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Heritage Crafts Weekend at the Cutty Sark – Saturday 16 May 2026, 11am to 4pm

Join @royalmuseumsgreenwich and Heritage Crafts at the Cutty Sark as we shine a spotlight on the heritage craft skills used to build and maintain this historic tea clipper.

Join us for drop-in activities, where you’ll learn about crafts such as rope-making, fender-making and traditional caulking. You’ll also have the opportunity to take a closer look at and handle a range of historical objects and contemporary craft objects. Recommended for ages 5+.

https://heritagecrafts.org.uk/events/cuttysark/

‘As a clog maker, I’m an endangered species’ on BBC News

“I need to be making things to be happy,” says @simon_brock_clogs. “At the end of the day if I’ve got nothing that I can hold in my hands and say I’ve done that today, it feels like a day wasted.”

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cdxk34zkq2eo

Heads Up – a hat making symposium for endangered crafts

The @britishhatguild and Heritage Crafts present a two-day symposium to celebrate Britain’s specialist millinery and hat making techniques that now feature on the Red List of Endangered Crafts. Hosted in the heritage-inspired surroundings of The Founders’ Livery Hall, and in partnership with the Worshipful Company of @feltmakers, the event will bring together makers, historians, designers and enthusiasts to honour skills deeply rooted in the nation’s cultural and fashion history.

Across a programme of talks on 16 and 17 May, the symposium will explore the craftsmanship, techniques and stories that define traditional hat-making. By shining a light on these remarkable skills and the people who practice them, the symposium offers an opportunity to appreciate their enduring relevance and to respect the rich legacy they represent within today’s British craft and design industry.

https://heritagecrafts.org.uk/events/heads-up/

#matchMAKER opportunity!

Apprentice Upholsterer

Location: Littleborough, Greater Manchester
Deadline: 11 May 2026

Family company New England Sofa Design in Littleborough are recruiting for an Apprentice Upholsterer. The successful candidate will complete a Level 2 Furniture Manufacturer Apprenticeship over the duration of 24 months.

What you’ll do at work:
• Upholstery and reupholstery of new and old furniture
• Using tools safely
• Use various fabrics and learn about their properties
• Health and safety, environmental and sustainability knowledge
• Reading of customer specs and measure, cut and fix material

Find out more including how to apply at https://heritagecrafts.org.uk/matchmaker.

#matchMAKER is the online platform for work-based training and entry-level employment opportunities hosted by @heritagecrafts and supported by @soanebritain.

Staying Alive

This exhibition, co curated by @makesouthwest and Heritage Crafts and taking place at MakeSW, Bovey Tracey, Devon from 2 May to 4 July, shines a light on some of the Southwest’s most endangered crafts.

Fourteen master makers share their skills, tools, and stories, showing how traditions shaped by the region’s land and sea still have relevance and beauty today. From boatbuilding and ropemaking to hedging, basketmaking, and tanning, these crafts connect past and present, keeping centuries of knowledge alive in the modern world.

Exhibitors:
• @aaronvalentinestephens, reverse glass sign making
• Alex Mears, boatbuilding
• @amy.goodwin.signwriter, fairground art
• Andrew Cockshaw @crestcornwall, Cornish hedging
• Greg Rowland MBE @wheelwrightgreg, wheelwright
• Jessie Watson Brown @rekindled.hearth, oak bark tanning
• @johnwilliamson.dartmoor, Devon stave basket making
• Nicholas Jarvis @lacebynicholas and Pauline Cochrane, bobbin lacemaking
• Robert Ely @papilionaceouspuresilk, ribbon making
• Sarah Liscoe, sailmaking
• Sue Morgan @crabpotcellars, withy pot making
• Vicky Putler @flax_project, flax processing

Events:
• 8 May, 10.30am to 4.30pm – Signwrite Your Own Ornate Letter, a workshop with Amy Goodwin
• 3 July, 10.30am to 3.30pm – Withy Pot Demo & Meet the Maker with Sue Morgan
• 4 July, 10.30am to 4pm – Make a Willow Crab Pot, a workshop with Sue Morgan

https://heritagecrafts.org.uk/events/stayingalive/

This week our Head of Craft Sustainability Mary Lewis @maryeluned_craft and Heritage Crafts ambassador Rose Sinclair MBE @dorcasstories joined other community groups, activists, sportspeople and celebrities at @10downingstreet to celebrate St George’s Day.

The aim of the event was to celebrate diversity, tolerance and community cohesion in England.

Heritage Crafts is the national charity for traditional heritage crafts and we work in partnership with Government and key agencies, to provide a focus for craftspeople, groups, societies and guilds, as well as individuals who care about the loss of traditional crafts skills. We aim to work towards a healthy and sustainable framework for the future.

#heritagecrafts #stGeorgesDay #heritageUK

#matchMAKER opportunity!

Weaver

Location: Elgin, Scotland
Deadline: 29 April 2026

Founded in 1797, Johnstons of Elgin is a luxury clothing brand celebrating 225 years of experience working with the world’s finest fibres. Across three centuries, the family-owned company has carefully sourced cashmere and fine woollen fibres from around the world, applying the latest technology and highest quality craft expertise in their very own vertical Scottish mills.

They are currently recruiting a Weaver to join their busy and growing weaving department. As a Weaver, you will be operating a set of looms efficiently, as well as repairing any broken warp and weft threads. You will be responsible for monitoring the looms for any weaving defects, evenness of colour or patterns and reporting any defects to our technicians. You will also ensure that weft creels are replenished with yarn, maintain product quality standards and work with attention to detail, you will nonetheless aim to achieve the required output levels to meet their production plan. There are some manual handing tasks and heavy lifting will be required.

Find out more including how to apply at https://heritagecrafts.org.uk/matchmaker.

#matchMAKER is the online platform for work-based training and entry-level employment opportunities hosted by @heritagecrafts and supported by @soanebritain.