The Heritage Crafts Association welcomes the new BBC2 Mastercrafts series which highlights traditional British crafts – but warns of a crisis in the continuation of these skills. Tonight (12 February 2010) sees the broadcast of the first episode of Mastercrafts presented by Monty Don. Each week three TV ‘apprentices’ are put through their paces by the country's leading practitioners of traditional trades like woodcraft, metal work, thatching and stone masonry.
Robin Wood, the last professional pole-lathe bowl turner in the country and Chair of the Heritage Crafts Association, said:
“There is a growing interest in traditional crafts, and Mastercrafts shows the dedication that is needed to master these wonderful techniques. Unfortunately the Mastercrafts ‘apprenticeships’ are not matched by formal training opportunities in reality.
“Many of the skills that form part of our living heritage are endangered because there is no way for makers to pass their knowledge on.”
Despite the resurgence of public interest in the crafts featured in the series, many of our nation’s heritage crafts, from boat building to scissor making, now find themselves teetering on the brink of extinction due to lack of training schemes.
Some crafts have declined so much that only one craftsman remains – once this knowledge is gone, it will be lost forever.
Even the high-profile crafts featured in the series, such as blacksmithing and green woodwork, face a crisis in how they pass on skills, with training institutions like CoSIRA and Hook Park College (where two of the Mastercrafts experts learned their trades) no longer operating, and government apprenticeship schemes unworkable for the small niche businesses that characterise this highly productive sector of Britain’s workforce.
Mastercrafts airs at 9pm on Friday 12 February on BBC2.
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