All three masonry medal winners in this year\'s national Skillbuild final, held Galgorm, Northern Ireland, in October, were students of City of Bath College.

Gold medal winner was Stephen Woolley, who works for Knapperstones in Cheadle, Staffordshire; Silver winner was William Pocock, with John Finnemore & Sons, in Uppingham, Leicestershire; and Bronze winner was Matthew Millen of Bath Stone Group in Somerset. Matthew is a final year student at the College while the other two are second year students.

Darren Lawrence, the programme leader who accompanied the students to the Skillbuild final, said afterwards: I was the proudest person in the room when the results were announced. Their achievements were outstanding. They are a credit to the whole of the College as well as themselves.

The competition involves setting out, mould cutting and working the stone, which in this case was Portland limestone. The test piece involved a column, octagon and the springer for tracery.

Bath College say the number of apprentices on their stonemasonry courses has increased in each of the past three years. Four years ago six just new apprentices enrolled for the three-year course. This year there were 25 and the total number of students in all three years was 100.

The College holds its own internal competition to pick the students for the Skillbuild competition. There are heats around the country and the heat winners go to the national final. Every other year is the international Skill Olympics, the British team for which is picked from the two annual Skillbuild competitions.

Skillbuild and the Skill Olympics cover a range of trades, and not just in building. The latest Skill Olympics were in Seoul, where UK stonemasonry was represented by York College student Michael Goulding of S&J Whiteheads, who was not in the medals but gained a Diploma of Excellence (see last month\'s NSS).

Stephen Wooley said before the announcement that he had won Gold in Northern Ireland: Taking part in Skillbuild has helped my confidence immensely. My ultimate aim is to win the Skill Olympics. There will be a lot of other apprentices trying to beat him to it.