Machinery, tools and consumables supplier D Zambelis was delighted with the enthusiasm among stone companies for its first open days at its new showroom and demonstration area at its headquarters in Essex.

The event was held 19-21 May. It was supposed to have been held last year, but was postponed because of the Covid pandemic. With restrictions now lifted, there was enthusiasm from the trade for getting together at a live event again.

Jasper Zambelis said afterwards: “As it was our first event we were a little unsure if people would be willing to travel great distances to come and see us, and we were expecting more local companies to attend. So we were truly surprised and pleased to see people who had travelled up to four hours to visit us from Leeds and South Wales, even though the weather was not on their side.”

During the three-day event, there was a range of machinery, tools and consumables on show and being demonstrated, giving visitors an opportunity for hands-on experience of the Achilli Gold, four and five axes versions of the Terzago CUTe saw, the Omag CNC Workcentre (DigiMill) and the five-axes Omag Digitale saw.

Also being demonstrated were the latest versions of CAD software from EasyStone and Taglio.

Visitors were able to view the range of tooling the company supplies, with a 10% off special offer during the event for those who wanted to take the tools away with them after having all their technical questions answered.

And, of course, there were snacks, drinks, and a buffet for visitors to enjoy.

Some visitors brought along details of projects they were working on to ask about the machinery and tools (and their settings) D Zambelis would suggest for the successful completion of those particular jobs.

On the Saturday, when the sun finally decided to make an appearance, even more people visited. And as it was the final day of the event D Zambelis drew the raffle.

The prizes and winners were:

• Slab Lifter 50 – Almaz Worktops (Harlow)
• Makita power tool – MA Granite (Hatfield)
• Cutting Blades – Lincolns Kitchens & Granite (Brighton)
• Polishing Pads – Natural Stone by Safa Ltd (Bedford)

There were orders signed for machinery sales during the event and some customers who could not make it in May because they were too busy are now asking for more open days so they can take part. D Zambelis says there will be announcements about that in the near future.

The winner of the grand raffle prize, the Slab Lifter, Almaz Worktops commented: “The event was extremely well organised and we enjoyed seeing all the newest products from D Zambelis. As always, the Zambelis family were very welcoming and spent their time showing their products and answering all our questions.

“The biggest surprise came on Saturday when we were contacted by Jasper Zambelis, to let us know that we had won the grand prize. We still cannot believe our luck. We will certainly join the next open day event!”

Another visitor, Jamal Faisal from Stone Range, said: “It’s great for D Zambelis to have an open day like this. It’s good to see their entire range and capabilities.”

dzambelis.co.uk

Engineered stone manufacturer Caesarstone has launched an online health & safety and professional standards training programme for stone fabricators in the UK.

It includes a virtual training centre with topics covering health & safety, professional know-how, and value adding.

You can take a look at it at bit.ly/master-of-stone, although to access the training centre you need to contact your local Caesarstone representative or email info@caesarstone.co.uk to receive a company code and ID number. 

“We are delighted to launch the Master of Stone training programme in the UK,” says Amir Reske, Managing Director of Caesarstone in the UK.

“Since we set up our UK business more than five years ago we have promoted health & safety industry best practice to our customers, starting with the Caesarstone University.

“As our business has grown, we have moved this training material online in order to make it more accessible to those working in the industry.

“Master of Stone is the next step in this evolution and the e-learning modules have moved the industry forward again.

“The development of the program is an investment in our wider industry, and Caesarstone is committed to establishing a safe working environment for everyone operating within it."

The Master of Stone e-learning modules cover areas such as air monitoring, water with machinery, respiratory protective equipment, and worktop installation safety.

They can be easily accessed on any PC, laptop, tablet, or mobile phone. Globally, around two thousand fabricators have already completed the training modules, which can be achieved in under an hour.

Having completed the course you receive a Master of Stone certificate.

By following simple guidelines, stone workers fabricating high silica content quartz and granite worktops and vanities can be kept safe.

