York Minster plans to develop and extend its craft skills training facilities by creating a world class campus for research, education and training in craft skills.
York Minster is one of England’s 10 cathedrals with their own stonemasonry department. The 10 cathedrals work together on training through the organisation they have established called the Cathedral Workshops Fellowship, although its foundation degree course is now also open to masons (and other heritage craftspeople) working outside of the cathedral network.
Now, York Minster plans to develop and extend its craft skills training facilities by creating a world class campus for research, education and training in craft skills on the Minster’s 15-acre site.
This Centre of Excellence for Heritage Craft Skills & Estate Management came a step closer following a community referendum of residents in the Minster Precinct Neighbourhood Area, which showed a majority in favour of the Minster’s proposed £5million, fully funded project that is being co-ordinated by the York Minster Fund.
As well as the training centre, the project includes new visitor facilities, a new public square, enhanced public realm and green spaces, and a discovery and learning centre and museum.
Following the referendum, the Minster’s neighbourhood plan is being adopted by City of York Council as part of the statutory development plan for the city, and a planning application has been submitted for the work in the Minster Precinct to progress. A decision is expected before the end of the summer and, if consented, the work is expected to be completed in 2024.
The scheme, designed by the architectural practice Tonkin Liu, will provide new facilities for craftspeople, including York Minster’s stonemasons, and house and deliver training in modern techniques and processes to apprentices and students in York and further afield, working with cutting edge digital facilities alongside the ancient craft skills for which the Minster’s stoneyard is renowned.
Existing buildings within the Precinct will be re-ordered, re-purposed and renewed to provide new workspaces and associated facilities, enable greater engagement and interaction with the public around key crafts and trades, and facilitate improved links with education. The Centre of Excellence for Heritage Craft Skills & Estate Management will bring benefits including continuing the craft of stonemasonry and encouraging global learning and knowledge sharing, as well as being a shining example of best practice in managing complex heritage estates.
The vision for the Centre of Excellence is a key element of a plan that sets out a policy-led approach to creating a sustainable future for the Minster and its estate.
Craft skills training centre proposed by York Minster.
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Natural Stone Specialist
Alex McCallion, Director of Works and Precinct at York Minster, says: “It takes a multidisciplinary team of skilled heritage craftspeople and experts in their field to maintain and care for the ongoing cycle of repair, restoration, conservation and development of York Minster, its ancient buildings and monuments. Our existing stoneyard houses the complete range of craft and trade skills that are vital to achieve this.
“Yet despite this, the facilities available to our skilled workforce are constrained and inadequate, set against a backdrop of declining craft skills. We also recognise the need to keep pace with innovations and modern processes such as digital technology, data scanning and computer-aided design (CAD).
“The creation of a Centre of Excellence for Heritage Craft Skills & Estate Management will, therefore, not only enable the preservation and development of the ancient craft skills that have sustained the Minster over the centuries, it will also secure the long-term environmental, financial and heritage sustainability of it for future generations to enjoy as we do today.
“It will position York Minster as leading the charge for the preservation of ancient craft skills on the international stage, facilitating knowledge sharing and exchange programmes with partner cathedrals worldwide, including Washington, Milan and Trondheim, and will also have immediate economic and tourism benefits for York and the wider region.”
The British-made Trolex Air XS Silica Monitor, which measures the volume of deadly respirable crystalline silica in the air in real time, has won another award.
The latest recognition is a Gold Award for Best Product Development at the UK Business Awards, presented at an online ceremony on 7 July.
Previously, the Air XS from Trolex, based in Stockport, Manchester, was Highly Commended by the British Safety Industry Federation in the BSiF Awards in April and gained the ‘Best of Technology 2022’ Award at StonExpo / Marmomac in America in February. SiG (Stone Industry Group), which is selling Air XS to the stone industry in the UK and America, had made a feature of it on its stand at the American exhibition.
It is expected to be particularly attractive to worktop fabricators, who process high crystalline silica content materials such as engineered quartz and natural granites and quartzites, as well as to those working onsite sawing concrete and sandstone paving, both of which produce high levels of RCS.
There is a legal limit of exposure to respirable crystalline silica (RCS) over an eight-hour period of 0.1mm/m3 of air, but until now it has been difficult to measure the level of RCS without calling in expensive experts. Air XS makes it possible to monitor the air continually.
