Neil Bentley-Gockmann is extremely proud of pivoting the focus of WorldSkills UK’s from one big showstopping annual competition event to loftier ambitions around “tackling vocational snobbery”.
But he still misses the buzz the big national skills competition final used to give him in the pre-pandemic years.
Bentley-Gockmann, who is stepping down as chief executive at the charity next month after seven years at the helm, still gets “emotional pangs” when he recalls the bustling event.
Last May, he was at a Pet Shop Boys concert at Birmingham’s NEC and couldn’t resist dragging his husband across to the venue’s empty conference hall where, pre-Covid, around 100,000 young people showcased their skills over three days each year.
