Landscaping their way to WorldSkills success

Yorkshire and the Humber is now truly on the WorldSkills map thanks to two of the region's finest landscape gardeners, Keith Chapman and Tim Lancaster, who have been awarded a coveted medallion of excellence.

Keith Chapman (21) from Bedale, North Yorkshire, who works for Lowmill Landscapes in Finghall and Tim Lancaster (21) from Leeds, who works for RMP Properties, have achieved their success at Excellence at WorldSkills 2007 in Japan, the biggest skills based competition in the world. The gruelling four day event, held every two years, sees 49 nations compete in skills such as engineering, landscape gardening, graphic design, hairdressing and beauty therapy and this year it saw over 200,000 spectators turn out in support.

Keith and Tim's success follows an intense competition in the landscape gardening category. Medallions of Excellence are awarded to those who achieve or exceed the World Class score of 500 points out of a maximum of 600. Keith and Tim scored an amazing 522 points, finishing 5th and were only four points away from the gold medal!

The boys were part of a 22 strong UK team of young people who in total scored one gold, one silver, two bronzes and nine medallions of excellence.

Speaking from Japan, Keith and Tim said: "We are absolutely over the moon with the result. We've been training practically all year for this and we really wanted to do well, not just for ourselves but for the whole team, our industry and our country. It was a great honour to have been chosen to represent the UK and it's been an incredible experience, meeting like-minded young people from around the world who all love landscape gardening and to be able to show the world just what we can do is an amazing feeling."

Rob Wye, director of strategy and communications group for the LSC, commented: "The UK results in the WorldSkills competition reflect the improvements and excellence being delivered through the Further Education system. The hard work and ambitions of the individuals who have achieved medals is to be congratulated. We hope these great achievements inspire other individuals to develop their talents and skills - for personal and professional gain."

John Denham, Secretary of State added: "WorldSkills is about raising the status and the standards of vocational education. What this year's team has done epitomises that. Forty-nine nations competed highlighting how essential these skills are globally. For our team to have achieved such great results proves we have skills in this country at world class levels. This team is helping to break down the snobbery around skills training - there is nothing second best about good skills-based careers."

The team will now spend time in Shanghai for a de-brief and review on how the competition went before returning home to the UK. Preparation will then start to secure a new team to take part in WorldSkills 2009 and WorldSkills 2011, when London will host the event.

The UK WorldSkills team is managed by UK Skills working in partnership with the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills, the Scottish Executive, the Department for Employment and Learning Northern Ireland, the Welsh Assembly Government and key partners from education, government and industry.

To find out more about the teams success or to learn more about how you can take part in the next competition visit www.worldskillsuk.org.