The unit that does the measuring is also portable, so can be moved around a factory or site to test the air in different locations. Most fabricators would be surprised how much of their factory exceeds the legal exposure limit, even when all processing is carried out wet.
Granite House in Preston, Lancashire, has become the first worktop fabricator to buy an Air XS (they cost about £10,000 each) from SiG. Granite House, which is a member of the Worktop Fabricators Federation (WFF) and fully supports its professional approach to stone fabrication, is always pushing to have the best environment for its staff, as demonstrated by its recent achievement of the quality management standard ISO 9001. It believes RCS is an issue waiting to bite worktop fabricators through fines and claims for compensation.
The UK Business Awards are judged by a panel of independent experts from across industry and Trolex faced stiff competition from entrants that included world leading companies in the category for innovative products.
Announcing the Gold Award, Chair of Judges Christina Melling said: “Trolex have spent nearly a decade perfecting the Air XS Silica Monitor, an incredible device that will save lives around the world by detecting silica so that silica inhalation and silicosis can be prevented.”
Steve Holland, Managing Director of Trolex, said in his acceptance speech: “We are delighted to have received this Gold Award in recognition of our efforts to develop an innovative product that has the potential to save lives. The competition was fierce, and we are proud to have come first among a strong field of candidates.”
“Our Gold Award reflects the confidence of the judges in the Air XS Silica Monitor as a product, and the opportunity for the growth and development of our business going forward.”
Great Britain is one of safest places in the world to work, but figures just released by the Health & Safety Executive (HSE) show 123 people died at work in the year to the end of March this year.
Construction once again recorded the highest number of deaths (although not the highest death rate) at 30. Agriculture, forestry & fishing had 22, so did manufacturing. Agriculture, forestry & fishing had the highest rate of fatal injury per 100,000 workers.
The three most common causes of fatal injuries continue to be falling from height (29), being struck by a moving vehicle (23), and being struck by a moving object (18).
At 123, the number of deaths is lower than during the 12 months to the end of March 2021 and is in line with pre-pandemic figures.
The long-term trend in deaths at work remains downward, although in the years before the coronavirus pandemic the rate had flattened out.
As well as those who died at work, those working managed to kill 80 members of the public. This is worse than the previous year, when the Covid restrictions kept people at home, but below the pre-pandemic level.
The release of the annual figures coincides with the 50th anniversary this month (July) of the publication of the landmark Robens report that led to the Health & Safety at Work Act two years later, in 1974, and the creation of the HSE a year after that.
Since then, Great Britain has become one of the safest places in the world to work, although HSE’s Chief Executive, Sarah Albon, says the latest figures show “we must continue to ensure safety remains a priority”.
She said as the figures were published: “Every loss of life is a tragedy, and we are committed to making workplaces safer and holding employers to account for their actions as part of our mission to protect people and places.”
The figures relate to work-related accidents only and do not include deaths from occupational diseases or diseases arising from certain occupational exposures such as respirable crystalline silica dust in stone workshops.
The HSE has also also published figures for Mesothelioma deaths up to 2020. Mesothelioma is a cancer that can be caused by exposure to asbestos. 2,544 people died from it in 2020. Many of them had worked in the construction industry.
It is a shocking number, but is in line with the average of 2,523 deaths over the previous eight years. Current mesothelioma deaths reflect exposure to asbestos that mainly occurred before the 1980s, so deaths from it are expected to decline during the next decade, reflecting the banning of making and using asbestos and the diminishing number of people exposed to it.
Fully qualified stonemason Samantha Peacock, who has a Master’s degree in the archaeology of buildings, has joined the conservation team of Cliveden Conservation at the Bath workshop. She will work on projects primarily (but not solely) in the south-west of England.
Samantha has spent 14 years working in heritage construction. She has an NVQ 3 in both banker masonry and heritage skills. She is also a trained stained glass conservator, having gained the skill with Holy Well Glass, boosting her overall understanding of building conservation.
Her career began with an apprenticeship at Wells Cathedral Stonemasons, working on different types of limestone and sandstone producing masonry and mouldings in styles from Gothic to Neo-Classical.
She gained a placement on SPAB’s William Morris Craft Fellowship scheme and an NHTG bursary at York Minster, where she helped restore the Great East Window and conserve the 14th century iconography of the statue of St Peter.
While in York, she completed her Master’s degree in the archaeology of buildings and went on to become a self-employed stonemason.
