16 to 25-years olds have until 27 January to apply for one of our three free ‘pre-apprenticeship’ taster courses in the crafts of Cornish hedging, basketry or coppersmithing this Spring. This opportunity is being funded and run in partnership with Penwith Landscape Partnership.
Cornish hedging
Course description: During this five-day course, participants will have a good taster of working in Cornish hedging, which will include learning about the materials used, selecting the right materials, how to work tools correctly, techniques used, preparing and setting up a work area, good code of practice, and how to work safely.- Location: The Guild of Cornish Hedgers, Sancreed.
- Start date: To be arranged depending on participants and trainers availability. They plan for it to begin in the middle of March.
- Duration: 5 days, once a week. This will be weather dependent.
- What next?: Aside from this being a great opportunity to have a taster of what Cornish hedging is like, after the free 5 day taster training course, there is the option to attend a further paid for 10-day training course with the Guild.
Basketry
Course description: During this course, participants will learn a bit about working with living willow, which will include some planting and possibly creating willow arches at a recently discovered ancient willow garden. There will be the opportunity to try out various basketry techniques, talk to other crafts people and also learn a bit about selling work in galleries and outlets.- Location: Various, which include Rosudgeon and Porthleven with basket maker Geraldine Jones.
- Start date: To be arranged depending on participants and trainers availability. They plan for it to begin in the middle of March.
- Duration: 9 days, which are planned to be run in blocks.
- What next?: This course is aimed to give you an insight into learning more about basketry and also how to set up a small business. Participants could become a self employed crafts person and map out any further training they may want to attend to develop their practise.
Coppersmithing
Course description: During this course, participants will have the opportunity to learn some coppersmithing techniques in a well established workshop with experienced trainers. They will also see examples of past and present commission/project work.- Location: The Copper Works in Newlyn.
- Start date: To be arranged depending on participants and trainers availability. They plan for it to begin towards the end of February / beginning of March
- Duration: To be confirmed as this depends on commissions/projects they have in place at the time and availability of participants/trainers. They would prefer training to run in blocks, which will last for no more than 18 days.
- What next?: This training will give participants a great opportunity to try out Coppersmithing and to see how a successful business in the industry works. There will also be opportunities to discuss further skills development outside of this project and how to work in the industry.
If you would like to apply for any of these opportunities, please fill out the application form here.
For more details, please contact Project Manager Anna Pope at anna@heritagecrafts.org.uk.
