The Worshipful Company of Masons, one of the City of London’s senior Livery Companies that is celebrating the 550th anniversary of its grant of arms this year, has produced a video demonstrating how it is still supporting stonemsonry today.
Click here to watch the video.
The video has been produced by the Company’s Craft Fund, which, as Livery member Michelle Turner explains on it, offers bursaries and grants for further and higher education and career-long contact and mentoring networks, while encouraging a high level of skills by providing prizes to students at colleges, through its Duke of Gloucester Awards scheme, and through the Master Craftsman scheme run by the Livery Companies' Craft Council. It also supports the Cathedral Workshop Fellowship and is currently supporting two students on the degree course who do not work for the Cathedrals, with the Fellowship having opened its courses to commercial companies. One works for Matthias Garn in York and one is self-employed.
Anyone seeking help with starting or developing their career in stonemasonry can use the website of the Worshipful Company of Masons to apply for a grant (click here). Anyone willing to make a donation to the Masons' charities can also find information about how to do so on the website (click here).
Adrian Munns, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Masons’ Company Craft Fund, says: “The film illustrates – to those already within the craft, those who may wish to enter the craft, and to the general public – the many ways in which the Company supports different aspects of training, education, career personal development and sustainability in the craft of stonemasonry through the Craft Fund.
“Of course, many others do sterling work covering key aspects of craft training and development, but from what I have seen and learnt, all of us need to continue to seek to get the message across about the importance of sustaining the use of stone and the craft of stonemasonry in our nation’s built environment.”
The four-minute video includes comments from students being helped by the WCM, including Jemima Finch-Darling, a student at the Building Crafts College in London, who says she would 'really struggle' financially without the help of the Livery Company. There is also an appearance from Morgan Edwards, at the City & Guilds of London Art School, who has also received a bursary from the Masons Company. He says the attraction of working stone is that he knows it will be around a lot longer than he will be.
They are just two of the 30 people the Craft Fund has helped in the past year to further their stonemasonry skills. The Livery supports the major stonemasonry training colleges of Bath, York, Moulton in Northamptonshire, the Building Crafts College in London, City & Guilds of London Art School and the Cathedral Workshops Fellowship.
The video is professionally directed by Michael Hewson of Electrofilm. It can be viewed on laptop, tablet and smartphone here. Please feel free to pass the link on to friends and colleagues and anyone thinking of starting training in stonemasonry.