WaterSafe's recently-launched 'Get Girls Plumbing' campaign has received a boost from CHOICE training in Dagenham, east London, which is giving four women the chance to undertake free training to embark on a career in plumbing.

CHOICE, a boutique training centre providing courses in a number of trade sectors, is giving away four of its City & Guilds Level 2 diplomas in plumbing studies to women interested in taking up the trade.

To be in with a chance of securing one of the four free places, female plumbers-to-be simply need to write 100 words outlining why they would like to win a place on the course. The winners will then be selected by a judging panel made up of the board of directors from the college, and announced in time for the next full term. Entry is completely free, and there are no age restrictions.

The activity follows WaterSafe's 'Get Girls Plumbing' campaign, which has shown that over a third of homeowners would actually prefer a female plumber. Despite this, however, women remain severely underrepresented in plumbing, constituting just one per cent of the industry as a whole. As testament to this, of the 150 students currently placed at CHOICE, just six are female.

Julie Spinks, director of WaterSafe, said: It's fantastic to see our '

Robert Tye, business development director for CHOICE Training, said: "We wholly support the 'Get Girls Plumbing' campaign. With just one per cent of plumbers currently female, it is time we all come together to help dispel the gender myth one and for all. We are increasingly seeing a strong interest in the market for female plumbers and have found that, for the few female plumbers we have trained, they have had a really good success rate in finding employment after the course. We would encourage anyone women in the local area thinking of a career in plumbing to get in touch now – together we can really help to get girls plumbing.”

All four selected winners will also receive training including marketing and business tools.

For more information on Get Girls Plumbing please visit www.watersafe.org.uk

For more information regarding CHOICE training courses please visit www.choicetrainingltd.co.uk