We are excited to announce that we are hosting the Hamish Ogston Summer School: ‘Heritage Heroes’ of the future, as the first intensive summer school aimed at boosting endangered traditional craft skills. Staged by Historic England and funded by the Hamish Ogston Foundation, the course is designed to tackle the critical shortage in essential skills needed to rescue precious historic buildings across the country.
The 19 trainees – from York, Sheffield, Hull and the North East and North West – are enrolled on the Hamish Ogston Foundation Heritage Building Skills Programme, an in-work heritage skills and apprenticeship scheme launched last year with Historic England. The summer school will enable them to kick-start skills in carpentry, bricklaying and joinery, painting and decorating, plastering, roofing and stonemasonry, working alongside experts from Historic England.
They will gain hands-on experience while helping to repair two of our iconic buildings: the Ionic Temple and the Grade II* listed Camellia House, both architecturally significant features which are at risk of being lost unless repaired.
Trainees will be carrying out stonemasonry repair works to the Ionic Temple to make it safe and accessible to the public and working on the windows and brickwork as part of a larger restoration project for the Camellia House.
This intensive training boost is desperately needed as many of the older professionals start to retire, there’s a real danger of their crafts becoming extinct, leading to dire consequences for much-loved heritage.
The summer school trainees include:
- Rudi Schofield, aged 20, from Sheffield who has recently left college where he studied carpentry and is now training as a joiner working at Martin Brookes Roofing in Sheffield.
- Abigail Colling, aged 22, from York, who has swapped a career as a digital producer to train as a specialist decorator at Hesp and Jones in York.
- James Hulme, aged 34, from York, who has swapped a job as an HGV driver to train as a ‘castle carpenter’, learning joinery on the scheme with a placement at Castle Howard.
- Christopher Stevenson, aged 25 from York, who gained a degree in Criminology but rekindled his love of craft during the COVID-19 lockdown and decided to change career. He is now a stained-glass conservator and restoration trainee, working with the Barley Studios, in Dunnington, York.
The Hamish Ogston Foundation Heritage Building Skills Programme is a major five year in-work training and apprenticeships programme set up in partnership with Historic England and launched last year with a mission to tackle the long-standing heritage skills shortages. It is unique in offering new pathways into heritage construction, from young people interested in a future in heritage construction to experienced professionals considering a move across to the heritage sector.
Trevor Mitchell, Historic England’s Director of the North and Levelling Up, said: “It’s exciting to see the first summer school get underway as part of the Hamish Ogston Foundation Heritage Building Skills Programme. Our trainees have been recruited from across the North and are united in their passion for the practical craft skills essential to help our much-loved historic places survive. They will be learning their trades working with experts from Historic England and helping to repair beautiful buildings at Wentworth Woodhouse at the same time.
“Our historic environment plays an important role in creating our sense of pride in where we live and where we are from. When it is well looked-after it attracts business and visitors, supporting the local economy. This programme is essential to address the skills shortage now and make sure we are planning ahead for the future.”
Sarah McLeod, The Trust’s CEO, said: “We are very excited to be chosen for the Hamish Ogston Foundation Heritage Building Skills Programme’s first ever summer school and are looking forward to welcoming the apprentices. The skills craftsmen used centuries ago to build houses like Wentworth Woodhouse are still vitally important to the heritage sector. It’s crucial they are passed down to the next generation, and that is what the Foundation’s Skills Programme is all about.
“As we undertake the hugely challenging task of repairing, maintaining and regenerating Wentworth Woodhouse, traditional specialisms and skills are invaluable. Thanks to the generosity of the Hamish Ogston Foundation and Historic England’s unstinting support for our work, Summer School participants and their expert tutors will be carrying out much-needed repairs at two buildings – the Ionic Temple on the South Terrace, and the Camellia House, where a year-long transformation is about to start.”