APPRENTICE joiner Joe Salt is honing his skills in readiness for the biggest multi-trade competition in the country.
The nineteen-year-old, from Checkley, will represent Buxton & Leek College at the Skill Build Competition being run by the Construction Industry Training Board at Stockport College on May 10. He will have six hours in which to manufacture an item of joinery from sketches and is putting in plenty of practice at his workplace in Winnothdale, near Tean, where he is employed by carpenter and joiner Ian Oakes.
Joe won his place in the competition at a preliminary contest run during National Apprenticeship Week in March and he attends the Leek Campus of Buxton & Leek College on day release each Monday. Although only in the first year of his training, he was competing alongside second year apprentices. And his success comes after only six months of formal training in joinery – a career path he decided on after switching from engineering.
He said: “I grew up on a farm and my uncle is a builder and used to bring back waste materials which I would work on. I always liked working with wood and I decided I wanted to make a career out of my hobby. I enjoy working with my hands and much prefer getting out and about to being stuck in an office.
“Working with Ian I find that every day is different and I come to work never knowing what I will be doing but looking forward to a new challenge.”
Joe’s employer, Ian Oakes, who manufactures all types of joinery including staircases, windows, doors, garden rooms and garages, himself trained at the old Leek College and is now passing on his 22 years of experience to his young apprentice. He said: “I recommended the Leek Campus to Joe for his college training because it is relatively small and I knew that he would get more one to one attention. Working with me he is getting a lot of good experience and responsibility and is not relied on simply to do the sweeping up.
“In return for my time and effort in training him, I am getting a good employee who is trained exactly to my needs. Joe has got a lot of common sense and is showing great potential as a joiner.”
Once qualified, Joe aims to set up in business on his own account eventually and his big ambition is to build his own timber-framed house.
