WorldSkills Talent
05 May 2022
We are so proud of Lewis Boyle, painter and decorator at our North branch in Shipley. Lewis has had a very successful career to date, not only winning the PDA Apprentice of the Year in 2020 but also being Crown Paints Apprentice Decorator of the Year – Silver Medallist in 2019. He has also been an excellent example to younger apprentices alongside colleague Abi Johnson by taking part in a community project painting a school in Slovenia and promoting apprenticeships at the Bagnalls Training Academy in Doncaster.
Being a finalist at the UK Finals of Skillbuild, the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) construction competitions run in partnership with WorldSkills UK, earnt Lewis a place on the Squad UK Painting and Decorating team. He has spent time training alongside other young painters and decorators at Dundee & Angus College under the tutelage of Mike Swan, Curriculum & Quality Leader at the college and WorldSkills UK Training Manager and Mark Nevin, 2009 Worldskills P&D Gold Medallist.
Lewis has said of his amazing journey so far: “The WorldSkills UK competition is such a big thing and I’m really proud of what I have achieved so far.
“The challenges are intense, but I have learnt so much and made some great new friends along the way.”
He puts his success down to working hard and learning new techniques which he has then used back in the workplace as well as keeping up with all the emails and webinars.
After weeks of preparatory training in Scotland not only refining his decorating skills but also his physical strength and mental aptitude, he has only one more step to go – final selection in Loughborough this weekend.
If Lewis is chosen, he will represent the UK’s Painting and Decorating industry at WorldSkills in Shanghai, where he will compete alongside the best in his trade from across the world. It’s a prospect he’s very excited about, saying: “It would mean the world to me to compete internationally and for me to win a medal would be out of this world.”
Jonathan Walker, Lewis’s Branch Manager added “We always knew Lewis was a natural talent, but for Lewis to have the recognition from others has been a real boost for him.
“He has worked extremely hard and demonstrated his best self both practically and in the behaviours that he shows whilst competing.
“We are so proud of the painter he has become and see a long and successful career for him here at Bagnalls.”