GWYNEDD students have wowed judges to win six medals at the UK’s biggest skills event.

Nine students representing Coleg Menai, Coleg Llandrillo and Coleg Meirion-Dwyfor travelled down to the World Skills UK LIVE event at the NEC Birmingham between 15-17 November.

They came away with two gold, two silver and two bronze medals, competing in a variety of skills-based categories, including construction, hospitality and health and social care.

Coleg Meirion-Dwyfor, Dolgellau hospitality student Conner Jones, 20, was a gold-medal winner for his remarkable efforts in the food preparation competition.

He created a breakfast platter for two, scoring 195 out of 200 – which his tutors described as an “incredibly high score for an incredibly high standard of work, using the skills he had attained on his course.”

Ifan Williams, 18, of Coleg Meirion-Dwyfor, Dolgellau, won silver in the bricklaying category, while 19-year-old Cai Henshaw, also of Meirion-Dwyfor, picked up silver in carpentry.

Fellow Dolgellau construction student Edward Rawlinson was the youngest contender at age 17 in the plastering and dry wall competition, with tutors saying the young plasterer did himself a great credit.

Meirion-Dwyfor construction area manager Mike Taylor said: “The work they produced and the level of care and detail they showed was simply excellent.

“They worked extremely hard over 18 hours across three days to complete their tasks – which in itself is impressive.”

Coleg Meirion-Dwyfor pair Anna Roberts, age 20, and Georgia Harley, 17, were also commended with a bronze for Anna in the restaurant services competition and a bronze for Georgia Harley in the health and life science category.

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