University College Isle of Man (UCM) hosted a week-long competition to showcase the skills students have acquired during their vocational studies.

UCM’s eighth annual Skills Test, saw students from hospitality and catering, engineering, hairdressing, ICT and construction competing against their peers.

Invited guests who attended include Lieutenant Governor Sir John Lorimer, who presented prizes to the engineering students, Chief Minister Alfred Cannan and Douglas Mayor Janet Thommeny.

Industry experts were also invited to watch, offer feedback and judge the competitors to identify the top students in each area.

The week started with hospitality and catering students who raced against the clock in UCM’s Cristory’s restaurant’s kitchen to produce a main and dessert, which was required to include Manx lamb, Manx dairy and local flour.

Awards were presented by UCM’s chair of governors, Leslie Wong, with Peter Slavov being the ultimate winner, Wayne Garrett placing second and George Harris in third place.

Engineering students worked on both CNC milling and turning machines throughout the day to complete carefully constructed components. First place awards were presented by the Lieutenant Governor to Kuba Garczynski for manual milling, Harry Fox for manual turning, Dylan Kelly for CNC milling and Ben Shimmin for CNC turning.

The third event of the week saw hairdressing students cut and style three models each, with a blonde, brunette and red hair transformation, before taking to the runway to present their work to a live audience.

The students were judged by Gavin Blagbrough from Wella Hair & Beauty and former student William Smith, who awarded best blonde, best brunette and best red to Josie Fabric and Justine Radcliffe.

Students from UCM’s digital enterprise department were tasked with creating a computer game.

Having just a few hours to put their creative plans into motion, which were then marked by external industry judges Liam Slack, Chris Kissack and William Duquemin.

The winning team was ‘the sprites’ consisting of Charlie Faragher, Dominic Morgan and Aaron Harris.

The week concluded with the construction department’s students completing challenging tasks in their respective specialisms.

In a presentation at the end of the day, the winning students were announced: Joshua Glover for Brickwork, Lance Wylie for carpentry and joinery, Elliott Teece for electrical installation, David Scott for horticulture, Philana Lunn for painting and decorating and Liam Finch for plumbing.

Vice principal Jo Richardson said: ‘The event is a great opportunity for us to welcome guests and industry representatives to see our facilities and the quality of work our students achieve, but more importantly, for students to show their skills to potential employers and industry experts, which adds to their employability.’