Amir: “We have to keep working in such a way that protects and promotes health & safety in the workplace and the long-term sustainability of our industry, which is reliant on the raising of professional standards and the protection of all those working throughout the supply chain.

“A race to the bottom, in any sense, inevitably leads to compromises on health & safety, material quality, craftsmanship, service and industry professionalism, which in turn will set the fabrication industry on a declining path.”

Caesarstone believes there is a real need within the industry for clear, concise information, which is why it decided to provide a platform offering health & safety and professional information for fabricators.

And it is not just for UK companies. Caesarstone is based in Israel and launched its Master of Stone programme for international consumption in 2019, beginning with the publication of a Good Practice Guide that details how people fabricating worktops can maintain a safe environment.

This was handed out to fabricators working with Caesarstone in conjunction with Safety Data Sheets containing further technical and safety information. More than 650 UK fabricators have received these publications.

Since then the Master of Stone programme has evolved and now consists of several components, including a website, online training centre, certification, and educational and awareness material, all of it available free to everyone in the industry, not just those who work with Caesarstone.

The goal is to provide educational information and training, presented in a straightforward, clear and digestible manner. And it is available in 10 languages.

Through Master of Stone, Caesarstone emphasises that safety is a crucial part of a fabricator's professional skills.

The online training centre contains nine training modules, which take about an hour to complete. They can be seen on mobile phones, desktop or laptop computers.

www.caesarstone.co.uk

With the right computers, software, CNC machines and attitude you can build yourself a Gothic monastery.

That’s what Carmelite monks in America are proving 2,300m up in the Rocky Mountains of Wyoming. They couldn’t afford to have the new gothic stone monastery they wanted built by a commercial firm, so they bought themselves a bridge saw and a Prussiani CNC and are building their own.

They have just finished carving the stone for a Chapter House, an ornate chapel where the Roman Catholic monks profess their vows to live a life of obedience, chastity, and poverty. They have created a website with videos of how they worked the stone and tracking their building of the monastery which you can visit at carmelitegothic.com.

The monks had intended to contract the stonework to a commercial company, but Brother Isidore Mary, the 30-year-old monk in charge of construction, says: “When we heard the cost, we almost had a heart attack. There was no way we could afford it, so we decided to figure out how to build the monastery ourselves.”

In 2013 the monks purchased the Prussiani CNC and computers with CAD software for designing the stone and sending DXF files to the Prussiani. After several months of trial and error, they began carving ornate masonry and statues for the building.

Brother Isidore Mary: “Nobody is building authentic gothic buildings anymore. We had to rediscover the architecture principles from dusty old books and then apply them to the digital realm.”

One monk creates digital models of the stone elements and others convert it into DXF files for the Prussiani. Others lay out the blocks of Kansas limestone, sawn on the monks' bridge saw, on the Prussiani’s 4m wide carving table.

Once programmed, the CNC works 24 hours a day until the job is finished, leaving the monks to get on with their strict life of prayer and devotion, although they do finish the stones by hand using pneumatic chisels when the stone comes off the CNC.

The monks say they chose to build in Gothic style because they believe the soaring ornate stonework speaks to the soul and reflects some of the perfection of God.

“It’s our offering to God,” says Brother Isidore Mary. “Even though building in Gothic presents many challenges, we are determined to overcome each obstacle. We believe God deserves to be worshiped in a fitting place.”

Below are scenes from a video the monks have posted on You Tube.

The Hamish Ogston Foundation is continuing its support of the Cathedrals’ Workshop Fellowship (CWF) and is awarding £2.3million over a three-year period from 1 September this year to 31 August 2025.

The CWF runs a foundation degree course for training conservation craftspeople, most of whom have been stonemasons. It was founded for the benefit of the then nine (now 10) cathedrals with their own workshops, but now also accepts students from commercial companies.