Notable projects include the conservation of 18th century coade panels of the Radcliffe Observatory in Oxford and working on masonry for the King’s Entrance on Nidaros Cathedral, Trondheim.
Most recently, Samantha was contracted by Cliveden Conservation to help conserve the statues to the West Front of Wells Cathedral.
Tom Flemons, Cliveden Conservation’s Bath Workshop Manager, says he is delighted to have Samantha on board. “We’re really pleased that Sam has joined us and look forward to her becoming a key member of the team. Sam’s existing skills will be put to full use on some of the wide range of projects with which we are associated.”
Cliveden has also appointed David Bloxam as Project Manager for the Stone Section of the business.
With a solid background in stone restoration and construction project management, David comes with a wealth of practical and organisational skills.
Having completed an HND in Historic Decorative Craft at Lincoln School of Art, David spent five years with DBR carrying out stone restoration and stucco before joining Priest Restoration.
He quickly progressed to Contracts Manager, running major restoration projects including the West Wing of Somerset House, Kensington Palace façade and Knebworth House.
David was headhunted to put a team together to restore the former home of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor near Versailles in France.
When he returned to the UK set up his own restoration business and set about restoring a 12th century private property.
For the next 10 years, he worked mostly on domestic properties, specialising in stonework, repointing and building limes, before becoming a freelance Project Manager for new builds and hotel buildings.
Eventually he became an Asset Manager working alongside clients such as Whitbread and the Landmark Trust.
He has now gone full circle and returned to the heritage sector, with his new position at Cliveden Conservation harnessing his knowledge and extensive experience of historic buildings, traditional craftsmanship and project management.
He says: “There is nothing more satisfying than returning something old back to its former glory, whether it is architectural or a vintage car (another one of my passions).
“Cliveden Conservation has some incredible projects, so this is a great opportunity for me to work with some of the UK’s finest conservators to deliver exceptional results.”
Burngate Purbeck Stone Centre in Dorset has been releaunched to continue training in the use of stone.
After a challenging couple of years due to Covid closures, the Centre has just published its summer programme, which includes a range of courses including geology, stone carving, lettering and masonry. You can find out more about them on the Burngate Centre website: burngatestonecentre.co.uk.
The Centre is run as a small charity that does not receive any external funding and the courses have to be self-supporting. However, Juliet Haysom, a trustee of charity, says that following consultation with Natural Stone Industry Training Group and CITB, the Centre is now offering professional training in support of the local Dorset stone industry. It believs that might be particularly beneficial now Weymouth College has closed its stonemasonry courses. “We're hoping we might be able to contribute to training via apprenticeships and 'upskilling' in due course, if we can fund this activity,” says Juliet.
Applications to QEST for funding of up to £18,000 to help you improve your skills are being invited between 11 July and 15 August.
Since it was founded in 1990, the Queen Elizabeth Scholarship Trust (QEST) has awarded more than £5.2million to 675 individuals working in 130-or-so different crafts.
And it continues to support its Scholars throughout their careers, often putting them forward for prestigious exhibitions and awards.
It defines craft broadly and welcomes applications from people involved in skills ranging from stonemasonry, thatching and jewellery design to glassblowing and millinery.
You can see some of the people who have benefitted from a QEST scholarship on its website, where you will also find details about how to apply to become a QEST Scholar.
And if you want a bit of help putting together your application, there are Zoom ‘How To’ sessions coming up about the submission process, with tips that will help you get your application accepted. These sessions will take place as follows:
Kreoo is an Italian company that makes tasteful furniture in marble. Its latest launch is a bathroom sink inspired by the bento box of the food industry.
The idea of the bento box came from Japan. It is a box containing other boxes that add up to a meal for one person.
The Bento washbasin for Kreoo came from designer Matteo Nunziati. Matteo’s most outstanding residential projects are the Bosco penthouse in Milan, winner of the prestigious RIBA Award for International Excellence in 2018, and a skyscraper penthouse at 432 Park Avenue, New York, that sold for $95million.
The sink has three elements inside the washbasin. The trays are different sizes and removable, so they can be arranged in various configurations. They can be used in direct contact with water. They can be used to put the soap in or store the bathroom accessories, perhaps.
The Benta Sink is currently available in one size only in nine varieties of marble.
Is it just what the bathroom has been waiting for? Perhaps one day all bathrooms will have sinks like this. Let us know what you think. You can leave a comment below.
Judging by the numbers enrolled at the three colleges involved in delivering the new English Trailblazer apprenticeship in stonemasonry, it is proving popular with the industry.
