Three collected gold medals and seven took second or third places when hundreds of student competitors gathered for the annual battle of the stylists from educational establishments all over the south-eastern region.

 

Last year, students from CNWL’s hair salon in North End Road, Wembley Park, scored three regional wins and two second places, and one of them, Sherine Roberts, went on to become national Afro-Caribbean champion – the fourth time the College had won the title since 2001.

 

This year every regional winner from CNWL is under the age of 30, three are aged 16 and one is aged 15. Now they are keen to take on all comers at the national final of the Association of Hairdressers and Therapists (AHT) Championship in Blackpool on March 22.

 

CNWL’s youngest age group is from the school links programme in which pupils spend half a day a week at the College. In the School Links Creative Bridal category, Wembley High School pupil Nyeeka Hylton from Harlesden took gold, and two pupils from Queen’s Park Community School – Nayara Coimbra and Jasmine Thomas – took 2^nd and 3^rd place.

 

The First Year Blow Dry category was won by Mara Pereira from Dollis Hill, who reached the gold standard by enrolling at the College full-time after being on the school links programme from John Kelly School last year. Her runner-up was Stacey Brennan, 23, from Neasden.

 

Both Nyeeka and Mara come from families of hairdressers. But both had little time for preparation. Said Nyeeka: “I was nervous but my mum said I’d be ok, and she was right.” Portuguese-born Mara was so surprised to hear her name read out that she stumbled on stage and dropped her prize. Said Mara: “I only practised the style for one day. At the competition, I just pretended I was at College, and I won – woo hoo!”

 

The third gold medal winner was a Level 2 male student who also studies ESOL English – Lithuanian Azam Hamraev, 21, of Brent Cross. Azam easily took top place in the Ladies Progressive category with a pre-prepared cut and colour style blow dried on the day. Azam comes from three generations of barbers in his native Vilnius, but enrolled at the College to extend his skills to include women’s hair.

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Level 3 winners were Tanvi Patel (2^nd) and Sin Jee Ng (3^rd) in the Level 3 Skills Challenge, Magdelena Bushati (3^rd) in the Ladies Evening category and Roachelle Campbell (3^rd) in the Afro-Caribbean category.

 

Head of hairdressing Peter Stonebanks, who accompanied students to Bexley last month with Level 3 lecturer Ellie Zaeni, said he was thrilled with the results.

 

Added Peter: “It was hard work, but we are delighted with our success. Ten places in various categories must be our best ever result. Once again, we got more wins than any other College – a fantastic achievement.”