Over the last two weeks, I have had the great pleasure of attending three award ceremonies, celebrating the skills of young people in pursuit of excellence in building crafts.

Together with Chairman of the Craft committee, Court Assistant David White, I visited the SkillBuild competition finals in Edinburgh. The roofing competition took place in a marquee in the college car park, and competitors showed significant resilience in overcoming the adverse weather conditions. In contrast, the bricklayers and wall and floor tilers had rather better locations inside the main Edinburgh college building.

I was honoured to be asked to present the stretch award for bricklaying, and there were also stretch awards for roof slating and tiling and wall and floor tiling. The winners will be invited to our Craft Awards in March 2023 at Trinity House.

We will welcome back Jordan Maley (on the right), an apprentice at South Lanarkshire College, who was awarded the gold medal in roof slating and tiling for a second consecutive year.

The next week, I was delighted to be invited to the Plaisterers’ Training awards luncheon with a wide range of awards in eight different categories, championing skills in plastering and internal systems.

A few days later, together with Craft Committee chairman David White, I attended the Building Craft College awards ceremony at Carpenters Hall. Presenting the prizes was Guest of Honour and Liveryman of our company, Emma Simpson MBE. The Tylers and Bricklayers award for best bricklayer went to Sam Widdop (centre). Many great young craftsmen were present, and I was delighted to be able to acknowledge the excellence of their achievements.