Danny McBean, 21, who works for Grants Dufftown, travelled to Manchester to take part in the national final of the SkillElectric competition.

The Forres Academy pupil was up against seven other finalists from across the country.

He made it there after beating off competition from hundreds of other entrants in earlier qualifying rounds.

When Danny was at school, he always showed a keen interest in STEM subjects and originally had plans to go to university.

But following in his dad Iain’s interest in electrical work he chose an apprenticeship. The former Applegrove Primary pupil said: “It stemmed from my dad being a college lecturer in electrical installation.

“In secondary school, I was interested in STEM subjects such as maths, physics and science.

“I was thinking about doing electrical engineering at university but decided it was more hands-on stuff that I enjoyed doing. So, I decided to go into a trade instead of university.”

Danny left Forres Academy at the end of his sixth year and started his apprenticeship with Grants of Dufftown in August 2020.

He then started his college work at UHI Moray where his dad was his lecturer.

Danny said: “Every year my dad has had people enter. We did a competition in class which I won and moved on to the next stage which saw me progress to the final.

“It was a bit strange at first having my dad as my lecturer and I didn’t know whether to go into class and call him by his name or dad. But I got used to it pretty quickly.

“It was useful but there were some days after working for 10-12 hours I’d just want to go home and switch off and Dad would be giving me advice.”