28 January 2011
WSI President Elect Simon Bartley opens Danish National Competition
By Christine Scoot, Marketing and Project Coordinator, WSI
It’s 9am in the morning Thursday January 27, and while the rest of Denmark is just starting the day, over 200 Competitors take the stage. They are dressed in their work wear because the competition begins right after the last speech. We are at the Opening Ceremony of the first ever Danish National Competition – 36 skill areas competing under one roof.
From official WorldSkills Competition skills such as Hairdressing, Bricklaying and Graphic Design to Catering, Floor Laying and Retail Butchers – they are all here to take home the gold medal, and some of them are also competing for a place on Team Denmark for WorldSkills London 2011.
SkillsDenmark, the Danish Member of WorldSkills International (WSI), had a great line up of high profiled speakers and here are some of the words of encouragement and support for the Competitors:
Anker Boye, Mayor of Odense: ‘Let the quality and pride of your skills and talents be your motivation over the next couple of days.’
Tina Nedergaard, Minister of Education: ‘The WorldSkills Competition is a great way of branding Danish skills and Denmark. A research survey done by the organisers of the WorldSkills Competition 2005 in Helsinki, showed that the interest for skills grew along with a more positive attitude towards a career in skills.’
Simon Bartley, UK’s Official Delegate to WSI and President Elect for WorldSkills International, said: ‘Skills and the ability to participate in competitions mean that everybody has the opportunity to try and see whether they can do more than they thought they could do when they woke up that morning. There are no losers, you are all winners. You have actually gone out and done something which should make you proud.’
He continued: ‘Those of you who come to WorldSkills London 2011 in 8 months and 8 days will have the opportunity to demonstrate that you are the best in the world and that, in itself, is a phenomenal achievement.’
The Danish National Competition runs until January 29 where the winners will be announced at 2pm.
For more information visit www.skillsdenmark.dk.