Chichester College lecturer Christian Notley is celebrating after helping Team UK to achieve their recent success at the Skills Olympics in Abu Dhabi.
Mr Notley MBE, who is deputy head of learning for furniture at the college, is the UK Training Manager for cabinet making and travelled to Dubai with Team UK to support Angus Bruce-Gardner in the competition. Angus, from Cumbria, was among 20 medal winners for the UK – achieving a bronze medal for his efforts.
Team UK finished 10th in the medals table ahead of Germany and was the smallest team to make the global top 10.
Christian has been a WorldSkills training manager for six years and has helped the UK win Gold in cabinet making at two previous competitions, WorldSkills 2013 and 2015 – both times with Chichester College students representing their country.
He has also been elected to be the chief expert for cabinet making at WorldSkills Kazan 2019 – meaning he will be in charge of ensuring the competition runs smoothly and is fair for all competitors.
He said: “The competition in Abu Dhabi was fierce and Angus did extremely well to place amongst the medals.
“To produce the designs to a high standard in such a high-pressure environment, under a time limit is not easy – it takes a lot of work and a lot of training to reach this level.
“The college has been fantastic in supporting me as training manager as I am away for parts of the year, running workshops around the country to help develop the next crop of competitors – and professionals.
“For the students going through the skills competitions, from regional level right up to international, we see them transforming all the time – getting better and better.
“It takes hard work, commitment and a real determination. Every competitor will put in at least two years of training to reach this point – it’s everything that they’ve trained for.
“From my point of view, it is a tremendous feeling to be part of that process. We’ve achieved medals in cabinet making at each of the last three competitions – bronze with Angus this year, and golds previously with George Callow and Edward Harringman in 2013 and 2015.”
More than 1,200 young people, from over 50 nations, who are specialists in 51 different disciplines, from hairdressing to aircraft maintenance, plumbing to 3D Games design, competed for gold, silver and bronze medals.
Team UK is supported by WorldSkills UK, which has pioneered techniques and methodology from elite sports training that have been honed to help produce the very best exponents of dozens of disciplines and trades.
