The O2 is one of the biggest arenas in Europe and will lend itself perfectly to the Opening and Closing Ceremonies for WorldSkills London 2011. The decision to use The O2 will enable WorldSkills London 2011 to create an exceptional visitor experience. It will also showcase one of London's landmark venues and offer a different perspective from the main competition venue at ExCeL London.

ExCeL London is a multipurpose venue which has the flexibility and space to easily accommodate the diverse range of requirements that a WorldSkills Competition demands. ExCeL London has hosted over 2,000 events since its opening in 2000, attracting people from over 200 different countries and high profile events such as the G20 Summit in April 2009. The exhibition centre was picked by WorldSkills London 2011 from an extensive list of venues, with world class facilities, easy access for visitors and a reputation for hosting successful events as major factors in the decision making process.

Phase Two of ExCeL London, a £160 million expansion programme will create new, amazingly versatile spaces that will sit alongside the existing facilities. It is due for completion in early May 2010, which is a testament to the venue's continuing success.

We are very excited to be working with both The O2 and ExCeL London to bring you the most inspiring and interactive WorldSkills Competition ever.

Sponsoring WorldSkills London 2011 is part of City & Guilds' vision of encouraging vocational excellence, rather than just competence. For years, City & Guilds have done this through their own awards scheme - Medals for Excellence - and recently they have piloted Star Units, which encourage learners to exceed simple competence by reaching specified higher standards. The attainment of this sort of excellence in turn allows people to excel at their jobs and fast-track their careers, something that is at the very heart of what City & Guilds aims to do for its learners - to give them absolutely the right skills for work, now and in the future. It's bound to be good for your chances in business or promotion if you can say you're up with the best in the world.

Joe Massie was one of the medal winners in Calgary. He says: "WorldSkills gave me the confidence to say 'I'm the third best in the world at what I do'. I've put in a lot of effort, but I've also got so much more out of it - it's the best thing I've done." As a 14-year-old, the only place in Joe's hometown, Huyton, that would give him a weekend job was the local florist. He discovered his flair for flower arranging and took a City & Guilds Level 2 in Floristry to give his career a solid technical foundation. Six years on and Joe has won a Bronze medal at WorldSkills Calgary 2009 and was awarded the title of RHS Young Chelsea Florist of 2009. He is now a senior florist and makes a living taking commissions from businesses, shops and private clients.

We are not alone in our ambitions. Many organisations share the desire to help develop young people and their skills, to benefit the individual, society and the UK economy. It is essential that we work together to maximise effort and the benefits of hosting WorldSkills London 2011.

We are currently talking to over 50 organisations. These range from Regional Development Agencies (RDAs) and the Institute of Education Business Excellence to The Prince's Trust and the Greater London Authority, from our colleagues in the Devolved Administrations and the Association of Colleges (AoC) to LOCOG and London Underground. The Event serves as a hook to bring together organisations with a common goal. They are committed to working together with us to ensure we deliver an outstanding event and lasting benefit for London and the whole of the UK. The response from our stakeholders has been an inspiration and we are enjoying working with them.

Our partners and sponsors, such as City & Guilds, Honda and Learndirect, have been playing a significant part in helping us get our messages out to their customers and stakeholders. To recognise the support of all these bodies, we have developed a 'tool kit' for organisations to use. This includes bespoke logos, promotional articles and advertisements with many more things planned. We will be in touch with our partners and sponsors soon with more information about how you can access these assets, and help us promote WorldSkills London 2011.

If your organisation is passionate about skills and would like to be involved in WorldSkills London 2011, please contact us.

The UK Skills garden, entitled: "Growing World Class Talent: celebrating the workforce of tomorrow", will be created to promote excellence in vocational education and training and also to illustrate how greater investment in skills and development will help lift UK industry out of recession. The garden's design was chosen on merit by the RHS for inclusion in this year's Chelsea Flower Show and will showcase the wide range of skills required to construct an outdoor space suitable for 21st century living. The garden will be judged in the Urban Garden category at the Show.