The partnership between the Cathedrals’ Workshop Fellowship and the Hamish Ogston Foundation is helping to secure the futures of English cathedrals and the craftspeople who care for them.

The grant will fund the employment and training of 29 stonemasons, carpenters and joiners and one electrician from the 10 CWF cathedrals currently undergoing the training.

The grant forms part of a five-year partnership project between the Hamish Ogston Foundation and CWF in which the Hamish Ogston Foundation is contributing £3.5million to expand heritage craft training and maintain the flow of skilled craftspeople at English cathedrals, despite the devastating impact of Covid-19.

The funding means heritage skills continue to be passed from one generation to the next through the CWF’s wide-ranging and comprehensive training programme.

The Workshop Fellowship gives trainees the opportunity to learn their crafts from the best heritage professionals in cathedrals across the country as they help to conserve and maintain these magnificent buildings.

Frances Cambrook, The CWF’s Executive Director, says: “The funding and support we have received from the Hamish Ogston Foundation over the past two years has enabled our cathedral craft training scheme to withstand the shock of the pandemic.

“With this new round of funding from the Hamish Ogston Foundation cathedrals will be able to plan ahead and recruit new craftspeople for at least the next three years.

“We are incredibly grateful for this support from the Hamish Ogston Foundation and the opportunity it gives our cathedrals to continue to develop the specialist craft and conservation skills they need.”

Robert Bargery from the Hamish Ogston Foundation says: “We are delighted to continue working with CWF to help ensure that England’s finest buildings are properly conserved for future generations.

“Our cathedrals may look immortal but they require constant care and that can only be delivered if we maintain a flow of people with the necessary craft skills.”

Jordan Cliffe from Canterbury Cathedral, who will shortly complete the first year of his CWF foundation degree course, says: “The best part of the CWF degree programme is visiting different cathedrals and experiencing how differently the workshops operate. This helps to apply new techniques to our own workplace. This experience is only available to me due to the funding opportunities provided by the Hamish Ogston Foundation.”

The Hamish Ogston Foundation is a UK registered charity that provides strategic support for heritage, health and music initiatives, with the objective of securing long-term viability for projects and promoting sustainable employment.

There's more about training in stonemasonry in the next issue of Natural Stone Specialist magazine. Don't miss out, subscribe and receive every issue... click here.

Cosentino City London, the Silestone, Dekton and Sensa company’s architecture and design flagship showroom, is hosting events, workshops and talks throughout Clerkenwell Design Week (24-26 May).

Cosentino City is at 28-32 Old Street, in the heart of the Clerkenwell architectural and design community – and the festival.

Throughout the three-day event, Cosentino’s ‘Dekton Drop Boxes’ will be sited around Clerkenwell and visitors will be asked to dispose of their maps of the event in them so they can be recycled into an artwork by Emmely Elgersma.

The drop boxes are letterbox style bins clad in Dekton Trilium. They were designed in conjunction with Clerkenwell Design Week. Cosentino is encouraging visitors to post their used event maps into the bins so they can be re-purposed as art. Visitors will also be invited to post their business cards for automatic entry into a prize draw with a meal for two worth £200 at Maison Bab as the main prize.

The point of the bins is to emphasise Cosentino’s commitment to sustainability, promoting what the company claims to be carbon neutral Dekton. The position of the drop boxes will be shown on the maps.

After Clerkenwell Design Week, Cosentino is collaborating with sustainable artist Emmely Elgersma to turn the maps collected into a papier mâché sculpture that will be displayed in Cosentino City throughout the summer before moving on to the Museum of London.

Olivia Ashley, the Manager of Cosentino London, says: “We are really proud to be sponsoring this year’s festival, and our Dekton Drop Boxes illustrate what Cosentino is all about – not just during this festival – but in everything it does and looking way into the future.”

