Seven more grants to help save endangered crafts
7th January 2025 | ANNOUNCEMENTS | OUR STORIES
A millwright, a clog maker and a sailmaker are among the recipients of a new round of grants to help safeguard some of the UK’s most endangered craft skills.
Heritage Crafts has awarded the grants through its Endangered Crafts Fund, which was launched in 2019 to increase the likelihood of at-risk craft skills surviving into the next generation. This round’s grants are funded by the Pilgrim Trust, the William Grant Foundation and a private donor.
In May 2023 Heritage Crafts published the fourth edition of its ground-breaking Red List of Endangered Crafts, the first research of its kind to rank the UK’s traditional crafts by the likelihood that they will survive into the next generation. The report assessed 259 crafts to ascertain those which are at greatest risk of disappearing, of which 84 were classified as ‘endangered’ and a further 62 as ‘critically endangered’. A new edition will be published this May.
The seven successful recipients are:
- Amersham Museum, in Buckinghamshire, to run workshops and a remote peer-learning network for straw hat plaiting with support from Veronica Main MBE, and become a hub for the craft, supplying tools and materials.
- Simon Brock, from Sheffield, to secure a new workshop space for clog making after an unexpected change in situation left a question mark over his ability to continue in the craft.
- Owen Bushell, from Aberdeenshire, to learn the millwrighting skills to maintain and operate an historic bucket mill producing wooden stave buckets.
- Samantha Dennis and Eve Eunson, from Shetland, to support the burgeoning oat straw economy on Shetland by developing vernacular thatching on the islands.
- Simon Nobs, from Kent, to develop and run a series of accessible and accredited courses in the paint effects of wood graining and marbling, expanding on his existing YouTube tutorials.
- Raybel Charters CIC, from Kent, to train Alanna Cameron in mast setting and re-rigging, and further develop the skills of existing boat builder Laurie Watkin for the completion of Raybel, a 104-year-old Thames sailing barge.
- Mark Shiner, from Orkney, to research the ‘spanker’ sail from information available at the Mystic Seaport Museum, Connecticut, reviving methods and materials no longer used in traditional sail making.
These seven projects follow 72 others awarded in previous rounds, covering endangered crafts such as encaustic tile making, marionette making and many more. Previous funders have included the Sussex Heritage Trust, the Radcliffe Trust, the Dulverton Trust, the Swire Charitable Trust, the Ashley Family Foundation, the Essex Community Foundation and others, as well as individuals who have donated sums from £5 right up to several thousands of pounds.
As usual the fund was oversubscribed, and Heritage Crafts hopes to work with many of the unsuccessful candidates to identify other funding and support opportunities.
Tess Osman, Heritage Crafts Grants and Awards Officer, said:
“The richness of our living heritage relies on the passion, dedication and determination of makers working in Red List crafts. This was an exceptionally competitive Endangered Craft Fund round, and these successful projects to safeguard skills are just the tip of the iceberg in comparison to the breadth of deserving applicants who narrowly missed out. We look forward to working alongside these projects, and are already setting our sights on the next round of grants to support endangered crafts for future generations.