A team of talented young people, all under the age of 25, will build the UK Skills garden from scratch using their expert skills, which include: landscape gardening, bricklaying, electrical installation, cabinetmaking, plumbing, floristry and stonemasonry. All the skills represented in the Chelsea garden are also present at the biennial WorldSkills Competition, the world's largest international skills competition for young people.

The team creating the UK Skills garden will comprise of past UK WorldSkills Competitiors as well as upcoming, talented individuals who are looking to secure a place in Team UK for the next WorldSkills Competition, which comes to London from 5th - 8th October 2011.

The Mayor of London Boris Johnson also spoke at the reception congratulating Team UK on their achievements.

WorldSkills is a totally unique event.  Last month, in front of over 150,000 spectators Team UK battled it out over four days of tough competition.  In total there were 900 young people from 46 nations competing in skills ranging from bricklaying, IT and engineering to floristry, hairdressing and cooking.  Team UK achieved the UK's best results yet - placing the UK 7^th in the World (four places up from the last WorldSkills Competition in Shizuoka, Japan), winning a total of three Gold medals, six Bronze medals and 14 Medallions For Excellence, which are given to competitors who achieve at least 500 points, deemed the world class standard.  Independent education foundation Edge is the Premier Supporter of Squad and Team UK, as part of its commitment to raising the status of practical and vocational learning.

Former England Rugby player Matt Dawson MBE said: "Meeting Team UK has been a great experience for me.  I know personally how much training and effort is needed to be the best of the best and Team UK can all proudly say that they have achieved this.   There are lots of similarities between training for a sport and training for WorldSkills and I hope that their achievements will help show the country just how talented these young men and women are and encourage other young people to get involved.  What they have proved is that it's well worth it.  I wish them every success in the future."

Simon Bartley, Chief Executive of UK Skills, who manage Team UK said: "I had the honour of being able to see Team UK in action at WorldSkills Calgary 2009 and what they achieved was nothing short of amazing.  The dedication the whole team put in before the competition was outstanding and it has certainly paid off.  We couldn't be more proud of the team.  They have deservedly today been honoured for what they have achieved.  I send my congratulations to them all and hope that their hard work and results inspire many more to take part in skill competitions and indeed come and see the WorldSkills Competition in action themselves when it is held in London in October 2011."

Skills Minister Kevin Brennan, said: "Team UK are among the most highly skilled young people in the world. I'm so glad I was able to meet these young men and women and see their great achievements first-hand.  Young people like this are key to the future of our economy. They clearly demonstrate the benefits of investing in training.  Team UK should all be seen as fantastic role models to other young people in our country."

Anyone of any age can enter the WorldSkills UK competitions, but it doesn't stop there.  If you were born on or after 1^st January 1989, and enter this year, you could also be in with the chance of representing the UK at the skills equivalent of the Olympics - WorldSkills, when it is held in London in 2011.  For competitors looking to enter Mechantronics, Aeronautical Engineering and Engineering Challenge at WorldSkills London 2011, they must be born on or after 1^st January 1986.  The WorldSkills Competition, which is the biggest international skills competition in the world, takes place every two years.  This year is the last chance for you to get involved in WorldSkills London 2011 as competitors invited to compete in UK finals held before 5^th July 2010 may have a chance of being selected for inclusion in a shortlist for the international competition.

The largest skills competition in the world is coming to the UK in 2011 and the event will see almost 1200 competitors from 50 countries compete in skills ranging from landscape gardening, IT and cooking to hairdressing, engineering and auto body repair.  The UK is currently ranked 7^th in the world, after achieving three gold and six bronze medals at this year's WorldSkills Calgary 2009. To maximise the potential of the WorldSkills London 2011 event UK Skills need urgent financial support in the region of £15 million from the business community.

Richard Sagar, 22, from Langholm, Scotland who won Gold in Electrical Installation and Adam Smith, 22 from Orpington, Kent who won Gold in Cooking at this year's WorldSkills urged business leaders to work with training providers and educational establishments to lend their support to the development of skills in the UK by supporting WorldSkills London 2011.

Skills competitions allow businesses and training providers to work together to lift standards of performance, promoting world class skills and international competitiveness.

London will host the international WorldSkills Competition from 5^th-8^th October 2011.  For information or to pledge your support for the competition please visit:  www.worldskillslondon2011.com .