Welding:

Spr Tangier Hamer-Powell – 28 Engr Regt (CBRN)

WorldSkillsUK National Welding Champion

Spr Jack Frances – 32 Engr Regt

WorldSkillsUK National Welding Bronze Medal Winner – My WORLDSKILLS journey has taken my skills leaps and bounds, from the basics that I learned on my class one, and proves that anything is possible with the right training and enough practice. From learning the basics to a high standard on my class one, and getting selected to compete for the MOD, to returning to Chatham to refresh and master my skills and winning my regional heat and making it into the top 10 in the UK, I want to share with you my journey so far and thoughts on what’s to come.
I found my class one to be a massive jump up from the class two, this is because not only is the standard higher but a large majority of the welds are straight up uncomfortable. From trying to learn how to weld with your opposite hand, to standing or sitting on benches to weld over a pipe, parts of the course were a challenge but for some, myself included, we enjoyed the challenge. From this, the top 3rd of our course were asked if we wanted to compete and return for refresher training.
Refresher training had its ups and downs, as you can imagine, doing 4 welds over and over again for a month and a half has its moments but I’m so glad that I did it. Making sure that every weld that you do is perfect, every single time, is extremely challenging and takes a lot of practice. This is because in welding there is so much to think about, whether it’s your speed of travel, angles, amount of filler wire or machine setting if you get just one of these wrong you have to start over, then chuck in the fact that you’re welding overhead, going against gravity and you can see why you need the practice. But after the month and a half I was ready for my heat. The heat added a lot of pressure as you only get one attempt of the 4 welds but with the training from the military to always hit a high standard, even under pressure this gave me an advantage over my civilian competitors. Because of this I really enjoyed my heat and felt that I could prove myself, even though it was a bit of a rush in the morning to get used to the college’s equipment.
Moving on I was really looking forward the finals and being able to say that I competed against the top 10 in the country. Even though I’ll probably be sick of welding after the second round of refresher training, but it will be totally worth it and I went into the final confident, and ready to prove myself and the skills that I have mastered.
Originally, I was sceptical about competing but now I am so glad that I have and would definitely recommend anyone else that gets lucky enough to be given the chance, to take it. The training that the army and Midkent college deliver is second to none and this shows with Tangier and Brandon coming first and second in their heat and myself winning mine.

Carpentry:

Spr Andrew Elam – 28 Engr Regt (CBRN)

WorldSkillsUK UK National Carpentry Champion – Before joining the Army, I worked as a carpenter and decided to join the army to be able to use my trade alongside being a combat engineer and a soldier. I joined the Army on the 18th of February 2019. After going to ATR Winchester for my Basic training then 3 RSME for my B3 I progressed to 1 RSME, where I completed my Carpentry 0-2 course. I completed this early and was posted to my current Unit, 77 Squadron, 28 Regiment C-CBRN. Unfortunately, due to Covid 19 and my units main effort being CBRN I wasn’t given much opportunity to use my trade, until I got back on my Carpentry 2-1 Course, which I can say I looked forward to. The course went well and I even learnt a thing or two. I was then put forward to compete in the world skills competition by my instructor. At first, I didn’t know what it was and was just happy I was getting the chance to use my trade. However, it’s a chance for colleges to put forward their top students to compete in their trade against other colleges around the country and possibly the world. This enables them to further their skills and test themselves under the pressure of completing the task, to the time and the given standards. So, in the weeks leading to the regional heat in Chichester college, we underwent refresher training back at Chatham, getting our hands back on the tools and our skills back up to scratch. I am humbled by this opportunity and was excited to test my skills further in the finals.

Plumbing:

LCpl Thomas Bentley, JSSU Cyprus.

WorldSkillsUK National Plumbing Bronze Medal Winner  – If I had to decide a start point for this journey, I’d have to say it was on my ME H&P Class 1 course. I enjoyed the course and really applied myself to the process. My instructor, Mr Ian Lycett, put my name forward when asked for recommendations, which was the start of this evolutionary process from ME Class 1 tradesman to top 8 plumbing apprentices in the UK.
It began with a passive stage, done remotely in the plumbing workshop at Brompton Barracks. I had a refresh and reminder in the morning, and completed the 2 hour qualifying task in the afternoon. This was a huge eye opener for me, I had overestimated my own skill, I tried my best but I knew I had a long way to go when the parameters for the competition are +/-2mm on lengths and +/- 1 degree on bends.
Luckily, I made it through to the next stage, the next hurdle was the regional competition. Coming back off paternity leave 2 weeks early, I had to cram as much practice into the next 10 days as possible. I was paired with Mr Richard Lord to best prepare for the regional qualifier. The time limit for my first installation was 3 hours, I took 4h35, and it was nowhere near good enough. I focused on quality and accuracy of the basics and repeated them to accelerate my installations. By my last day of practice, it was 2h50.
I was competing at Moulton College in Northampton against 3 other competitors. We were given the drawing, and briefed on the rules on arrival, then shown to our booths. We had 3 hours to complete the frame, this included pressure testing to ensure soundness. I planned the task, calculated the measurements, doing everything I could before picking up tools. From there I went all out, completing the frame in 2 hours, just needing to solder after lunch. I thought I was in a good place, but still conscious of the time. Straight in, blowtorch at the ready, I soldered faster than I ever had before. Asking for the tester with 3 minutes to spare.

Organisations:

Royal School of Military Engineering

The RSME placed 8th in the UKs top 10 organisations (Schools/Colleges) medal points league