I'm Charles Jones, Technical Conservation Skills Programme Manager and I trained
as a stonemason some 20 years ago now with Historic Environment Scotland.
Stonemasonry is an ancient craft of being able to work with stone.
I suppose today it's a craft skill that involves designing, quarrying and working with stone,
dressing stone, building stone and embellishing stone to some degree, so
it's wide-ranging in today's modern construction industry.
You know, I excelled at craft studies at school, I was good at graphic communication, art...
It was a real passion of mine.
I got a work experience placement with an architect's practice up in Angus.
It was a historic site and when I started there on my work placement
I was just blown away by, not just the work that he does, but the site
and environment which he works in
and he actually had a stonemason working on his estate
and I got some part-time work with him and just by chance
Historic Environment Scotland then advertised for an apprentice.
So I thought it's a unique opportunity
and I'm gonna grab it.
The work that I did at the White House wasn't that dissimilar
to what my predecessors did in 18th century.
You know, the actual skill that was involved was exactly the same.
You know, the tools and techniques that were used were very similar.
I was only there for a very short period of time, where as those stonemasons
were there for a number of years working on the complete construction
where as I, you know, I just played a small part in the
reproduction of the historic rose on the White House.
The techniques aren't that much different
This crocket is over a hundred years old
and they've used drills to get into some of the areas
that are very difficult to get a chisel into
and you know, even then, they were using what are seen as power tools
to us today, they were using new techniques and advances in the way
of producing stone in order to get the desired effect.
The stonemasons that travelled to the White House, I'm sure,
and, you know, the same questions were running through my head
what is the stone going to be like?
You know, your experience is only ever of the stones that you've worked in the past.
So I'm sure the Edinburgh stonemasons would have been thinking, you know,
I hope it's quite similar to some of the stones that have worked in the past.
I've worked with some stones that are very hard and difficult to work and they take a
long time to produce the desired finish or the element that you're working on
where as the same questions would have been running through the
Edinburgh masons' heads before they got there and to their surprise
and I presume, delight because it was certainly was for me, you know, the stone was very similar
to the sand stones that I'd worked here in Scotland in the past so, you know
it was a bit of a relief when I arrived there, seen the stone and I got to work
with it from the first time.
It was quite a surreal experience to be honest.
You know, it was, you know,
such an iconic and historic building but, you know, as soon as I got there
all the security that you would expect
to get into the site, you know, had to go through that.
Once you got past all that and into the site itself,
it seemed like a really nice environment to be working in.
There's a team of stonemasons and
operatives that work in there and they were all really nice people to work with.
They've done everything they could to help you out and once you're in the door
and, you know, I did have a job to do and so once you get your head down and
get on with it, you just need to crack on with the job.
We're at an interesting time in construction.
You know, the past 50 years or so there's been a huge push for, you know
mainstream construction folks and on new builds and they've always
driven the qualifications in stonemasonry
although the last 10 years or so Historic Environment Scotland and others
have done a huge amount of work in trying to incorporate repair elements to their
stonemasonry qualifications in Scotland.
We need more apprentices and we need more stonemasons.
Supply isn't meeting demand so it's about engaging with employers
and industry nationwide and let them know about the benefits to taking on
apprentices and how easy it can be and also the benefits of having an apprentice
in the workforce, them coming through and keeping the craft of stonemasonry alive.
You know, it's the employer that takes you on as an apprentice and then it's
the employer that sends you to college to do your training.
You know, there's four centres delivering stonemasonry in Scotland
Glasgow, Edinburgh, Stirling and Elgin.
All four facilities are amazing facilities and they're all producing
really good work. It's about being persistent, you know,
engaging with employers, go knocking on doors and it's about letting people know
that that's what you want to do.
There's a great career to be had in stonemasonry.