Apprentice finds winning career
Sam Faid was dubbed a no hoper when he dropped out of high school early.
Four years later, the 20-year-old Christchurch man has built a promising career, dodged a student loan and has plans to design and construct his own ‘‘unique and funky’’ home.
Faid won the central South Island regional carpentry apprentice of the year awards on Thursday night. It proved pride and ownership of your work and a drive to succeed could be just as important as a university qualification, he said.
‘‘There’s a lot of pressure to stay in college and when I said I wanted to leave it was massively frowned upon, they said: only dumb people leave and you’re not dumb, but that just gave me motivation.’’ Faid, the youngest of five siblings, said his mother was a keen renovator but he was the first builder in the family.
She came to the awards night with him and his boss, Jina Andrews. When second place was announced – Aidan Brewer – they thought it was all over.
‘‘It was a real shock to win, pretty awesome really. I just wasn’t expecting that at all.’’
He encouraged youngsters to ‘‘find something to be passionate about and just go for it’’.
‘‘I’ve always wanted to be hands on and in a job that’s outside – I just couldn’t be inside an office all day, that’s not me. Everyone needs a handyman, plus there’s no student loan involved and you start earning and learning straight away,’’ he said.
Some builds were ‘‘always going to go better than others’’ but there was no feeling quite like turning a barren piece of land into a family home with all the add-ons, including a white picket fence, he said. He hoped to qualify by the end of the year.
As the regional champion, Faid will go to the national competition in Auckland in November, partici- pate in a special Outward Bound course, get tools and trade products from leading companies, and get $2000 to spend at Carters.
Event organisers said the competition highlighted ‘‘the urgent need for more apprentices’’, and celebrated the future leaders of the industry.
‘‘I want to be in the industry for a long time – until my body can’t keep up,’’ Faid said.
Motorbikes crash
One person is dead following a motorcycle crash on the West Coast early on Sunday morning. Two motorbikes were involved in the crash on Coast Rd (State Highway 6) in Barrytown, north of Greymouth, about 2am. One of the motorcyclists died at the scene and the other was seriously injured.
Freedom camping targeted
The National Party is promising a crackdown on all freedom campers - banning all campers without built-in toilet facilities from parking more than 200 metres from public toilets. National leader Bill English made the announcement in Queenstown, where freedom campers and the associated waste have been a major problem for the tourist town. The policy would continue to allow all councils and the Department of Conservation to ban freedom campers from certain areas. Those powers would be extended to other government agencies like Land Information NZ and the NZ Transport Agency so Crown land could be included. Spot fines could also be issued and if not paid on the spot then responsibility would be assigned to the vehicle owner - including rental companies. An app would be created so campers would be in no doubt about where they could and could not camp.
More cash for stadium
Labour Party leader Jacinda Ardern has pledged a $300 million capital fund for Christchurch if her party gets into government. She said it was up to the city where the money was spent but the Government would have to sign it off. The promise comes after National pledged $120m towards the city’s planned ‘‘multi-use arena’’. The Christchurch City Council will put $253m towards the arena but the stadium it wants to build is expected to cost $496m. The Labour pledge would be enough to pay the entire funding shortfall, with $57m left over for other projects.