The three hopefuls competing to represent stonemasonry at this year’s WorldSkills contest, taking place 5-8 October in ExCeL London, are currently preparing for their final assessment in June.

The WorldSkills contest pits the talents of young trades people from around the world against each other after an elimination process in each country has identified the best national representative. Hoping to be selected for the stonemasonry position in the team are three young masons: Christopher Berridge, Thomas Whitehead and Alex Boyd (pictured right).

Christopher Berridge, 21, is from Crewkerne, Somerset, is City & Guilds qualified and works for Ham Hill Masonry Works.

Thomas Whitehead, 20, from Stoke-sub-Hamdon, Somerset, is an apprentice at Albion Stone and a student at Weymouth College.

Alex Boyd, 20, is from Highbridge, Somerset. He works for Wells Cathedral Stonemasons and is City & Guilds qualified.

The three of them are currently undergoing an intense training programme ready for the final selection to see which of them will join Team UK, members of which are all aged 24 and under and represent 30 skill areas.

By entering the WorldSkills Competition, the UK is able to benchmark and assess training standards from around the world, helping to create an internationally competitive workforce in the UK.

The hopefuls in the Wall & Floor Tiling category are: Jonny Carter, 21, from Northumberland, who is studying at Ashington College and is an apprentice with P Plunkett Tiling Contractors Ltd; Harry Coyle, 21, from Yorkshire, who is studying at Leeds college of Building; Ian McMahon, 21, from County Derry in Northern Ireland, studying at North West Regional College; Mark Woods, 20, from County Fermanagh in Northern Ireland, studying at South West College Omagh.

You can follow the progress of the team on the WorldSkills website www.worldskillslondon2011.com