Skills From The Past To Protect Our Future

Nine individuals across Northern Ireland have been given the opportunity to learn a heritage craft while working on some major heritage projects over the last year, including the Derry/LondonderryCity Walls and the Cathedral of St. Eunan and St Columba in Letterkenny.

CITB-ConstructionSkills NI  developed the ‘Sustaining  Traditional Building Skills in  Northern Ireland’ project with  funding from the UK-wide  Heritage Lottery Fund ‘Skills for  the Future’ programme.  They appointed South West  College to manage the delivery of  the project, which offered a  unique opportunity for these nine  craftspeople to train alongside  experienced practitioners from a  range of leading built heritage  sector contractors and  organisations on live projects.  The aim of the project is to  maintain and conserve Northern  Ireland’s diverse built heritage for  present and future generations to  experience and enjoy.  The project was initially intended  to last for one year, but due to its  outstanding success, it has  received additional funding for a  further 10 placements to run for  another year, commencing  September 2013. Its focus will  continue to be onbridging the  skills shortage in the repair and  maintenance of traditional  buildings in Northern Ireland.  In total, the Heritage Lottery Fund  will have invested £480,100 over  the life of the project.  The programme consists of three  elements; up-skilling for a small  number of craftspeople to  develop their knowledge, skills  and experience of traditional  building skills through workbasedplacements;  increasing the  capacity to deliver future training  by funding lecturers from further  Education Colleges to participate  in a dedicated Training the  Trainers programme, and using  experienced craftsmen and  craftswomen as Heritage  Ambassadors and mentors to  pass on their skills and  knowledge to the trainees on this  scheme and promote the built  heritage sector more widely.  These three elements will help  address and improve the current  under-provision of training in this  field and contribute to caring for  and better maintenance of the  125,000 pre-1919 buildings in NI.  John Beattie, who is completing  his year’s placement at the Ulster  American Folk Park, Omagh  outlined the benefits of the  project: “I am privileged to have  the opportunity to learn the skill  and techniques of Irish Scollop  thatching from a trained  craftsman who is happy to share  his knowledge and expertise.  “The course provides a great  opportunity to learn the basics of  thatching – it’s clear that one year  is not sufficient to acquire a skill  which experienced thatchers  openly admit takes years to learn,  but it provides valuable  experience with which I can  hopefully use to secure a future  apprenticeship. I want to remain  working within the built heritage  sector and I would like to think  that I will continue to build on the  skills that I have acquired.”  Conor Scullion, a stonemason  from Lurgan said of his  experience: “I am particularly  proud of working on the  Derry/Londonderry walls as they  are seen as a great tourist  attraction and my restoration work  will allow future generations to  view the work I have completed.”

Paula Sheppard has been working  with Decowell, a Belfast-based  company which specialises in  restoration, conservation and  design of painted surfaced and the  decorative arts.  She said: “I was very proud to be  given the opportunity to work in  the Cathedral of St. Eunan and St  Columba in Letterkenny. It is a  very beautiful and significant  building which contains very fine  examples of great skills and crafts  of the early 20th century.  “I studied BA (Hons) Fine Art and  I have always been interested in  historic buildings and the  decorative art within them. I  wanted to learn more about  decorative art and the skills  involved in creating the various  areas of it. I intend to continue to  learn more after the placement  has ended and hopefully try to  push the use traditional skills in  our historic buildings.”  Barry Neilson, Chief Executive of  CITB-ConstructionSkills NI,  explained the importance of the  project not just in conserving our  built heritage, but in securing  Northern Ireland’s economic  future: “Our heritage really  matters; it plays a vital role in our  economy and will be an important  element in our recovery. There is  however a lack of co-ordinated  training provision for craftspeople  in this area. The Heritage Lottery  Fund should be commended on  generating a significant number of  opportunities for people to get the  on-the-job experience and  develop and maintain their skills.  “Through the ‘Sustaining  Traditional Building Skills in  Northern Ireland’ project over  £0.5m will have been invested in  developing the training  infrastructure to help the skills we  need to properly maintain our  local built heritage.”  Ciaran McManus, Deputy Head of  Training at South West College,  expressed how much it meant to  the college to support the initiative.  He stated: “The programme  provides an opportunity for us to  assist in the preservation of our  local heritage by providing bursary  recipients with the skills,  knowledge and experience  required to maintain and conserve  our built heritage.  “The college – through our input  into the ‘Training the Trainers’  aspect of the programme – is  delighted to be in a position to  assist in further enhancing a  training capacity for developing  traditional skills across the  Further Education sector in NI.  “South West College is delighted  to be working with CITBConstructionSkills  NI on the  delivery of this invaluable initiative  which will secure our local heritage  for the future.”