Great-Granddad did it, granddad did it, uncle does it, the cousin does it, and now Bryleigh Scannell does it. For the Scannells, plumbing is in the blood. Fourth-year apprentice Miss Scannell, 27, is the latest from her line to get into the plumbing trade — and it would come as no surprise that her partner is also, in fact, a plumber. ‘‘Plumbing is quite common in our family . . . but I’m the first female to pick up the tools.’’ When she was about 22, Miss Scannell was working in an admin role at a plumbing firm. She said office work was never for her though. ‘‘I can’t sit still and I want to be hands-on, so I asked them ‘can I have a go on the tools?’ And they gave me a shot. ‘‘Three weeks later, they offered me an apprenticeship.’’ In her first week of her apprenticeship with Foleys, Miss Scannell strolled into the building as the only girl while wearing a pair of pink ugg boots. The incident is still bought up to this day. She stayed motivated by getting to see things go from simple plans to the real thing. Apprentice plumber Bryleigh Scannell is hard at work after winning a Bunnings Women in Apprenticeship award last week. PHOTO: PETER MCINTOSH She is now four years into the apprenticeship and is due to finish at the start of next year. Miss Scannell and her partner both work at Foleys, and she said they looked after them both very well. Work at Foleys was due to get very exciting with the news that they have been awarded $50m in hospital contracts, so she had no plans to fly the nest once fully qualified. However, one day in the future she and her partner would like to go into business together. ‘‘At the moment I’m really happy.’’ Thanks to her passion, Miss Scannell was presented with a Bunnings Women in Apprenticeship award last week. The awards are designed to celebrate and support the next generation of women making their mark in trades and helping pave the way for others to follow. ‘‘I don’t usually cry, like I’m not really a sensitive person, but when they read that out, I was kind just ‘oh, this is insane’.’’ She won a prize pack valued at over $12,000 which included tools, vouchers and essential products for a plumber to have in their kit. Miss Scannell said when she began four years ago, seeing another woman was ‘‘very, very rare’’, but now every job site she was on there were sometimes multiple women. ‘‘I spoke at Queen’s High School end of last year to tell the girls that you don’t need to be a male to be in the trade and you don’t have to be strong and muscled.’’ Miss Scannell said at Foleys there were now four woman on the tools, which she was over the moon about. She hoped to see more girls taking up trades in the coming years.
