Michael White, aged 30 from Selby, competed against the very best of home-grown talent across 70 disciplines from all over the UK. In the Electrical Installation category he was up against four competitors from Scotland, four from Ireland and one for Wales – Michael was the only competitor from England.
Michael was delighted to win Bronze, saying; “It’s a massive competition and the standard was incredibly high. The pressure of working with 70,000 people looking on was intense but I managed to keep my cool and get on with it. I was determined to come away with a medal and I’m so pleased it worked out. I feel proud to have gone through the regional round of the competition and then win at the UK finals.”
Unbelievably Michael did not even tell his employer, Jamie Lewis from JJ Electrical Solutions (Yorkshire) Ltd in Sherburn in Elmet, that he had won the regional heat of the competition earlier in the year, and he took a week off work to secretly preparing for the national finals.
Jamie said: “It’s brilliant, I can’t get over the fact that he kept it quiet, I had no idea he was competing for the UK! He did so well to cope with the pressure of the competition, it is not easy producing that standard of work with an audience watching your every move. I’m very pleased for him, it’s an amazing achievement.”
Electrical Installation tutor Jonny Brown is delighted for Michael, saying: “He did this himself, he was a first-class apprentice from day one ehen he started at the College and his drive to succeed has to be admired. We are incredibly proud of his achievements.”