Bulldog Toosl and our parent company have been sponsoring Luke Denby, a student at Craven College in Skipton. We have been sponsoring both the college and Luke this year providing them with the tools they need to train up young landscapers for the future. I am delighted to inform you that Luke Denby has now progressed to the finals of the World Skills 2009 in Canada. Below is the press release from his recent success. Stay tuned for future and archive blogs on his progress!
Congratulations to Luke Denby
Congratulations go to Luke Denby, 18 from Craven College in Skipton for being selected to represent the United Kingdom in the Landscape Gardening competition at World Skills 2009. Luke who is from Skipton will team up with William Gadd 21, from Bury St. Edmonds (Country Life Landscapes and Otley College).
World Skills is held every two years and this year is to be hosted by the Canadian city of Calgary, starting on 1st September. The event is often likened to a ‘Skills Olympics’ and when event comes to London in 2011 the profile of World Skills in this country is likely to get a massive boost.
The 26 final team places covering 25 disciplines were announced by Simon Bartley, chief executive of UK Skills at a packed House of Lords event on 30th June. Landscape Gardening is one of 45 competitions in which over 1000 competitors (all under 23) from 51 countries will compete. Other competitions at World Skills include Floristry, Carpentry, Bricklaying, Electronics and Hairdressing.
At the squad announcement Simon Bartley told the assembled dignitaries and team members, "WorldSkills is a beacon of aspiration, we can be the best in the world, we must not loose sight of the investment and life changing opportunities. Despite challenges, of which there will be many, we must get behind the team and competition and celebrate going to Canada."
Guest speaker James Cracknell OBE, the double Olympic gold medallist and TV adventurer, told the audience "luck is something that you earn ... good things happen to people who deserve it".
Luke’s journey to Canada began back in June 2008 when he competed in and won the regional heats of the UK Skills Landscape Gardening competition at Askham Bryan College along with fellow Craven College students, Andy Brier and Polly Throup. Luke and Andy subsequently competed in the national final of UK Skills in September 2008, a competition in which they came a credible third.
Both Andy and Luke were among 12 young landscapers asked to attend a selection competition from which five or six were invited to train for possible selection onto the UK squad. Luke was selected and since Christmas has spent several months training at the World Skills landscape training centre at Askham Bryan College. In addition to learning new skills, Luke has also built show gardens at the Malvern Show, BBC Gardener’s World Live and a Scandinavian competition held in Norway. At World Skills in Canada Luke and William will have to build their show garden in 22 hours over 4 days, part of their final preparation will be to practice building the garden at the forth-coming RHS Show at Tatton Park.
Michael Myers, Horticulture Co-ordinator at Craven College said he was extremely proud of Luke’s achievement and wished him luck in Canada. Luke began his horticulture career at Craven College on the 1st Diploma in Horticulture and progressed onto the National Diploma in Horticulture. Prior to the World Skills event Luke had been considering a degree course after his current studies but may need to reconsider if successful in Canada. Whilst at Craven College Luke gained valuable work experience working for local landscaping firm, Roderick French Groundworks and it quickly became apparent that he was a skilful and highly competent worker. Luke has received a generous donation of tools from Rollins/Bulldog tools to enable him to practice techniques with tools he is familiar with. Bulldog have also supported Craven College in their successful UK Skills and Harrogate Flower Show competitions.
Posted by Clarington on 1st July 2009
Hi all this is my first post into the blog, so I thought I would start with an introduction to who I am and what I do. Firstly my name is Luke Denby, 18 years old and from Skipton, North Yorkshire.
It all started last year around April. I and a fellow student at Craven College were to compete in a landscape garden competition against a rival college. The plans came through and we had begun to practise, after winning this competition we were then put through to the national heat against three other colleges at the IOG show at SALTEX in London.
For 22hours each college fought for the 1st place position and after the tiring 4days we finished with Bronze, all was not finished with just yet! The training manager for Landscaping at WorldSkills asked us to come along to a few training sessions.
What is WorldSkills your may be wondering? ‘Every two years, over 900 of the best young professionals from trades, service and vocational programs around the world gather to showcase their talents and abilities. This thrilling, high-performance, four day WorldSkills Competition is the biggest event of its kind in the world.
WorldSkills was established in 1953. Today it is made up of 49 Member Countries/Regions worldwide. Participants compete for gold, silver and bronze medals – striving to set world-class standards in over 40 skill categories ranging from cabinetmaking to web design’.
After a trip to Brathay, Ambleside and a trip to Askham Bryan College, York, the eight selected members including me went down to London to compete in a selection process at the EXCEL event.
After been put through our paces and another tiring 4days we were then seated in front of a panel, including members from UKSKILLS. Five of the eight were chosen for the UK SQUAD and sent to Slough, where we meet up with other selected squad members from other skills.
Where the fun starts!
After been selected for the team and an introduction to what may happen over the next year. I then left London for the long drag back up to Yorkshire!
A few weeks later I received info from my training manager about the dates of our training sessions to progress us further and with an understanding to what will be needed to make us world class competitors. I knew I would then need some tools for practising with, and this is where Bulldog came into play; I had used their tools before and been on a tour of the forge with college so I sent an email asking for sponsorship. With the company being connected to Rollins Group I would also be able to ask for the other specialist equipment such as AMI levels, Marshalltown Trowels, Estwing hammers etc. Bulldog were very excited and sponsorship was granted. I knew with tools supplied by Bulldog, I would be able to strive above my competitors, due to the quality and passion which flows through the Business.
January 2009, Training Starts
Well it finally came! The first date for training although my tools had not arrived, what a week it was. The start was slow as it had been a while since November but Tuesday morning showed all five of us were back in business.
The first part of the week concentrated on two jobs so i was split into a team with Grant (squad member), we were to construct a timber Pergola with cedar roofing boards. Work went well and the day quickly went.
Wednesday included us swapping with the other group, we set on with a mitred brick pattern in a 1.5X1.5m square to test our cutting skills. We had finished by dinner so in the afternoon it was onto, setting out of a complex curved path.
Thursday + Friday Competition time! Placed into groups of 2 we set on with the garden, I was to build the wall, pond and lay the turf. The wall had a ‘lunky’ type stone for water to pass through the wall and create a feature to the garden. The pond was created from large slabs of limestone rock and filled with pebbles and other small rocks, as an eye catching point I decided on my break to go find small moss to put around the wall to give it some age.
Turf was cut into and around the exposed rock and also had a gentle curve connecting the wall to the pond and patio which Simon my team spent doing.
February, Training Continues
Another week spent at Askham Bryan College, York. Base-camp for landscaping. The weather is becoming warmer and so is the nearing of Team selection in June and the news of a trip to Norway in April for a competition against the Swedish and Norwegian teams!
My tools had also arrived, so this month so ‘jobs a good’en’ already, this week we had a specialist dry-stone walling coming to teach us. Although I have experience in walling it was good to see the master teach me useful tips and see what I could improve on. As the week progressed we had learnt how to wall limestone and sandstone to completely different stones the sun was beaming, so out with the Marshalltown cap, thanks guys its working a treat! The tools are also becoming very handy now surprising how often I’ve used them this week even when walling.
Friday came round quickly and a small competition was held, we were to construct a wall to the best of our abilities taken into account, height, batter, courses of stone, and strength.
For each competition there is a winning and the name of the winner is put onto a shield and this week it was my name! So all went well, really good month training for March starts on the 23rd and includes 2weeks as more training is needed for Norway in April.
All for now folks
Posted by Luke Denby on 10th August 2009
