Reading stonemasonry company A F Jones has been selected to demonstrate its craft at this year’s ‘Traditional Skills in Action’ event at Dorchester Abbey in Oxfordshire during the August bank holiday weekend (23-25 August).

The team from A F Jones will form part of a workforce of 14 traditional crafts coming together to give visitors a glimpse into medieval skills that continue today. The others involved include blacksmiths, glass stainers, weavers, spinners and dyers. Visitors will have an opportunity to ask questions and have a go at some of the crafts themselves.

Sue Dixon, Event Organiser, says: “The craftspeople are continuing the skills that would have been involved in the building of our medieval abbey and in the monastic life of the Augustinian Canons. Their demonstrations will illustrate the creative talents of earlier generations while highlighting their importance in the present.”

A F Jones was founded in 1858 and is still a family run business that has traded across five generations. Current owner, Angus Jones, says: “This is a tremendous opportunity for us, not only to meet and introduce people to a skill that we are passionate about but also to entice newcomers into the industry by raising awareness of our apprenticeships scheme.”

A F Jones’ memorial masonry company, E T Sheppard, will also be at the event showing its lettering and memorial decoration skills.

http://www.dorchester-abbey.org.uk/trad-skills-2010.htm