2 days before Christmas I had the privilege of a most inspiring visit to Freeman College in Sheffield and a tour by Helen Kippax the principle. Freeman college is the most recent of three colleges run by Ruskin Mill Educational Trust which for a quarter of a century, has pioneered a unique, holistic and student-centred approach to the education and…
On Friday I visited Trevor Ablett one of the last of Sheffield’s pen and pocketknife makers. Trevor is on the left with Reg Cooper bowie knife maker on the right. I have visited Trevor a few times now and bought quite a few of his knives. I tend to give them as gifts when we visit folk on behalf of…
I have just been sent these two links and thought folks would enjoy them. First Mike Turnock the last sievemaker, a nice slideshow of all the stages in producing garden sieves from Jon Henley of the Guardian. Amazing to think that a craft like this could survive as a viable business without any subsidy since medieval times and yet could…
In March I posted about Portland Works a rather wonderful piece of Sheffield history. This was the first purpose built cutlery works in Sheffield and the first place in the world where stainless steel was made into cutlery. It has been in continuous use by various metalworking and cutlery trades since it was built and despite being grade II* listed…
Jon Henley’s article on Mike Turnock the last sievemaker is in the guardian today and online here. As always it is a really nicely written article and there will be a slide show showing all the processes of making a sieve on Tuesday next week, I’ll add a link when it is up. The photo of Mike is not very…
I first heard about Patterson’s many years ago whilst I was still working for the National Trust as a forester. It was an unusual property for the Trust to take on because it was relatively modern industrial heritage. On Tuesday I finally got to visit. I was in Northern Ireland partly to work on the forthcoming National Occupational Standards for…
English Heritage recently bought a silversmiths workshop in Birmingham Simon Thurley was quoted as saying “We have stepped in to save JW Evans because it is one of the most important Victorian and Edwardian manufacturies in existence. Its loss would not just be for Birmingham but the world. We now need to secure its long term future as a business…
Yesterday I visited the kutrite scissor works in Sheffield, I have written about them before here and here, they are wonderful chaps, the three guys working there have 150 years experience of the cutlery trade between them. This is Cliff, the “putter togetherer” that is the official job title that you would advertise in the days when there were 60…
I just downloaded some pictures I took on my last London trip for the the Heritage Crafts Association committee meeting last Sunday. We meet in a basement room just round the corner from Charing Cross which is kindly provided free of charge for us. Charing Cross tube station has rather nice artwork with images of medieval craftsmen at work and…
Whilst I was away in Germany last week my MP Tom Levitt visited Mike Turnock the country’s last sievemaker. More info on Tom’s website here After the visit Tom wrote to me saying that he is going to apply for an adjournment debate on the conservation of heritage craft skills. These are allocated by ballot so there is no guarantee…
