Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
bricks and blocks to line, level, and plumb. The majority worked for small
building firms on one-off new buildings, extensions and minor works,
and, most importantly, on the repair, re-pointing, and restoration of
traditionally-constructed buildings. This required a whole area of craft
knowledge and skills simply not catered for at a national level.
4.
The positive support from brickmakers, as well as the building companies
and bricklayers who could see the benefits of having a more fully rounded
apprentice capable of undertaking a wider range of practical work. Also,
in how they could see that, as the apprentice began to learn the skills of
precise gauged work, the quality of their standard brickwork improved
dramatically too.
5.
The knowledge, skills, experience, and enthusiasm of the author, who had
for some years previously been writing about gauged work as the highest
expression of his craft. (See Lynch, 1990)
The period of 1987-92 at Bedford College saw a huge rise in national aware-
ness for and interest in gauged work, and what the craft apprentices in the
workshop were achieving there at very high standards (Fig. 165). This in turn,
Figure 165
Close-up of some of the
gauged enrichments
set-out, cut, laid and
finished by craft
apprentices at Bedford
College, Bedford
(Bedfordshire), under
the author's tuition,
between 1988 and 1991.
helped to stimulate craftsmen and also brickmakers, surveyors, designers, and
those charged with caring for the nations historic built environment. Brick and
lime producers as well as national professional and amenity societies provided
support for this initiative.
Sadly, the lofty ideals of establishing Bedford College as a centre of craft
excellence for traditional skills coincided with a national policy on craft train-
ing that moved in direct opposition. Writing in 1993, after leaving the college,
Lynch (1994, 66-8) urged caution:
A significant development in the delivery of training has been the introduction
of the National Vocational Qualification (NVQ ) system, designed to rationalise
