Teen’s plumb job of competition
A college student was flushed with pride after he scooped a top place in a plumbing contest.
East Durham College’s Josh Wilkinson, recently won the North East Inter-College Plumbing Competition Final 2017 after taking on other young trainee plumbers.
Josh, 17, emerged victorious from an extremely close final, which took place this month at East Durham College’s Technical Academy in Peterlee.
The teenager and fellow East Durham College student, Kyle McCullough, 17, from Houghton, who are both studying on a Level 2 EAL Diploma in Plumbing and Heating, took on their counterparts who travelled over from Bishop Auckland College.
The competition task was to build a complex watertight pipe circuit.
Students had four hours to complete the brief and their work was scored based on dimensional accuracy, pipework joints, soldering, clip spacing, machine pipe bending accuracy and the circuit’s watertight performance.
The standard of work produced by all four finalists was extremely high and EDC lecturer, Tim Beasley, said: “I was very impressed with the attitude and work produced by all of the competitors.
“It was a very close fought contest with only two points separating them all, but Josh emerged as the winner being the only competitor to achieve a fully watertight pipe circuit.
“Congratulations to Josh, and everyone should be very proud of their performances. They are an absolute credit to their respective colleges.”
The competition, which is part of a series of intercollege competitions in a number of different vocational disciplines that have been taking place during the year around the region, was designed to challenge the students’ practical skills and help to increase their confidence in their own ability.
Rob Hutchinson, Centre Manager at The Technical Academy, said: “Well done to all the entrants. This was an extremely close competition. The standard of work produced was fantastic.
“The students all seemed to have enjoyed the experience and I’m sure will have gained confidence from taking part in the event.”
Anyone interested in finding out more about the plumbing and heating course at East Durham College’s The Technical Academy on Peterlee’s South West Industrial Estate, should visit the website at eastdurham.ac.uk or call 0191 518 8222.
“The standard of work produced was fantastic” ROB HUTCHINSON