners

Brickwork

• 1st – Ellis Mckeown, 17, from Widnes
• 2nd – Jack Washington, 18, from Widnes
• 3rd – Jordan Birks, 18, from Widne

 

Carpentry & Joinery

• 1st – Daniel Brennan, 25, from Runcorn
• 2nd – Lewis Freeman, 17, from Widnes
• 3rd – Calum Wright, 18, from Runcorn

 

Painting & Decorating

• 1st – Suzy Baines, 35, from Runcorn
• 2nd – Ashleigh Rutledge, 17, from Runcorn
• 3rd – Callum Mullin, 17, from Runcorn

 

Electrical Installation

• 1st – Stephen Chapman, 34, from Prescot
• 2nd – Eryk Skowronski, 16, from Runcorn
• 3rd – Corey Price, 19, from Runcorn

 

Plumbing

• 1st – Jake Price, 17, from Runcorn
• 2nd – Steven Bailey, 17, from Runcorn
• 3rd – William Price, 26, from Runcorn