The Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), which has so far allocated more than £3billion to 15,000 heritage projects, has now set aside £4million to help pay for training in heritage skills such as stonemasonry, dry stone walling and flint knapping, as well as what they describe as "essential customer services skills" at heritage sites.

To distribute the money, they have set up the Training Bursary Scheme. The aim is to address the problem of traditional heritage skills being at risk of dying out.

HLF says there are fewer than 40,000 craftsmen in the UK today with the necessary specialist skills to maintain the country\'s historic heritage - a heritage that includes more than 500,000 listed historic buildings.

Some of the skills necessary for projects are not available in the UK, it says. For example, craftsmen were flown in from mainland Europe to lay granite setts for a paving project at the Tower of London.

There will, of course, be those in the UK who would say they could have carried out the work, but the architects felt they needed to import the skills.

A wide range of organisations, including local authorities, development agencies, professional and education bodies and community and voluntary organisations, will be able to apply for Heritage Lottery Fund bursaries to train employees (see below for contacts).

Training will be undertaken in the workplace by master craftsmen or other experts in relevant fields.

Sharon Goddard, Heritage Lottery Fund policy adviser for education, says: "It\'s important we take care of the nation\'s historic environment because without it we risk losing our sense of self and identity.

"These new training opportunities will help young people looking for an apprenticeship as well as people who may be thinking of a second career in a different field of work." David Griffiths, a dry stone waller from Yorkshire, says of scheme: "Dry stone walling is in a skills crisis because we have hardly any young people entering the profession plus no official apprenticeships to offer to them."

The Dry Stone Walling Association, with a membership of 1,200, has been successful in spreading the appreciation of the vernacular variations of stone walling, although most of the people who attend its courses to learn the skills are not school-leavers.

"We are desperately trying to find ways to alleviate this lack of fresh, young talent," says David.

In order to apply for a bursary you have to get an expression of interest in by 21 October.

To find out more, visit HLF\'s website, or call Clare Bridgewater on Tel: 020 7591 6024.