That’s not altogether surprising as companies from the industry were instrumental in creating the apprenticeship, as the government intended they should be when it came up with the idea of standardising apprenticeships through the Trailblazer scheme.
The idea of putting employers in the driving seat of training was given a further boost in April when the Skills & Post 16 Education Act 2022 (generally referred to as the Skills Act) finally completed its passage through Parliament and received Royal Assent.
The Act introduces new duties on colleges to review and publish how their education and training offer is meeting the skills needs of industry. And the Secretary of State gains new powers to intervene if providers are considered to be failing in this duty.
The government says the idea is to level up opportunities, making it easier for people to train and obtain the skills they need to secure well-paid jobs in industries with skills gaps, which construction consistently says it has and many stone companies complain of.
The Act requires all school pupils to be made aware of the wide range of career options open to them through apprenticeships, T Levels and other training, not just academic routes. And it makes student loans available for higher-level education throughout a person’s life so skills can be upgraded at any age.
Trailblazers
The development of the Trailblazer apprenticeships has been overseen by the Institute of Apprenticeships & Technical Education. Details of the Stonemasonry Trailblazer, with its six routes covering different specialities within the industry, can be viewed on the Institute’s website at bit.ly/StoneTrailblazer.
There are still some grumbles from the colleges about the level of funding the government has allocated (£11,000 a year, although the colleges hope this will be increased when it is reviewed); the fact it is a two-year Level 2 qualification (they wanted it to be a three-year course and say they have ended up with a level two-and-a-half squeezed into two years) and the fact that the final assessment will be carried out at the firms the apprentices work for rather than at the colleges.
The government insisted when it gave itself a monopoly on apprenticeships and set up the Trailblazer scheme that there had to be a final assessment. The original idea was that it should be some kind of exam, but as exams do not suit everyone the stone end-point assessments will take the form of a discussion about what the trainee has learnt and a review of a portfolio they have kept of the work they have carried out.
The aim is to have the final assessments carried out by skilled people from the stone industry familiar with the various routes that can lead to successful completion of the apprenticeship.
Those routes are:
Heritage Mason
Façade Preservation
Exterior Fixer
Interior Fixer
Banker Mason
Memorial Mason
End Point Assessors
The people assessing the apprentices are called End Point Assessors (EPAs). The stone industry is likely to need a fair number of them because stone companies are widely spread around the country. A call by Claire Wallbridge, the Training Officer of the Natural Stone Industry Training Group (NSITG) in May for people willing to take on the role brought forward six people. Anyone else willing to train and take on the role should email Claire on claire@nsitg.org.uk.
In order for the assessments to be fair and equitable, the EPAs will be required to ask the same questions of each student during a discussion element of about an hour. Those questions are currently being formulated. If anyone wants to make suggestions about what should be included, again they should email Claire.
Assessors have to be trained, and are paid during their training, just as they are paid for carrying out the end point assessments, typically over two days, although it is possible for some of the assessment to be carried out by video conference rather than face to face.
How much EPAs are paid depends on how much they have to do, says NOCN, which is the Stonemasonry Trailblazer awarding body that trains, appoints and pays for end point assessors. It does not quote a figure for how much it pays, but considers it generous.
The colleges involved with the Trailblazer apprenticeship in stone are Bath, the Building Crafts College in London, and York. Moulton College in Northamptonshire says it will be joining those offering Trailblazer training, but has not yet done so as this is written. The websites of the colleges are listed right, along with some other websites that might be useful.
The colleges are so far offering only some of the routes to the Stonemasonry Trailblazer. The Memorial Masonry route presents particular challenges for colleges, but the National Association of Memorial Masons (NAMM) might be able to develop this route itself.
Another requirement the government has placed on apprenticeships is that apart from the knowledge, skills and behaviour (KSB) requirements of the job, anyone who has not obtained English and maths qualifications at school will have to achieve a Level 2 qualification in the subjects during their apprenticeships.
For those with an education, health and care plan or a legacy statement, the apprenticeship’s English and maths minimum requirement is Entry Level 3.
Without English and maths, apprentices will not be able to enter what is called Gateway, which comes at the end of the apprenticeship and means the apprentice is considered ready for their end point assessments.
The assessments will determine whether the apprentice fails, passes or gains a distinction in their Apprenticeship. Sharon Street of NOCN says: “We’re not going out to fail anyone. We want to get to Distinction if we can.”