During Design Week Cosentino London is hosting a talk about the company’s commitment to sustainability on Tuesday 24 May, presented by Vice President Global Product Valentin Garcia. Talks will take place at 12pm and 7pm, with the evening event including a guest appearance from Lee McCormack from sustainability software company MyGlobalHome. Lee will be sharing his insights about what constitutes a smart home.

Cosentino’s Global Head of Retail & Innovation, Cristina Mariaca, will give a presentation about a new digital platform, C Top, created specifically for interior designers on Wednesday 25 May at 2.15pm and 6pm.

Cosentino is also hosting terrarium workshops alongside Leafage on Wednesday and Thursday. Leafage is running the workshops that will explain how terrariums are known to improve wellbeing through nature.

And to show how Dekton can be used for building façades, demonstrations will be running alongside German-based Kiel at the Cosentino showroom using the latest Dekton Slim 4mm thick surfaces. They take place on each of the three days at 11am, 12pm, 2pm and 4pm. Keil will explain what undercut technology is all about in ventilated facades and demonstrating its drilling technique for an undercut anchor.

For a bit of fun, Cosentino has teamed up with Pedibus to clad a 12-seater bar bike with Dekton. The bike will be available each day from 12pm until 3.45pm to take groups of architects and design professionals on a tour of Clerkenwell.

And at 6pm on Thursday, the final evening of Clerkenwell Design Week, Cosentino City will be hosting an end of festival party with The Bar Guys using sustainable ingredients to create imaginative cocktails, Spanish-themed canapés by Chef Elliot Johnson Paul and music from guest DJ Millie Cotton.

To book a place at any of these events, talks or workshops, email Olivia Ashley at londoncitycentre@cosentino.com. Spaces are limited, so it’s first-come-first-served.

Cosentino City London, 28-32 Old Street | Clerkenwell | London | EC1V 9AB

This showroom is a space for architects, designers and trade professionals to meet, be inspired, and see how Cosentino’s product range of surfaces can be used. Dekton, Silestone and Sensa by Cosentino natural stone decorate the space, offering visual and tactile aids. A hands-on sample room uses touch screen technology so the slab display interacts with screens to show how different colours and textures look, both in detail and in applications. Colour palettes can be selected using clever sensor technology, creating a 3D mood board. Cosentino City London can be used as a workspace for inspiration, meetings and project planning.

Hard landscaping product supplier Talasey has moved into new head offices in Scunthorpe that it intends should become ‘a UK centre of excellence in the landscaping industry’.

Talasey came into being as Natural Paving Products, selling a range of natural stone that it took care to ensure was ethically sourced. It is still proud of its ethical sourcing and still sells natural stone, but with its product range expanding into other areas came the name change in 2018.

Now it says its move to the new four-acre site in Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire, follows strong and consistent sales growth over several years that meant it had outgrown its head office near Doncaster.

The new site not only accommodates the company’s increasing headcount but is also intended to facilitate the company’s ambition to create a UK centre of excellence for the landscaping industry.

The new premises are called St Vincent House and include conference facilities seating more than 70 people, spaces for entertaining and nine en-suite rooms so visitors can stay overnight.

Outside, the site includes about 1.5acres of mature landscaped gardens that showcase Talasey’s portfolio of landscaping products.

CEO Mark Wall says: “We have very fond memories of the site in Doncaster because that’s where our business – which started as Natural Paving Products (UK) Ltd and evolved into Talasey Group – became established as a leading UK supplier of quality, ethically sourced natural stone landscaping products.

“As part of our move to the new site, we had a vision that St Vincent House would be an amazing space that all of our customers can use for business meetings, training and development – or even to send their customers to us to look around the display areas.

“I’m very proud that everyone at the Talasey Group feels that we have achieved that."

Talasey Group today has five core brands: Natural Paving (natural stone landscaping materials); Vitripiazza (porcelain paving and cladding), Pavetuf (installation and maintenance products), Luxigraze (artificial grass and accessories) and Piranha (composite decking, fencing and cladding). 

