Robert Broomsgrove, a young stonemason from Highbridge, Somerset, will be trying his best this summer to follow in the footsteps of Chris Berridge, the UK’s Gold Medal winner at WorldSkills when it was held at ExCeL London in 2011. This year’s WorldSkills contest is in Leipzig 2-7 July.

Robert Broomsgrove is 21 and an apprentice who attends Weymouth College. He is employed by Wells Cathedral Stonemasons.

He was selected for Team UK for WorldSkills Leipzig 2013 after battling it out over four days of tough competition with others hoping to represent the UK at the event.

Robert will join 30 other young skilled people in Team UK for WorldSkills Leipzig 2013. Robert will compete against the best young stonemasons from across the world in the Architectural Stonemasonry category.

WorldSkills is the largest international skills competition in the world. The event is held every two years and sees around 1,000 young people, aged 18 to 25, come together to compete for medals in more than 40 vocational skills, including electrical installation, welding, bricklaying, cooking and landscape gardening, as well as masonry.

UK Government Skills Minister Matthew Hancock says of WorldSkills: “Those representing the UK at WorldSkills will play a hugely important role in promoting the importance and value of vocational skills and practical learning to young people, their parents and employers.

“I offer my congratulations to every member of the team.”

Robert is now undertaking an intense training programme supported by Wells Cathedral Stonemasons, Weymouth College and UK stonemasonry WorldSkills Training Manager Kevin Calpin.