Gold medal win for Coleg Cambria student Macauley

A 19-year-old from Pentre in Deeside has won a gold medal in the vehicle auto repair final of a national skills competition.

Backed by the Welsh Government through the European Social Fund, Skills Competition Wales is a series of events held in colleges across the country, designed to celebrate vocational skills and create highly skilled, award winning employees for the Welsh workforce.

Macauley Hett, who is studying a level 2 motor vehicle BTEC, competed against five other students from across Wales in a series of auto repair challenges held within a six hour time period.

The competitors were tasked with carrying out a series of checks including engine diagnostic, rear wiper and constant velocity boot checks, plus inspections of the vehicle and engine.

Macauley, currently studying at Coleg Cambria, said he couldn’t believe it when the judges announced him as the winner.

“My grandfather, who I was especially close to, inspired me to go into mechanics. He was always playing around with cars and fixing them up, and then he passed his tools down to me and it’s been a dream of mine to work with cars ever since.

“My college tutor encouraged me to enter as he noticed my skills during an assessment at my workplace, a car parts specialist called MR2-BEN, in Sandycroft. I had no idea what to expect in the first round, but with plenty of practice going into the final, I felt much more confident as I knew the tasks inside out.”

More than 35 competitions are taking place this year, across a wide range of different vocations from plumbing and beauty therapy to aeronautical engineering and accountancy.

The successful Welsh competitors may go on to challenge youngsters from across the UK at the WorldSkills UK national finals, held at The Skills Show in Birmingham’s NEC this November.

Competitors who excel at The Skills Show may then be shortlisted to compete against the world’s most talented young people at the international WorldSkills competition in Kazan, Russia in 2019.