Mark: “The business has grown significantly, and we needed a site that could not only accommodate the next stage of our development but also be somewhere where we could realise wider ambitions – both for our business and for making a positive contribution to our industry.”

Talasey initiatives include the Talasey Training Academy (TTA), and with the new training facilities at St Vincent House it will resume running accredited landscaping courses for a wide range of industry professionals, including students, installers, designers, landscape architects and builders merchants, through both classroom-based and practical training.

Mark says the new headquarters will be the platform for the company to realise its ambitions, because it will be at the heart of building a better culture at Talasey Group.

talasey.co.uk

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CITB has published its first Business Plan since Tim Balcon became Chief Executive, setting out how it will approach its role in supporting the industry.

The plan shows how it will be spending £764.3million on training in construction up to 2025.

2022-23

• £233.2 million - Total investment
• £134.6 million - Direct employer funding
• £84.9 million - Providing products and services
• £13.8m - Other support

2022-2025

• £764.3 million - Total investment
• £466.8 million - Direct employer funding
• £255.2 million - Providing products and services
• £42.4m - Other support

Tim Balcon says: “While progress has been made, the construction industry has faced significant challenges in recent years, including inflation, rising fuel prices, the pandemic and Brexit, to name a few. In many ways the industry is still experiencing and feeling the impact of these events, which we know has shifted priorities greatly and pushed the demand for skills to the forefront.

“It’s essential now more than ever that efforts are focused on helping to alleviate those pressures and address the key needs of industry.”

CITB says its new Business Plan responds to construction’s anticipated need for an additional 50,000 workers every year, which training can help recruit. It says its initiatives are aimed not only at inspiring people outside of the industry to choose construction as their career, but also upskilling and retaining those already working in the industry.

The three challenges set out by CITB are:

• Responding to the skills demands
• Developing the capacity and capability of construction training provision
• Addressing future skills needs.

To get a better understanding of what the future skills needs will entail, CITB plans to spend £2.1million on getting a better understanding of construction’s changing environment as it responds to the requirement for Net Zero carbon emissions, digitisation and modern methods of construction. It says this research will help focus CITB’s work on interventions that have the greatest impact and shaping new training and standards development.

Following the findings of January’s Rethinking Recruitment report, CITB’s Business Plan details how it will invest in supporting apprenticeships and building bridges with further education.

Initiatives such as SkillBuild, work experience, taster events, and the currently 350-strong STEM Ambassador network aim to inspire more young people than ever to consider construction as a career. In addition, CITB will collaborate with employers on the Go Construct website and promote the wide range of careers construction has to offer.

CITB wants to create even more accessible routes into construction, focusing on apprenticeships alongside on-site experiences and the future rollout of occupational traineeships. It is making £60.3million available in direct grants to employers who take on apprentices.

CITB also wants to make it easier to access the right training at a time and place that is right for the trainee. To that end it will:

• Invest £25.9million in direct training delivery to enable the continuation of core skills training and training provision in niche and at-risk skills through CITB’s National Construction Colleges
• Support more than 300,000 Health Safety & Environment tests over the next year, ensuring there is good availability of tests in as many locations as possible, bringing assurance to employers that their workforce can keep themselves and those around them safe
• Offer enhanced grant support for priority skills such as rainscreen cladding and drylining.

You can read and download the full Business Plan here.

There's more about training in stonemasonry in the next issue of Natural Stone Specialist magazine. Don't miss out, subscribe to receive every issue... click here.

Last week saw the first of a seven part reality TV series called The Prince’s Master Crafters: The next generation on Sky Arts.

The Prince in the title is Prince Charles, who, in the final programme of the series, will choose a winner from among the students who have made various art/craft items in the previous six episodes. The 15 June episode features stone artist Zoë Wilson and her student Charlie Gee.

The programme is fronted by Jim Moir (Vic Reeves). In the final episode when the work is judged by the Prince, the student crafters visit Dumfries House, in East Ayrshire, home to The Prince’s Foundation, before taking part in the ‘graduation’ that involves presenting their work to His Royal Highness at his home of Highgrove House.

