BMI Apprentice of Year shows north to be training powerhouse

So tightly fought were the two competitions that the judges felt that each category deserved a highly commended award. On the Redland side ex-soldier, Tom Thompson, who works for AL King Roofing and studies at South West Training Group, received the accolade while for Icopal it was Joe Burgess, a former waiter, who came out with a memorable phrase during his presentation—“I gave up a job to go into a career”—when talking about his move into roofing. Joe works for Waveney District Council and is enrolled at Eastern Region Roof Training Group. The finalists competed over two days that comprised a series of presentations and assignments. These examined every facet of running their own roofing business—including business planning, presentation skills, and technical skills. Perhaps the most daunting of the exercises was the individual presentations made to the judges at the very end of the competition. This involved a five-minute talk in front of their respective judging panels describing their motivation and future objectives in roofing. One of the judges, Gary Walpole, Health and Safety Officer at the National Federation of Roofing Contractors (NFRC), was hugely impressed at what he saw: “The contestants have been taken out of their comfort zone by being forced to tackle ‘soft’ skills rather than the physical side of their trade. What has impressed me so much is how they have all grown in confidence, have really focused on the job in hand and achieved things they probably thought were beyond them prior to the competition”. Mat Woodyatt, BMI Technical Training Manager, commented: “This has been a fantastic event, the first time we have held a competition to find the best in both roofing disciplines: pitched and flat. All 18 contestants deserve huge credit for their hard work and achievements over the last 48 hours. I know the judges looked long and hard at the scoring, deliberated at length about what marks to award and genuinely found it difficult to separate participants. However, in the end there can only be two winners, so heartfelt congratulations to Jay and Kieran. Well done all”.