Exclusive
Report World Slating and Tiling Championships,
2000
First Americans to Attend
International Federation of Roofing Trades Congress since
1968
UK Team Takes the Gold Medal Under the Mentorship
of John Ball
The American group, above, from the left,
included Stacy Moore, Doug Lodge, Brent Ulisky, Umberto Perlino,
Jeanine Jenkins, Kim Zorn, Barry Smith, and a friend (Joe
Jenkins took the photo). Below, most of the Americans in
the roofing group are attending the gala banquet, sitting
with Scottish counterparts.
A group of nine
Pennsylvania slate roofing contractors, friends, and wives
traveled to Edinburgh, Scotland last November to attend the International Federation of Roofing Trades (IFD) Congress,
and the IFD World Championship of Young roofers, 2000, the
first Americans to attend the Congress in 32 years.
The highlights of this excursion included a talk on Scottish
Natural Slate, during which a mention was made of a slate
roof dating to 1643 still in use today in Scotland. Many
world class traditional roofers from various countries
were in attendance, including the UK, Scotland, Ireland,
Germany, South Africa, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Hungary,
Austria, Slovenia, and others. All of these countries competed
in the 13th World Slating and Tiling Championships for
Young Roofers.
A number of roofing schools exist in Europe and the best of
their roofing students and apprentices are chosen to represent
their respective countries in this competition. Each of
about 16 national teams consisting of two young roofers
(maximum age approximately 24), who do the actual roofing
work, and one Mentor who advises them during the competition,
compete against each other. Each team had to install roofing
materials on an indoor roof mock-up at Teleford College
in Edinburgh. The roof mock-up consists of an “L” shaped
roof divided into three sections: a hipped end section
on which Redland clay plain ceramic tiles had to be installed
on battens; a central section with a valley that could
be done in any material or style chosen by the team; and
a gabled end section that had to be slated with Burlington
slates of random widths and diminishing courses, on battens.
Over a three day period, each team had one day to complete
each section.
The
2 man UK team (above) and the roof mock-up in the background.
The
UK team's finished tile "laced valley."
Although all of the teams exhibited exemplary craftmanship,
the UK team, under the mentorship of John Ball of Northern
Ireland, took the Gold Medal. This year’s IFD Congress
and World Championship for Young Roofers will take place
in Vienna, Austria, on 4-6 October, 2001. More information
can be obtained by emailing: dialoge.life@aon.at, or by
contacting the National Federation of Roofing Contractors,
24 Weymouth Street, London W1N4LX , United Kingdom (Phone:
020 7436 0387; fax: 020 7637 5215; www.nfrc.co.uk). Next
year’s IFD Congress and World Championship is scheduled
to occur in Dublin,
Ireland in 2002 and is sure to have
American participation.
