Three teams of two have until Saturday to complete a show garden plot at The Skills Show, a massive trade career fair held at Birmingham NEC, which opened today and runs until Saturday.
The three teams are Andrew Hannam from Sparsholt College and Noël Taggart from Cafre Northern Ireland, Daniel Handley from Sparsholt College and Daniel Brennen of Derby College and Adam Ferguson of Cafre Northern Ireland and Theo Parkin from Derby College.
The best team will win the chance to represent the UK in the WorldSkills International competition in Sao Paolo in 2015, against candidates from four continents.
A new partnership between the APL and World Skills UK was also launched at the event.
APL, RHS and WorldSkills representatives met to plan next year’s WorldSkills UK landscape gardening heats, which will take place at RHS Tatton Garden next summer.
The Skills Show is the UK’s largest free skills and careers event and is aimed at people aged between eight and 24.
Chief executive Ross Maloney said the show’s intention is to demonstrate a clear link between skills and employment.
"Young people have so many skills that they do not appreciate yet these are the very skills that will help them on the road to work," he said.
"We hope that young job seekers or those considering their career choices will pay a visit to the main event at the NEC Birmingham It’s a completely free event with some fantastic opportunities for youngsters to meet and learn from colleges and employees from a whole host of different industries."
WorldSkills International has been running for 60 years and used to be called the Skills Olympics. Competitors must be no older than 22 at the time of the international contest.
