Business crafts way to carve out future for young

FOR more than a century the crafts and skills of a family of Yorkshire stonemasons have been passed down through the generations.

But this wealth of knowledge is in danger of being lost across the country as young people do not have the opportunity to be trained by experts.

The family firm is now leading a plan to create an academy in Yorkshire where people could learn craft-based skills such stonemasonry, carving, cabinet making and stained glass working.

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J Rotherham, based in Holme-on-Spalding-Moor, East Yorkshire, is appealing for other businesses and craftspeople to come forward to create a professional community which could run a training centre.

The plan has been developed because of concerns that the lack of an official training route and the high costs of master craftsmen taking time away from their day job in order to pass on skills to younger colleagues could mean expertise within the industry being be lost forever.

The vision for the academy is being led by J Rotherham’s marketing director Anna Buckley.

She warned that without a new generation of craftsmen and women the skills needed to preserve Britain’s heritage would be lost.

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Ms Buckley said: “In the past apprenticeships to skilful craftsmen were sought after and often funded by the parents of the apprentice.

“The master craftsmen would be paid to take on an apprentice as it was recognised that they were handing something of value to the young person – the chance to learn a trade.

“Today companies and individuals are expected to dedicate their own time towards training but also pay the unskilled individuals for the training.

“Apprenticeships have been introduced over the past couple of years to address this problem but in our case the majority of the work we do and the skills needed do not fall into any actual apprentice category.”

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This means the company has to do on-the job training which takes up time of the more skilful members of their team.

The firm believes the other factor contributing to the growing skills shortage is the fact that talented artistic students have been encouraged to take up academic subjects at university rather than more practical options.

They also say that no degree level courses exist for many of the craft skills their business needs.

Now they aim to tackle this problem by helping to launch a training centre based on land the firm owns on the Old Airfield site in Holme-on-Spalding-Moor.

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The plan is for it to be run separately from the company as a social enterprise with profits made being ploughed back into its teaching and learning. The firm is considering how the scheme would be funded.

J Rotherham’s vision is for students to be offered a combination of both classroom-based and practical lessons with young people sitting a general foundation year before deciding which skill they wished to develop further.

The range of courses and training on offer is dependent on how many craftspeople and businesses get involved but the organisers want to be able to have stone carvers, stonemasons, cabinet makers, woodworkers, blacksmiths and stained glass specialists working and teaching within the academy.

Their plan is for more than just a training centre.

A report promoting the idea of the J Rotherham Academy of Art and Craftsmanship describes it as a “community of arts and craftspeople” who would be producing their own work as well as training apprentices.

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The report suggests students could be recruited from across the surrounding areas around Goole, Hull and York.

The firm has held discussions with local colleges but has been unable to find a set of qualifications which covers all of the skills it believes the academy could provide young people.

As a result it is now considering developing its own qualifications which it would aim to get externally verified.

J Rotherham has begun the process by arranging for a small group of its master craftsmen to work toward NVQ qualifications in learning and development and assessment.

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It is further appealing for help from anyone with the expertise to help them establish their own qualifications.

They are also looking for any “skilled craftspeople who are passionate about training” who want to get involved.

So far a number of stone and wood carvers and a trainer in construction skills have expressed an interest in getting involved in the project.

J Rotherham also has its own carvers, letter cutters and marble workers who can offer their expertise.

100 years of experience

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J Rotherham is a family firm dating back to the turn of the 20th century when Henry Rotherham worked as a jobbing stonemason.

His work would take him around Yorkshire and Lancashire to churches and cathedrals.

Since then the firm has spent the past 100 years training masons to work with stone, marble and granite.

Jamie Rotherham, the fourth generation of his family to work for the business, is a classically trained artist, having studied at the Charles Cecil Atelier in Florence.

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The work carried out by J Rotherham today varies from restoration of memorials and intricate jobs working with marble to supplying worktops and fireplaces across the country.

Mr Rotherham is also working with UKTrade and Investment to export fireplaces to customers in North America with a view to expanding into other countries if it proves successful.

The firm currently employs more than 100 people. It took on 30 new staff last year, including two apprentices.

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