I have long been a fan of Libby Purves, midweek presenter, author and Times columnist. This article I just came across written in the Times on 27th July really struck a cord. Full article here, http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/libby_purves/article6728120.ece Here are a few extracts. “To feel good about your work, as an individual and a society, to beboth emotionally satisfied and economically safe,…
I am just going to add a few notes that I have found about the Langdale bridges and hope that anyone with more information will get in touch. 1673 7 October. John Holme to Daniel Fleming reporting that the bridge at Elterwater needs repairs to the amount of £45. I didn’t post pictures of the main Elterwater Bridge but here…
I don’t normally put holiday snaps on my blog but I know I have quite a few overseas readers who enjoy seeing the scenery. I also want to share my current enthusiasm for pack horse bridges which shows some of the layers of mans footprint on the land. Last week our children were at an outdoor activity centre for the…
On Tuesday I spent all day working with a photographer from Country Living magazine doing shots for an issue which will be out in the autumn. I am shortlisted for the Balvenie artisan of the year award along with a blacksmith, stonemason and boatbuilder. I have always admired the images in Country Living magazine but had no idea how much…
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…
One of the things I love about my job is the variety. Yesterday I got the chance to have a look around the set of Ridley Scott’s new Robin Hood film “Nottingham”. I delivered my old lathe to Shepperton Studio’s and set up a bowlturners workshop for them. The lathe will be worked by an extra in the film, I…
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…
Tuesday was another meetings in London day. We had excellent meetings with English Heritage, NADFAS and ICON all of whom are supportive of what the Heritage Crafts Association are trying to achieve. We were given some good new contacts and ideas. One particularly interesting idea was looking at how English Heritage are already beginning to use heritage crafts skills (and…
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…
This is the last of my photos from Norfolk Show, I wanted to share the work of Terry Kenny a coracle maker from Newport Shropshire. Terry has done a great deal to popularise the coracle over the last 20 years, up until the 1950’s coracles were primarily used for fishing with nets on rivers like the Severn and Teifi. The…
