Before Christmas, the plumbing department at Reading College held its annual Copper Pipe Challenge. The students were tasked with making a household item made from a maximum of 750mm of copper tube and a maximum of 10 end feed capillary fittings.

All winners were entered into a social media competition to win a Bosch 240v drill, sponsored by Peter Booth (PB Plumber).

The competition raised a great deal of interest on social media, where it was seen by over 8,000 people. Votes were cast from plumbers and tradespeople all over the UK, Europe, America and Africa and the overall winner was Jamie Prince, who designed a copper keyring holder in the shape of a key.

Jamie said: “It was really exciting to follow the competition on twitter and see all the positive comments about my product. It was also really good to win a drill as it will help kick start my career.”

Enda McBrien Plumbing Lecturer said: “I would like to thank Peter Booth for getting in contact with us to arrange this competition, and for sponsoring the prize. It was a phenomenal gesture from someone we had never met nonetheless was very interested in what we were doing with our plumbing students. The competition provided a brilliant platform for our students to showcase their talents to the industry. It also allowed us to showcase the wonderful and creative teaching techniques we use here in Activate Learning. As a result, a lot of plumbing manufacturers and magazines have shown interest in what we do and are keen to work with us.”

While Peter Booth claimed: “I love the plumbing trade and am very passionate about promoting plumbers and the high standard of work we do. I especially like to encourage young people to take up the trade. So when I saw on Twitter the great and innovative copper creations Enda and guys at Reading College were getting their students to complete, I jumped at the chance to get involved Tand help out. I was blown away by the creativity and the high quality of work the students produced. the future of the industry is very bright, so well done all involved.”