Team UK Blog - Will Torrent
The Big Kick Off!
September 4, 2009
Will Torrent - Confectionery/Pastry Chef
WorldSkills Shizuoka 2007
Last night saw the official opening ceremony of WorldSkills Calgary 2009 and what a show they put on for us and the 51 participating countries! Dancers, singers, extreme motorcyclists, fireworks, and a Kiss tribute band amongst other acts highlighted Calgary’s excitement at holding the 40 th WorldSkills Competition. However, the most spectacular part of the ceremony was when Team UK walked on stage with the Union Jack waving in the air, cheered on by an extremely noisy army of UK supporters – a very proud moment for us all.
Today saw day 1 of the competition kick off with a huge number of school children and members of the community viewing the competition. With the added number of people in the halls and the increasing temperatures the atmosphere is certainly very hot, and although at times a little draining, seeing the members of Team UK do their thing certainly re-energises you as they are all completely ‘in the zone’ and are flying through their test pieces doing the nation proud!
Tonight saw UK Skills host a reception in the main grandstand to celebrate the next competition: WorldSkills London 2011. Featuring speeches from UK Skills Minister, Kevin Brennan MP, Chris Humphries CBE, the night saw all guests celebrate London as the next host nation to WorldSkills, only a year before London hosts the next Olympics.
By the end of tomorrow, we’ll be half way through the competition and all the test pieces will have begun to take shape. We will, of course, keep you up to date with all things WorldSkills and on the progress of the fantastic Team UK- stay tuned!
