Pictured above: William Davis apprentice plumbing master, Pete Weston gives Chelsey White some last minute advice on site at Stephenson College

18 year old plumber Chelsey White, a female apprentice at Loughborough-based contractor and developer, William Davis Ltd, is already enjoying a series of early successes in her chosen career.

Following her selection to represent William Davis and Stephenson College in the Midlands heat of SkillPLUMB, a Summitskills initiative to promote standards and expertise across the plumbing industry by inviting the nation's most promising tradespeople to compete in a variety of tasks, Chelsey was then selected for the short listing of the UK skills. The first round involved a three day period of practical tasks and assessments, after which the final six were announced, Chelsey being one of these. The finalists will then take part in the national UK skills final, with only one being invited onto the UK team for the WorldSkills London 2011 Skill competition. 

As a result of her progress in the SkillPLUMB competition, Chelsey has also been invited to audition for Young Plumber of the Year, part of the BBC3 series Young Talent of the Year, which searches for the UK's most talented young professionals from their fields. If selected, Chelsey will compete against three other plumbers in a series of tough challenges of increasing difficulty whilst being assessed by a panel of expert judges. 

Speaking about Chelsey's successes, Brian Bradford, training and personnel manager at William Davis said: "Chelsey is another excellent ambassador for our apprentice scheme. Her successes are a real testament to her individual commitment to work as well as the efforts of her apprentice master, Pete Weston and her tutors at Stephenson College.

"We are obviously extremely proud of Chelsey's achievements to date and wish her the best of luck in the next stages of these competitions."

Chelsey, from Coalville in Leicestershire, has just completed her second year on the William Davis apprentice scheme and is currently working on site at Plumtree Grove in Syston.