If an apprentice fails any part of the assessment, they will be able to retake just that part as long as they do so within three months. If they are not ready within three months, they will have to re-take the whole assessment – and the assessments have to be paid for by the company if the apprentice fails.
In Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, the apprenticeships are different. In Scotland you can obtain a Foundation Apprenticeship at school that can lead on to a Modern Apprenticeship and possibly higher education and a Graduate Apprenticeship. There’s a lot of useful information on www.apprenticeships.scot.
Wales also has various levels of apprenticeship, again starting with a Foundation Apprenticeship, then an Apprenticeship, then a Higher Apprenticeship and up to a Degree Apprenticeship. There’s more information on careerswales.gov.wales/apprenticeships.
In Northern Ireland apprenticeships are available at Levels 2, 3 and Higher Level Apprenticeships (Level 4 and above). There are Level 2 and Level 3 apprenticeships in stonemasonry available. Information can be found at www.nidirect.gov.uk/articles/occupational-profile-stone-masonry.
There is a cost involved in training people, although firms registered with CITB, whether or not they actually pay a levy, receive a grant (currently £2,500 a year) for each apprentice, plus £3,500 when an apprentice successfully completes an apprenticeship.
Other routes to training
Although the long-awaited Trailblazer apprenticeship has unblocked a log-jam of training caused by firms waiting for it to be adopted, apprenticeships are far from the only training route available. The colleges themselves, as well as a range of other training providers, offer courses leading to certificates, diplomas and NVQs.
Among the alternatives are those offered by Priestman Associates LLP, which has been a trusted trainer in stonemasonry for decades, helping to qualify the workforce. Mark Priestman, one of the partners, writes this magazine’s regular Training column and his father, David Priestman, was influential in the development of many of the qualifications available to the stone industry’s workforce.
Priestman Associates provides:
Short courses in conservation, heritage skills, facade preservation, stonemasonry and contracts supervision, and leadership. As a CITB Approved Training Organisation, Priestman Associates’ courses attract an attendance grant for CITB registered employers
CITB Specialist Applied-Skills Programmes (SAPs) in Level 2 Stone Fixing (exterior and interior) and Level 2 Façade Preservation (stone cleaning and restoring)
Priestman Associates provides employers with a route to qualifying their workforces by combining work-based mentoring, off-site training (20 days spread over a year to minimise disruption) and NVQ Level 2 assessment.
Both programmes are fee neutral to CITB registered companies.
CITB SAP in Level 3 Heritage Stonemasonry. Priestman Associates has specifically been supported by the Natural Stone Industry Training Group (NSITG) and Stone Federation GB in both its tender and delivery of this SAP
This programme is again fee-neutral for CITB employers. Learners must be employed for the duration of the programme and their employer must mentor them so they can produce a portfolio of evidence for the Level 3 NVQ in Heritage Construction Skills Mason.
Priestman Associates can support this programme throughout the four nations of the UK if interest is sufficient.
On-site assessment
On-site assessment is popular among experienced workers needing an NVQ to obtain a CSCS card appropriate to their level of skill. On-site assessment consists of the learner building a portfolio of competency, undertaking a recorded professional discussion and being observed at work.
Priestman Associates offers the following on-site assessments:
Level 6 NVQ, suitable for black CSCS Manager card applicants, in:
Construction Site Management: Building & Civil Engineering
Construction Site Management: Conservation
Construction Contracting Management
Level 3 NVQ, suitable for gold CSCS Supervisor card applicants:
Construction Contracting Operations General
Occupational Work Supervision Construction
Level 3 NVQ, for gold CSCS Advanced Worker card applicants:
Banker Mason
Heritage Skills Facade Preservation
Heritage Skills Mason
Level 2 NVQ, for blue CSCS SkilledWorker card applicants:
Mason: Banker
Mason: Cladder
Mason: Cutter
Mason: External Stone Fixer
Mason: Internal Stone Fixer
Facade Preservation: Cleaner
Facade Preservation: Restorer
Modular Pavement Instalment
Anyone who registers on a construction NVQ can apply for a red CSCS Trainee Card so they can get access to sites for the work covered by their NVQ.
Priestman Associates also offers training for using dichloromethane (DCM)-based paint stripper. It is illegal in the UK to buy or use DCM-based paint stripper unless the purchaser and user holds a Health & Safety Executive (HSE) certificate of competency, obtained by taking a one-day course followed by an HSE online test.
