Two of the stonemasonry contestants at the National Final of the 23rd SkillBuild event, hosted by the Somerset College of Arts & Technology, were so close that they are to be given a second chance to compete against each other for a place in the British squad at the International World Skills contest.

Garry Collier, 21, who works for Lloyd & Smith Ltd, took gold medal but due to the closeness of the results with silver medallist Paul Bennett, 20, who works for Classic Masonry, they will be given another chance to pitch their skills against each other this month (January). They are both studying at York College of Further and Higher Education.

The final selection event is being run by UK Skills, the government-funded organisation controlling skills competitions among NVQ students and apprentices, at a dummy run of the World Skills contest at Derby College.

Those selected for the British team will then have four months to prepare for the international World Skills event (formerly known as the Skill Olympics) in Helsinki, Finland.