|
| | | | |
|
 | | YOU’RE HIRED! DDC FINDS ITS FIRST APPRENTICE | | | Dulux Trade | | 15/08/2008 | | | Matthew Rhys Evans, from Carmarthen College has been crowned Dulux Decorator Centre’s ‘Apprentice of the Year’ for 2008 at the national final which was held at Walsall College on 11th June. Matthew, who is currently working for Pontarddulais Decorating Services, competed against six other apprentices from around the UK and beat over hundred apprentices who entered this year’s competition to win £1,000, as well as a host of fantastic products to set him up in the industry.
Matthew, who really impressed the judges with his crisp lines and colourful stencilling, commented: “I’m over the moon and can’t quite believe it. I really enjoyed taking part in the competition – it was nerve wrecking as everyone was really good, and I never dreamed I would actually win it!”
Dulux Decorator Centres launched the competition to find its ‘Apprentice of the Year’ earlier this year to showcase talent in the industry, reward good work and encourage more young people to enter into the painting and decorating industry. Seven heats were held at painting and decorating colleges around the country – Walsall, Leeds, St Helens, Slough, Taunton, Bury St Edmonds and Edinburgh - where twelve competitors fought for a place in the prestigious final.
Beverley Whitehead, PR and marketing communications manager at Dulux Decorator Centre commented: “We have been very impressed with the overall standard throughout, but the final was a particularly close run event. The competitors were put through a gruelling six and a half hours of painting and decorating tasks including everything from wallpapering around a corner to sponging effects and varnishing a door.
“Matthew clinched the win with his even bagging and sponge effects and fantastic attention to detail. It was such a close competition with all the other competitors making it very difficult for the judges. Ben Howell (2nd place) and Heather Adgie (3rd place) also really stood out with their sharpness of cutting, wallpapering and Duette application.”
The work piece in the final was a real challenge for the NVQ students, who were asked to complete a number of tasks in the time allocated. Peter Doyle, technical training consultant at ICI Paints, who was responsible for setting the practical tasks, commented: “It was really difficult to decide how to test the students; however I think that we managed to strike a balance between stretching them while making sure they felt that what we were asking them to do was achievable.”
The final piece required the students to measure and set out, a diamond design with four separate boxes, which they needed to cut in and paint in striking colours. They also needed to mark out three separate areas for the effects work, which involved sponging with three colours, duette rolling and a bagging effect using helicon. To complete the task, the finalists, then had to wallpaper around a corner and varnish a pine door with two coats.
Peter continued: “We’ve been really pleased to see so many female students do well in the competition - four of the seven finalists were girls. This is very encouraging for the future of the painting and decorating industry, and hopefully part of a bigger trend. Currently it is such a male dominated trade and women can bring a different set of skills to the industry.”
The final was followed by a glitzy award ceremony that was held at The Mount in Wolverhampton and attended by, amongst others, Dulux Decorator Centre’s general manager John Henderson. Here the winner and the runners-up were presented with their trophies and prizes. Matthew Rhys Evans won £1,000 cash, 100,000 Nectar points, £500 worth of Dulux Decorator Centres vouchers, £250 Red Letter Day experience voucher, free painting & decorating overalls for the first year in the trade and free entrance for a year to Dulux Trade professional training courses. This year’s gold sponsors also provided the winner with a Packexe dispenser and a box of protection film, a tool bag full of Hamilton Acorn goodies and a trophy, £250 worth of Graham & Brown products, a TomTom satellite navigation system donated by Oakey and a five tread and pop up work platform from Zarges.
In addition to these fantastic prizes, the winning college also scooped a wonderful trophy, which will be passed around each year, a Graco spraying machine and a Plasma TV. The runners-ups were also presented with £100 Dulux Decorator Vouchers and a glass trophy along with £500 in cash for Ben Howell from Somerset College who finished in second place and £250 cash for Heather Adgie from Leeds College of Building who claimed third place.
Beverley added, “The first Apprentice of the Year competition has been a great success thanks to the hard work and support we’ve had from colleges, students and, of course, our sponsors. Without them this just wouldn’t have been possible.”
The Dulux Decorator Centre ‘Apprentice of the Year’ competition was sponsored by Packexe, Graham & Brown, Hamilton Acorn, Polycell, Oakey, Graco and Dulux Trade. | |
|
| | | View similar articles: | | |
| | | |
|
 | People who viewed this article were also interested in |  | |  |
|
| Other articles from Dulux Trade | | | |
|