Cabinet maker flies the flag for Northampton winning gold at World Skills Competition in Switzerland

James Boyes, aged 22, from Northampton achieved a gold medal at the World Skills Competition in Basel, Switzerland on Saturday October 15th.

James competed against the best from 19 countries in cabinet making after honing his skills since 2019 for this event. The World Skills Final takes place every 2 years and is held in different countries. It is like the Olympics for young people studying a vocational career. There are 68 different skills represented and range from floristry to aircraft maintenance, and 85 countries are registered to take part.

James who lives in Billing Arbours studied for a 3 year Diploma in Furniture Studies at Moulton College.

His parents Richard and Jill recall how enthusiastic he was to go to college and said he couldn't wait to get back after any holiday breaks in the course. They along with his younger brother Luke and 2 sisters Lois and Sarah made the trip to Basel to give him support and wave the flag for the UK.

Incidentally his youngest sister Sarah has also just started studies at Moulton College where she is dong the Animal Welfare course. James was able to start his studies at Moulton just after his 14th birthday. He had been home educated and found this method of study gave him more freedom to concentrate on a subject he really liked. In 2017 Moulton selected him to take part in the UK World Skills final in November of that year at the NEC, Birmingham, where he went up against other contestants from colleges in the UK. He won a silver medal for cabinet making then.

The World Skills final itself was due to be held in Shanghai, China in 2021 but due to the global pandemic of COVID-19 China decided to not host the event. Switzerland and Germany were two countries which stepped in at fairly short notice, using various cites for different disciplines.

James showed a keen interest in anything to do with wood working from a young age. Having acquired a number of hand tools, he wanted for his 6th birthday a real power drill which his Dad duly bought him, not without some misgivings. Only to find he then began to construct a small garden shed from reclaimed timber!

While at Moulton James found work experience working for the furniture builders FREM at Pineham, Northampton, he continued full time here after graduating from Moulton. More recently he has been employed by MONKEYWOOD kitchens near Banbury and is especially grateful to Tom his boss for the time he has allowed him off for his training.

One other interest James has is wooden boats and he was also a member of the Northants Sea Cadets for a number of years. He has partially constructed a 13' dinghy which currently takes up space in his Dads garage. Hopefully now that his competitions are over this can be completed and let it see some water.