Northern Regional College Students at Newtownabbey Campus Clean Up in Regional Finals

Welding students from Northern Regional College’s Newtownabbey campus had a clean sweep in SkillWeld, the Northern Ireland regional heats of WorldSkills UK. Up against stiff competition from the College’s other campuses, the Newtownabbey welders filled the top three spots. They now have an anxious wait to see if they did enough to secure a place in the UK national finals in November.

The students had to prove their proficiency by completing four challenging weld tests, including three welding processes, MMA, MAG AND TIG on test pieces which were of varying position, material and thickness.

Once completed, the students’ work was visually inspected by Harland and Wolff, Welding Engineer Chris Campbell, who was accompanied by Helen McTokell, Harland and Wolff Apprentice and Training Manager. The competition was supervised by College staff, including Jordan Stewart, workshop technician and engineering lecturers David McLellan and Scott Walker. 

The prize-winners were: 1^st, Jamie Gill, Northern Regional College, Newtownabbey who is an apprentice with Pollock Lifts, Carrickfergus; 2^nd, Ryan Cowan, Northern Regional College, Newtownabbey, who is doing his apprenticeship with DH Engineering, Doagh. Both Jamie and Ryan and in the second year of a Level 3 City and Guilds Diploma in Engineering; and 3^rd, Jack Turner, Northern Regional College, Newtownabbey. Jack is in the first year of a Level 3 apprenticeship with KME Engineering in Lisburn; Ben Hennessy, who is a Level 2 student at the College’s Farm Lodge campus in Ballymena and showing great potential, came fourth.

Presenting the awards, Patrick Wallace, Principal Lecturer for Traineeships, congratulated all the competitors for their commitment and the high standard of their work throughout the competition. He also thanked the sponsors, JG Burns Ltd, who donated a Bester 170 amp inverter welder as the first prize and an auto diming welding mask for second prize as well as a Lincoln Welding ‘goodie bag’ to all the competitors. Amazon vouchers, donated by Stephen Haymes at SkillWeld were also presented to the top three students.

The overall marks from the one day welding competition at the Newtownabbey campus have been submitted to SkillWeld. When the regional finals in England, Scotland and Wales are complete, the top ten students from across the UK will be invited to compete in the WorldSkills UK national skills finals in the NEC, Birmingham and with it a chance to secure a place on the UK SkillWeld team for the international finals.

At Northern Regional College we offer traineeships and apprenticeships across a range of subject areas such as engineering, childcare, carpentry and joinery, catering and much more.  For further information and to apply visit here.