Michael McEwan from City of Glasgow College and Mark Mitchell from UHI Inverness reflect on two of the painting and decorating competitions that have taken place this year.
The Scottish Association of Painting Craft Teachers (SAPCT) has a long and proud history of supporting, promoting and developing the craft of painting and decorating across Scotland. Established to bring together passionate teachers of the trade, the association has worked tirelessly to ensure the highest standards of skill and creativity are passed on to the next generation of painters and decorators.
From its early days, SAPCT has championed the values of craftsmanship, precision and pride in the trade. Today, it continues to provide a platform where students, apprentices and young professionals can showcase their abilities through competitions that highlight traditional skills and modern techniques.
NPA Competition, Fife College
This year’s National Progression Award (NPA) Painting and Decorating competition took place on 8 May at Fife College, Halbeath Campus. More than 20 competitors from colleges across Scotland took part in a vibrant display of skill, discipline and creativity. The event was a great success, with students demonstrating their dedication and the training they have received from their tutors. Competitions such as these also help the students to build confidence and improve speed and efficiency.
Thanks to all involved in making the day go smoothly and we would like to extend our warm congratulations to the winners:
1st: Leah Donnelly and Millie Scott (Fife College)
2nd: Spencer McPherson and Maxine Cairney (Fife College)
3rd: Ollie Fawcett and Ty Rennie (City of Glasgow College)
This was a fantastic effort from all who took part and the students were a credit to their colleges and lecturers.
Craft and Advanced Craft Competitions, Glasgow Clyde College
2025 marks the association’s 70th anniversary year and our annual competition on 12 June brought together painting and decorating apprentices and lecturers from colleges across Scotland to compete. Glasgow Clyde College proudly hosted the event, with more than 30 competitors from across Scotland, from Inverness to Dumfries gathering to demonstrate their talent.
The apprentices competed over five hours in two distinct painting and decorating events.
The Craft Competition is a team event, where apprentices compete in pairs, representing their respective colleges to complete practical tasks using the skills honed from their coursework and the experience gained as apprentices. This involves demonstrating their talents in setting out, free brushwork, paperhanging and other specialist decorating skills within the set time.
The Advanced Craft Competition sees apprentices compete individually and carry out a range of complex techniques including signwriting, graining and marbling, stencilling and hanging specialist wall coverings.
Both events highlight the incredible talent emerging in our industry and underlines the importance of
nurturing and celebrating the next generation of painters and decorators.
The competition is a celebration of skill and dedication representing the high standards that Scotland’s colleges and the SAPCT upholds across the sector, encouraging innovation and precision in traditional and modern techniques. It also provides a platform for apprentices to demonstrate the craftsmanship they’ve been developing through training and hard work.
For SAPCT, this event is at the heart of our mission to support and inspire the next generation of decorators and ensure that our craft continues to thrive with well-trained, passionate professionals at the helm.
Commitment
At the core of our competitions lies a commitment by the SAPCT to elevate the craft of painting and decorating.
The success of our competitions relies on the hard work and commitment of all our competitors and the gracious support of their employers. All our apprentices deserve recognition for their ability to demonstrate outstanding craftsmanship, while under the pressure of competition.
The Association wishes to offer heartfelt thanks to the host college Glasgow Clyde, Anniesland Campus, in particular to Principal and Chief Executive Jon Vincent for his kind hospitality and taking time out of his busy schedule to visit the workshops to speak to all the competitors. A huge thanks to Glasgow Clyde Lecturers Andrew Cornelly and Brian Hart for all their long hours of hard work in the weeks running up to the competition and making it all possible.
An extra special thank you to all our sponsors. Their donations of competition materials, prizes for our winners and gift bags for all competitors made it a great occasion.
A special thank you to our main sponsors Dulux Decorator Centre, Dulux Trade and AkzoNobel, particularly Nick Halton, National Contractor Manager, AkzoNobel, Scott Allan, Key Account Manager at AkzoNobel and Claire Eardley, Store Lead at Dulux Decorator Centre, London Road, Glasgow for all their help.
A huge thank you to Ian McAslan from Smith & Rodger for stepping in at the last minute to provide Aqua Scumble Glaze and Flow & Bond, which was put to good use by the apprentices. For many of them it was their first time using a Smith & Rodger product and the feedback was amazing!
Many thanks to Coral Tools for the kind gift of tools and brushes for all the apprentices competing. An extra special thank you to Trevor Dodds, Business Development Manager at Coral Tools. It was lovely to see you there on the day, talking to all the college lecturers present. Everyone mentioned how impressive they found the Headlock Pro Roller Frame 9”.
A huge shoutout to Chick Lawrie from C Lawrie Services for sponsoring first prize in the SAPCT Advanced Craft competition. Our winning Advanced Craft apprentice, Casey Gardner from Fife College won an amazing day of spray plaster training at Chick’s awesome training facility in Cowdenbeath.
Honourable mentions go to to all our other sponsors, tesaUK and Q1 for providing all the masking tape used on the day, Newmor Wallcoverings for providing wide-width vinyl. Packexe for providing floor protection. RODO Prodec, Hamilton Decorating Tools, Wrights of Lymm and many more for donating gifts and prizes. Without their continued generosity and commitment, the opportunity to inspire
and reward excellence would not be possible and the chance to build brand loyalty by placing the best tools, materials and equipment into the hands of the next generation of decorators would be lost.
SAPCT eagerly anticipates many more years of inspiring competitions, championing craftsmanship and upholding the legacy of excellence in painting and decorating across Scotland’s colleges. The organisation carries a long-standing legacy of dedication to the art and profession of painting and decorating within Scotland. Founded with the mission to unite and empower the educators of this craft, SAPCT has always focused on nurturing excellence, preserving traditional techniques, and encouraging innovation in modern practices.
See sites.google.com/view/sapct/home to find out more or to get involved.