Oliver Dexter wins Gold in SkillBuild Competition

Carpentry and Joinery students who competed in the SkillBuild Competition

Oliver Dexter, a former Whitworth Community High School pupil, was delighted to claim first place and a gold medal in the Joinery Seniors category. 17-year-old Oliver is familiar with success having secured First place in the Joinery Juniors category during the 2016 SkillBuild.

Gold winner Oliver said, “I was very pleased to be win first place. I think these competitions are great as they prepare me for employment and it is an opportunity to practise my time management skills.”

Bury College Carpentry and Joinery students competed against 34 students from colleges from across the North West during the SkillBuild 2017 Regional Heat and were delighted to come out on top. Recognised as the largest multi-trade competition in the country, SkillBuild has been running for over 45 years and sees the very best in construction talent compete against each other to be crowned the SkillBuild winner in their chosen trade.

Students were challenged with a five hour time frame to set-out, make and construct a frame. Putting the skills they had gained in the college workshop into practise, students were challenged to work quickly and neatly to produce a high quality piece of work.
Connor added, “I spent a lot of time practising for this competition so I was really pleased with my overall result. I am now looking forward to progressing onto the Level 3 course at Bury College.”

The SkillBuild success follows the outstanding results Joinery students secured during the Greater Manchester Skills competition early in the year where they achieved two gold awards.

Bury College Carpentry and Joinery Team Leader Mick Booth is delighted with the achievements of the students. He commented: “I am thrilled with the results of the SkillBuild competitions and it was very well deserved. The students were well prepared and worked hard to produce a very high standard of work during the biggest construction competition in the UK. They were a credit to themselves and to the college.”