Once the programme is finished, all the works will be displayed at the new training base of The Prince’s Foundation at Highgrove.

Zoë says unfortunately she did not get to meet the Prince, although she enjoyed meeting Jim Moir and making the programme.

The TV appearance came about through Instagram. One of her 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 a second series. Zoë admits she would encompass it enthusiastically if it did lead to more TV work, but adds “as long as I can continue to carve”.

Zoë’s appearance on TV follows her success in the inaugural John Smedley Craft Prize, which saw some of her work being shown in a selling exhibition at the up-market John Smedley store in Jermyn Street, London, as part of London Craft Week (9-15May).

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 when she was being supported by QEST during her study of stone carving at the renowned centre of carving excellence, the City & Guilds of London Art School.

The whole John Smedley prize was said to be worth £15,000, including £5,000 in cash and a £5,000 commission from John Smedley, as well as exhibitions in the stores in London and, later in the year, in a new store the company is opening in Kyoto, Japan.

There were plenty of takers, from which five involved in different 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 that was included in the exhibition involved original carvings in British stones – Welsh Slate, Corsehill and Portland – as well as casts in Jesmonite.

The commission she will receive from John Smedley will involve the geometric patterns that are the hallmark of Zoë’s work, being produced on coasters or place mats. Although Zoë will design the patterns, they will then be digitized and etched into Lincoln limestone by Cranbourne Stone of Stockbridge, Hampshire, using its CNC machine. John Smedley will package the items and will sell them from its stores.

And when the exhibition of Zoë’s work goes to Japan later in the year, Zoë will also be there, possibly demonstrating her work and signing packs of the place mats or coasters. During London Craft Week she was in the Jermyn Street store for a drinks reception to talk about her work with guests of the retailer.

Swindon in Wiltshire is faced with a dilemma: what to do with the stones of a Victorian Romano Classical portico from the town’s Baptist Tabernacle that was taken down more than 40 years ago.

The stones of the portico are currently languishing under a ramp in a refuse recycling yard, but whenever someone suggests a way of rebuilding the portico, others seem to object to it.

The latest proposal is that the portico should front a new art gallery in the town and a website is proposed to ascertain public opinion.

The story of the Bath stones of the portico goes back to 1978, when Sir John Betjeman, Nikolaus Pevsner and the Victorian Society petitioned the Department of the Environment to prevent the demolition of the stone-built temple erected in 1886 as the Baptist Tabernacle in Swindon, Wiltshire. Sir John Betjeman said the building was as important to Swindon as St Martin in the Fields is to London.

However, the Secretary of State at the time, Labour’s Peter Shore, decided not to intervene and the Tabernacle was demolished to make-way for a mixed use development incorporating a new smaller Baptist church known as the Pilgrim Centre. But the stone of the Portico was dismantled and sold.

It was originally going to be rebuilt as the front of a grand mansion being proposed at that time, but planning permission for that house could not be obtained. The stones were sold on to another wealthy individual who also intended to build a mansion but, again, planning permission was refused. The stones were eventually purchased by Swindon Borough Council in 2006.

In 2008 it was proposed that the portico should be rebuilt on a site adjacent to its original location as a feature of an art gallery that was a Section 106 condition of a new shopping centre, the Modus, that was being developed. But in 2009, as the full effects of the credit crunch banking crisis started to be felt, Modus Swindon Ltd was put into receivership and the shopping centre scheme shelved.

Swindon Borough Council continues to moot ideas for the re-use of the Portico, but without a strategy based on conservation principles, such schemes are unlikely to succeed or stand-up to scrutiny, says Michael Gray, BA(Hons)(ARCH)Dip Arch RIBA, who has written a dissertation about the stones of the portico for a Masters Degree in the Conservation of Historic Buildings he is working towards.

