there is some hope for plumbing

[kirkgas]

i work in the plumbing department of a large college and teach Plumbing & Gas, last weekend was the SNIPEF apprentice competition, 19 took part and had a written exam, copper pipework exercise and leadwork model to make, the standard of a lot of them was excellant, the lead work winner was a second year student and his work was fantastic, the copper and overall winner attends our college (not taught by me as i dont take the second years yet, well done Craig) i will ask for permission to post some pics, so better not mention any more names etc before i ask, but well done to all who took part and worked hard and it is nice to praise apprentice hard work as well as the usual pelters we give them.

 

[doitall]

Nice to see a bit of well deserved praise Kirkgas.

There's still a lot of skill and good guys to be found, if the system worked better.

 

[RigidRaider]

That's good to read. Part of our social problem is that there are so few reallly macho jobs left like shipbuilding and mining and heavy engineering, which gave young lads aspirations. Plumbing being such a technical job nowadays I'd have thought it is a hell of a lot more challenging than selling cups of coffee or working in a call centre.

 

[namsag]

Dont be silly rigid the poor things would get ther hands dirty and have to get off thier ass#s

 

[Agile]

Whilst its a pity we cannot build ships any more, I was never very impressed by the social attitude of many of the workers in the heavy industries who would go on strike at every opportunity.

The problem with plumbing is that it is a technical subject even though still viewed by the public is something for idiots and that attitude gets on my goat.

Getting kids away from selling coffee and ito doing something that requires some study is the challenge.

The Government needs to do more to get young people into the workplace. Their new train to gain mysteriously excludes gas qualifications or anything higher than an NVQ 2.

Tony