York Minster plans to develop and extend its craft skills training facilities by creating a world class campus for research, education and training in craft skills.
York Minster is one of England’s 10 cathedrals with their own stonemasonry department. The 10 cathedrals work together on training through the organisation they have established called the Cathedral Workshops Fellowship, although its foundation degree course is now also open to masons working outside of the cathedral network. And now, York Minster plans to develop and extend its own craft skills training facilities by creating a world class campus for research, education and training in craft skills on the Minster’s 15-acre site.
This Centre of Excellence for Heritage Craft Skills & Estate Management came a step closer following a community referendum of residents in the Minster Precinct Neighbourhood Area, which showed a majority in favour of the Minster’s proposed £5million fully funded project that is being co-ordinated by the York Minster Fund.
As well as the training centre, the project includes new visitor facilities, a new public square, enhanced public realm and green spaces, and a discovery and learning centre and museum.
Following the referendum, the Minster’s neighbourhood plan is being adopted by City of York Council as part of the statutory development plan for the city, and a planning application has been submitted for the work in the Minster Precinct to progress. A decision is expected before the end of the summer and, if consented, the work is expected to be completed in 2024.
The scheme, designed by the architectural practice Tonkin Liu, will provide new facilities for craftspeople, including York Minster’s stonemasons, and house and deliver training in modern techniques and processes to apprentices and students in York and further afield, working with cutting edge digital facilities alongside the ancient craft skills for which the Minster’s stoneyard is renowned.
Existing buildings within the Precinct will be re-ordered, re-purposed and renewed to provide new workspaces and associated facilities, enable greater engagement and interaction with the public around key crafts and trades, and facilitate improved links with education. The Centre of Excellence for Heritage Craft Skills & Estate Management will bring benefits including continuing the craft of stonemasonry and encouraging global learning and knowledge sharing, as well as being a shining example of best practice in managing complex heritage estates.
The vision for the Centre of Excellence is a key element of a plan that sets out a policy-led approach to creating a sustainable future for the Minster and its estate.
Alex McCallion, Director of Works and Precinct at York Minster, says: “It takes a multidisciplinary team of skilled heritage craftspeople and experts in their field to maintain and care for the ongoing cycle of repair, restoration, conservation and development of York Minster, its ancient buildings and monuments. Our existing stoneyard houses the complete range of craft and trade skills that are vital to achieve this.
“Yet despite this, the facilities available to our skilled workforce are constrained and inadequate, set against a backdrop of declining craft skills. We also recognise the need to keep pace with innovations and modern processes such as digital technology, data scanning and computer-aided design (CAD).
“The creation of a Centre of Excellence for Heritage Craft Skills & Estate Management will, therefore, not only enable the preservation and development of the ancient craft skills that have sustained the Minster over the centuries, it will also secure the long-term environmental, financial and heritage sustainability of it for future generations to enjoy as we do today.
“It will position York Minster as leading the charge for the preservation of ancient craft skills on the international stage, facilitating knowledge sharing and exchange programmes with partner cathedrals worldwide, including Washington, Milan and Trondheim, and will also have immediate economic and tourism benefits for York and the wider region.”
Student Jemima Finch-Darling on the newly released Masons’ Craft Fund video says she would ‘really struggle’ financially without the help of the Masons Livery Company.
Scholarships and bursaries
There are routes to training that provide financial support and can be beneficial as a status throughout a person’s career.
The Prince’s Foundation Building Crafts Programme, for example, is a fully funded eight-month course with a full scholarship covering the course fees and a monthly bursary of £1,000 to cover travel and living costs.
The Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings (SPAB) offers three or four William Morris Craft Fellowship places each year. There are no course fees and Fellows receive a bursary of £6,500 to cover basic travel and living costs. The York Consortium for Conservation & Craftsmanship also provides support to Fellows on application.
Both the above are for those who already have skills and want to progress them.
The Queen Elizabeth Scholarship Trust (QEST) does not provide the training but offers to fund those who can make a convincing enough application for a bursary. Again, this is to help those who have already been through basic training to advance their skills. QEST continues to support its Scholars throughout their careers. It is often approached to invite its Scholars to contribute to other endeavours, such as the John Smedley Craft Prize won by Zoë Wilson, pictured below. The Prize, worth £15,000, was open to QEST Scholars only.