He says he is currently in consultation with Swindon Council’s Head of Culture & Heritage about using the stones, which have an historical and cultural value to the town.

In his Masters thesis Michael Gray describes the history and detail of the Tabernacle Portico and reviews the relevance of current conservation charters to it. He examines the Modus approach and a subsequent proposal to rebuild the portico in the Lawn, a public park in Swindon. It is a proposal he supports.

Today the Lawn is mainly used for dog walking and a cut-through for cyclists, but in his Masters paper Michael Gray says it is unfortunate that one of the most significant historical sites in Swindon, which dates back to the Bronze Age, is now neglected and under-used. He says to site the portico on the eastern terrace of the Lawn would bring renewed interest to the park and could form a focus for rejuvenation.

He writes: “By making the Portico an independent structure here minimises the likelihood of historical uncertainty and reinstates the portico as an important piece of architecture on the Swindon skyline.”

He says Monopoly recently promoted its popular board game by producing a Swindon edition, in which it substituted traditional London place names in its original game for Swindon equivalents. Mayfair was swapped for ‘the magic roundabout’, a notorious local traffic junction in Swindon.

Michael says: “Although the roundabout substitution was a bit tongue-in-cheek, it disguises the fact that there is no clear alternative for the Mayfair spot in Swindon. I suggest that a reconstructed tabernacle portico on the eastern terrace of the Lawn would be that replacement, being once again a building of significance and importance to the town of Swindon.”

Michael told Natural Stone Specialist magazine that rebuilding the Tabernacle portico would cost at least £1million, probably more. Each column would have been hand-made, so identifying the right stones in the right order for the rebuilding of each column would require some effort.

He says he would like to see the portico fronting a new art gallery and museum, as an existing building used for the purpose that was closed by Covid is not in good condition.

Birmingham is dotted with what are known as ‘erratic boulders’, which are large boulders of stone deposited there by glaciers during the ice age. They were dropped there because Birmingham was at the southern end of the ice sheets that covered the north of Britain.

Lately, the Herefordshire & Worcestershire Earth Heritage Trust, based at the University of Worcester, has decided to map these stones through the Heritage Lottery-funded Erratic Boulders Project and make a feature of them to create trails for people to walk and explore.

Chairing the Herefordshire & Worcestershire Earth Heritage Trust is geologist Professor Ian Fairchild, Emeritus Professor and former head of department of Earth & Environmental Sciences at the University of Birmingham.

Professor Fairchild is the brother of Jamie Fairchild, a founding Director of Restorative Techniques, which makes and supplies stone cleaning products including ThermaTech superheated water cleaners and VorTech abrasive cleaners.

The association proved helpful to the Erratic Boulders Project when it wanted to clean the boulders on two of the trails it created, with Jamie stepping in to help his older brother free of charge.

A hundred years ago, the public were excited to learn about the erratic boulder relics of the Ice Age, but lately these geological oddities have been disappearing.

Now, thanks to the National Lottery, the Herefordshire & Worcestershire Earth Heritage Trust, and a partnership of local organisations that includes the Black Country Geological Society, Birmingham Open Spaces Forum and the Lapworth Museum of Geology, seven geological cycle and walking trails around the Bromsgrove and South Birmingham area are being created to highlight the boulders. There is also a geological timeline in Frankley being created. The first trail opened on 23 April. The next is 14 May. The others will follow.

The project has identified some previously unidentified erratic boulders and all the boulders are being given the greater prominence they deserve as relics of Birmingham’s ancient history.

Restorative Techniques’ cleaning of the boulders was carried out in Woodgate Valley Country Park (identified as Trail 4a on the website) and Balaams Wood (Trail 5a). Both trails are now ready to go, but will not be formally launched until August and September (respectively) this year.

Cleaning the stones was generally a matter of removing accumulated dirt, although in one case a boulder had been painted to make it more visible and act as a bollard.

earthheritagetrust.org/birminghams-erratic-boulders-project