A FORMER beauty apprentice of Weston College was awarded a medallion of excellence at the WorldSkills competition, in London.

Hayley Wright, aged 20, of Bridgewater beat a great deal of UK competition over the last three years to be honoured as a member of the British squad. She won joint eighth place at WorldSkills.

She said: “It was the most amazing experience of my life. It was physically and mentally tough but the atmosphere was mind-blowing.

“The last three years of competing at UK Skills and WorldSkills has been a life changing roller-coaster experience.”

The WorldSkills competition is the largest international skills competition where young people from around the globe compete to be the best of the best in their chosen skill.

Hayley competed in the four-day skills test, completing 22 hours as more than 200,000 visitors watched.

Around 5,500 young people competed to be chosen for the British squad and Hayley was congratulated at the House of Commons and at Buckingham Palace.

Weston College’s head of apprentices in beauty, Tanita Veal, said: “Hayley is an inspiration to all our apprentices. I’m delighted she is coming back to the college to work with competition training.”