Elite Apprentice Goes for Gold In Brazil

Dyer Engineering apprentice Reece Taylor has been selected to represent Team UK in Welding after excelling in Squad UK and the WorldSkills UK National Skills Competitions.

WorldSkills is the largest international skills competition in the world. Held every two years, the Competition sees around 1000 young people, aged 18-25, from all over the world come together to compete for medals in more than 45 different skills..

Reece joins the 13 strong engineering team representing the very best of British young engineers, heading to St Paulo Brazil for the chance of ‘superstardom’ on the global stage at the WorkdSkills Competition and will compete before 100,000 spectators and hundreds of members of the media from around the world.

Performance coach Sam Andrews, who supports competitors emotionally and mentally through the training and selection process, said “We’ve got some very strong people — some of the strongest I’ve seen in six years of involvement with WorldSkills.”

Those who were successful were judged not just on the skills they demonstrated, but also on their emotional maturity and ability to cope under pressure.

Reece Taylor said: “It is a huge honour to have been selected ……..The support and training from staff at Derwentside College and my employer, Dyer Engineering, has helped me to this final stage of the competition. Without this encouragement throughout my apprenticeship, I wouldn’t be where I am today. If you want to learn a trade, an apprenticeship is the way forward – it is the best decision I ever made.”

Graeme Parkins, Managing Director said, “the whole Dyer Engineering Team are delighted that Reece has been selected to represent himself, our business and the country at such a prestigious event. Reece has shown immense dedication and hard-work battling past competition from opponents employed by significantly larger businesses and his success is the pinnacle of what we are trying to achieve in building our internal “talent pipeline” of apprentices and graduates. We wish Reece the best of luck on his exciting journey to Brazil !”