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28th January 2021

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Plumbing lecturers put to the test at final

The final of the National Apprentice of the Year that took place recently at Adey Heating Systems in Cheltenham was the culmination of six months of regional heats to find Britain's premier plumbing apprentice.

At every event the best apprentices from each region were put through their paces with a practical test that included the installation of a Saniflo macerator. At the final the students were given two days to plumb a complete bathroom; using a Saniaccess 3 for the waste water from a basin and w.c. Ideal for bathroom en-suites, the Saniaccess 3 features convenient covers for simple servicing and ease-of-maintenance without the need to remove the macerator from behind the w.c.

A 'Meet the Lecturers' conference was organised to coincide with each event, allowing the participating manufacturers to present the latest news, updates and products from the plumbing industry to the guys who teach the next generation. At the concluding event a light-hearted, fun series of practical challenges was set up to find the 'Fastest Fitter'. Reflecting the challenge set to the students, the teachers were asked to set-up a basin/w.c. combination connecting the pipework from the washbasin to a Saniaccess 2 and from the macerator to the soil stack.

Nigel Baker, a plumbing lecturer from Somerset College, proved to be the most adept at this particular challenge with an unbeatable time of 1 min 32.9 seconds (easily beating the time of Saniflo's own technical manager, John Jarmulovicz, who took a lengthy 2 mins 48!). Nigel was delighted with his £50 first prize gift voucher. He says:

"This was a great way to finish the competition. It was interactive fun at its best, but on a serious note, also a brilliant idea and one that I will emulate with my students. This combines practical learning with a bit of fun."

Tanagon Ashworth, of Accrington College, carried off the title of National Apprentice of the Year. Winner of the Northern Regional Heat earlier this year- and a finalist last - the talented apprentice was delighted with the accolade and already has plans to put his new-found Saniflo installation skills to the test:

"This competition has been excellent and I'm really pleased to have won," he says. "I'm really looking forward to qualifying as a fully-fledged plumber now. I've already got an opportunity with my employer to install a Saniflo on a live job; so I'm going to put my newly acquired skills in to practice very soon. It was a great idea to include it in the tests."

T: 020 8842 0033
W: www.saniflo.co.uk

5th June 2015