Another source of bursaries for stonemasonry students is the Masons’ Livery Company, the Worshipful Company of Masons. It supports trainers, including those just starting out on a career in stonemasonry, through its Craft Fund charity. It has just released a video about the charity, which you can watch at bit.ly/WCMcraft.
Stone artist Zoë Wilson is to feature on TV as part of a Sky Arts programme called The Prince’s Master Crafters: The next generation.
It is a seven-episode prime-time reality series fronted by Jim Moir (Vic Reeves) featuring six different crafts. It started on 18 May at 8pm and Zoë’s contribution, with her student Charlie Gee, was aired on 15 June.
The final episode will see the crafters from the previous episodes, including Charlie Gee, visit Dumfries House, in East Ayrshire, home to The Prince’s Foundation, before taking part in a graduation that involves presenting their work to His Royal Highness Prince Charles at his home, Highgrove House.
All the work produced during the series will then be displayed at the new training base of The Prince’s Foundation at Highgrove.
Zoë says she did not get to meet the Prince, although she enjoyed meeting Jim Moir.
The TV appearance came about through Instagram. One of Zoë’s 77,000 followers drew her attention to an advertisement calling for craftspeople to apply to take part. So she applied – and admits she was excited to be included.
It could even be the start of a new career as there is now talk of another TV appearance. And Zoë admits she would encompass it enthusiastically “as long as I can continue to carve stone”.
Her TV appearance follows her success as the winner of the inaugural John Smedley Craft Prize, that meant some of her work was exhibited and went on sale at the John Smedley store in Jermyn Street, London, as part of this year’s London Craft Week (9-15 May).
John Smedley promotes itself as ‘the world’s finest knitwear clothing brand’. It regularly takes part in London Craft Week and this year approached Queen Elizabeth Scholarship Trust (QEST) to ask it to invite its Scholars to present works for the new John Smedley Craft Prize.
Zoë became a QEST Scholar after being supported by QEST during her study of stone carving at the City & Guilds of London Art School.
The whole John Smedley prize is worth £15,000, including £5,000 in cash and a £5,000 commission from John Smedley, as well as exhibitions in the John Smedley store in London and, later in the year, in a new store the company is opening in Kyoto, Japan.
There were plenty of QEST Scholars bidding for the John Smedley Craft Prize, from which five involved in various crafts were shortlisted. Their work was shown on the internet and the public was invited to vote, which about 8,000 did. The result was close, but the winner was Zoë. Her work in the exhibition included original works in British stones – Welsh Slate, Corsehill sandstone and Portland limestone – as well as casts in Jesmonite.
The commission from John Smedley will involve the geometric patterns that are a hallmark of Zoë’s work being produced as coasters or place mats, with Zoë’s designs reproduced on Lincolnshire limestone by a CNC at Cranbourne Stone of Stockbridge, Hampshire. John Smedley will package the items and sell them from its stores.
Genie UK, which makes mobile elevating work platforms (MEWPs), has been fined £270,000 with £165,175 costs following the death of a man when one of its platforms fell over on to the M25.
Reading Crown Court heard on 27 June that the man who died was Rick Jeager-Fozard, an employee of Kimberly Access Ltd. He was carrying out a routine pre-delivery inspection on a MEWP on 5 June 2013. He was on the platform of the MEWP when it extended to an unsafe angle and fell on to the motorway.
An investigation by the Health & Safety Executive (HSE) found that the device had become unsafe because of a miscalibration of its secondary boom angle sensor. The boom started to extend even though the boom had not been raised to the necessary angle. It was found that the MEWP’s secondary boom had raised to an angle around six degrees lower than required. The boom extended beyond its safe working limit and the MEWP tipped over.
The miscalibration occurred through incorrect data being manually manipulated and uploaded to the machine via a laptop using password protected WebGPI software.
The carrying out of warranty repairs on the machine during this period, including granting access to the WebGPI software, fell within the conduct of Genie UK Ltd’s undertaking.
Genie UK Ltd of Grantham, Lincolnshire, pleaded guilty to breaching Section 3(1) of the Health & Safety at Work Act 1974.
HSE inspector Stephen Faulkner said afterwards: “This was a tragic and harrowing incident. Modern high reach MEWPs rely on accurate data to ensure they extend and operate safely and steps should be taken to ensure the process of calibrating sensors is correctly followed.
“Companies should be aware that HSE will not hesitate to take appropriate enforcement action against those that fall below the required standards.”
