REASEHEATH College florist Anna Eite is officially the most talented floristry student in Britain after winning gold at the WorldSkills UK national finals.

Anna, 20, who lives in Acton, Nantwich, took the top title in the advanced section against strong competition from the best students from colleges and training providers nationwide.

The taxing competition was held over three days in front of thousands of visitors at The Skills Show in Birmingham, the country’s biggest showcase of vocational skills and careers. Tasks included designing a floral hat, belt and chair, , making up a planted container and partaking part in a team project.

Anna recently completed her Level 3 Diploma in Floristry and was supported and trained for the competition by Programme Leader for Floristry, Sue Poole.

“This was a fantastic result and we are all so proud of Anna. She was a wonderful representative for Reaseheath and for the floristry department,” Sue said.

A former pupil of Brine Leas School, Nantwich, Anna is currently teaching leisure flower arranging classes at the school. She plans to set up her own home-based floristry business “‘Anna Flora”’.

“Competing in front of so many people was great experience. It was good to see how well I could work under pressure and how hard I could push myself,” Anna added.

Earlier this year, Anna was a member of the student team which won Reaseheath the title of RHS Tatton Park Floristry College of the Year. The team will compete for the national title at Chelsea Flower show in 2015.

The Nantwich college’s horticulture department was also proud to support Richard Carden as he battled it out in the WorldSkills UK garden landscape finals at the show. The Skills Show. Although Richard, a Level 3 Extended Diploma in Horticulture student, just missed out on a medal hHe achieved high scores and has been invited to continue with competition training. One of just six students to be selected for the national finals, Richard, who lives in Tattenhall, met the challenge to build a 2m x 6m garden designed by award-winning designer Alexandra Froggatt.

Course m Manager, Tracy Walker said: “Richard did a fantastic job considering the pressure he was under to perform at the very highest level.”