British mason Michael Goulding, who works for Oldham masons S & J Whitehead, came sixth in the World Skill Olympics in Seoul, South Korea, in September and gained a Diploma of Excellence for his work.

Although he was not in the medals - in fact, none of the 30-strong British team won a medal this time - there were only 10 points between him and the German in second place. The home team won with a massive 94 points out of 100 - which was one of 22 Gold Medals they won in a competition that allows only one entry from each country in each event.

The competition involved creating a template in aluminium, setting out and carving the finished work in marble, which Goulding had never worked before competing in the UK team selection competition in Barnsley.

He had taken extra tools because he believed the marble would be hard but still had to send out for extra tools because those he took to the contest had broken.

He had six weeks\' training in preparation for the Olympics in Seoul, including some time with sculptor John Schofield of Harrogate. Even so he was surprised at how hard the marble was that they gave him in Korea. It was absolutely solid, he said when he got home. It was even harder than the marble I had been training on. My hands were absolutely blistered overnight.

Winners are announced at a medal ceremony at the end of the competition. I knew I hadn\'t won a medal, said Goulding. The Korean worked like a robot. He had been training for two years. If I\'d won, when I got home people would say \'well done, you\'ve got a Gold\'. For him it meant he got an education and a better life for his whole family.

I tried my hardest; that\'s all I can do. I got a Diploma of Excellence. Good luck to the winners.

Goulding had been warned beforehand that he would be nervous when the competition started but he had not been prepared for it. You freeze for a couple of minutes, he says.

They gave me the working drawings and I thought \'I can\'t do it\'. I put it down and walked away. After five minutes I went back and looked at the drawings again and thought it was easy. As soon as you get working it\'s all right. You get nervous waiting around.

When you look at it you think \'there\'s no chance I\'m going to be able to do that in the time\', but you just do it and afterwards you think \'how have I done that?\'.

Circumstances combined to make the competition tougher than it might have been. The attack on the World Trade Centre in New York came during the event, which was being held in the shadow of Seoul\'s World Trade Centre tower. Goulding was concerned the Seoul might be next on the list and even if it was not that flights home would be disrupted, although they were not.

Then, on the second day, the piece of marble he had been given broke. He was desolate and thought it was all over for him, but the judges decided not to penalised him and concluded there was a fault in the stone.

Goulding was full of praise for for his employers for the past six years, S & J Whitehead, who he said had backed him throughout the competition and had given him the training to get him there. He joined the company when he left school and had been assigned to an experienced mason to teach him and a fellow apprentice the trade. He had also been sent to York college.

He was more critical of NVQs, saying people who used a profiler had gained NVQ level three in masonry just as he had. As far as an employer was concerned they both had the same qualification even though they did not have the same skills. If you\'re going to be a mason you should be able to use the tools, he said.

He had enjoyed the competitions, which involved regional Skillbuild contests, national semi-finals and the final selection as well as the international competition. Next on the agenda was an application to the William Morris Trust to try to gain a scholarship to help him develop his skills still further.