City of Bath College took the team prize in this year’s UK Masonry Skills Challenge in May, followed by Weymouth second and Edinburgh third.

Stone Federation, which runs the competition, says the competition was fierce and the standards extremely high, so the winners should be justifiably proud of their achievement. “They were a credit to their colleges and to their employers,” said Federation Chief Executive Jane Buxey.

The competition was held as usual in two heats, one at the Building Crafts College in London and one at Edinburgh College in Scotland.

In both cases, Marnhull supplied the limestone for the students to use. It is a relatively soft and forgiving stone, which was just as well as there was a lot of work involved in the test piece. Not everyone finished.

Judges were Sean Collins in London and Andy Maclean in Edinburgh, and the Federation thanks them for giving up their time for the competition.

Individual winners were:

1st    Theo Brogan, Building Crafts College (Uppingham Stone)
2nd    Joshua Underwood, Bath College (Architectural Stone)
3rd    Emma Sheridan, Weymouth College (Chichester Stoneworks)