Growing world class talent at RHS Chelsea Flower Show

27 April 2010

UK Skills to champion skills needed to build tomorrow's workforce in dedicated garden design

To celebrate the talent and world class skills of young people across the nation, UK Skills is to create a garden at the internationally renowned RHS Chelsea Flower Show, taking place from 25th – 29th May, 2010.

The UK Skills garden, entitled: "Growing World Class Talent: celebrating the workforce of tomorrow”, will be created to promote excellence in vocational education and training and also to illustrate how greater investment in skills and development will help lift UK industry out of recession. The garden's design was chosen on its merit by the RHS for inclusion in this year's Chelsea Flower Show and will showcase the wide range of skills required to construct an outdoor space suitable for 21st century living. The garden will be judged in the Urban Garden category at the Show.

A team of talented young people, all under the age of 25, will help Paul and Harry build the UK Skills garden from scratch. A wide range of expert skills will be demonstrated and exhibited for the build including: landscape gardening, bricklaying, electrical installation, cabinet making, plumbing, floristry and stonemasonry. All the skills represented in the Chelsea garden are also present at the biennial WorldSkills Competition, the world's largest international skills competition for young people.

The team creating the UK Skills garden will comprise past UK WorldSkills competitors as well as upcoming, talented individuals who are looking to secure a place in Team UK for the next WorldSkills Competition, which comes to London from 5th – 8th October 2011.

Creating the garden at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show will enable past WorldSkills competitors to showcase their exceptional and proven skills. In addition, there is an opportunity for the aspiring members of Team UK for WorldSkills London 2011 to put their skills to the test by competing in the Show under conditions that will be similar to WorldSkills.

The UK Skills team at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show will be overseen by Harry Turner, WorldSkills training manager in Landscape Gardening. The team members include:

Keith Chapman, 24, from Richmond, North Yorkshire: WorldSkills Shizuoka (Japan) 2007 competitor in Landscape Gardening. Awarded with a Medallion For Excellence.
William Gadd, 22, from Bury St Edmunds: WorldSkills Calgary 2009 competitor in Landscape Gardening. Awarded with Medallion For Excellence.
Sam Fairgrieve, 21, from Leicester: WorldSkills Calgary 2009 competitor in Bricklaying. Awarded with a Medallion For Excellence.
Grant Finch, 19, from Scarborough: WorldSkills Calgary 2009 Squad UK member in Landscape Gardening, hoping to secure a place in Squad UK for WorldSkills London 2011.

Keith, William and Sam are members of the WorldSkills, UK Alumni which is sponsored by independent education foundation Edge.

The UK Skills garden has been designed by Paul Green, a chartered Landscape Architect and garden designer, with more than 35 years of experience in public, private and charity sector works. Paul has several accolades to his name including an RHS Chelsea Flower Show Silver Gilt, which he was awarded in 1997 for a large garden he designed, called ‘Garden of Hope'. Paul also helps UK Skills with the training and assessment of the Landscape Gardening competitors for Team UK.

The biennial WorldSkills competition, hosted by UK Skills, will be held at ExCeL London, from 5th-8th October, 2011. Over 1,200 competitors, from 50 countries/regions will compete in 45 skills from landscape gardening to hairdressing and robotics and from bricklaying to cooking and aircraft maintenance. The UK is currently ranked 6th in the world in the medals tables. UK Skills is aiming to secure a top five medal count ranking when the event takes place on 'home turf' in 2011.

Simon Bartley, ceo, UK Skills, said: "We are thrilled to announce that our UK Skills garden design has been selected for the RHS Chelsea Flower Show and are really excited about the opportunity we now have to create something terrific for the Show. As the world's most prestigious and celebrated flower show, it is fantastic to be involved.

"The UK Skills garden will provide us with a perfect platform on which we aim to demonstrate and showcase to the world the breadth of young talent that is present among the UK's most skilled and dedicated vocational trainees."