This is a major problem in this trade as there are too few of us to warrant many places running courses.
Currently there is one in the Birmingham School of Jewellery, and one at West Dene College, and of course, the Distance Learning course and seminars run by the BHI, plus the Epping Forest Clock Club (and possibly a few others like it), but that is about it.
Going back to when I started in the trade there were also courses for disabled at St Loyes, skill centre courses (until they were privatised by Thatcher and then went bust) and a both a full time and a day-release course run at Hackney Tech (and I think a couple of others but I can't remember where) but these have now all gone - so when people want to learn the trade they can find it a bit hard to get any 'hands-on experience.....
We have all bemoaned this situation and occasionally someone sets up a course for a few students (as I think was done by Laurie Pennman?) which receive mixed reviews and may or may not survive.
There are of course businesses in the trade which take on people who are 'improvers' (i e have the basic skills but no, or very little, experience) but not many, so far as I know, will take on people who are complete novices just starting to learn the basics.
I have now, as it were, 'put my money where my mouth is' and taken on an 'apprentice' for most of one day a week - I can't give him any more than that as there is not room for two people at the bench at once, so he can only be here for as long as I have admin to do. He is traveling for a couple of hours each way to get here, and refusing any payment as he reckons the knowledge gained is payment enough! I have to say that any payment I could offer would be very small at the moment as his through-put of work is not yet significant enough to warrant more, so I am happy to accept his refusal of any pay. In fact, at the moment I think he is cost-neutral, since the admin is interrupted every so often by requests for information about something or for me to check if a bit of work is up to standard yet, but that will hopefully change as he gets the experience he came for. When it does we can revisit this subject...
Is this something that others could also consider?
In my experience so far with horology I have found it very difficult to find anyone to give me some "hands on" training. I am currently learning through the BHI distance learning course and although it is very good I find it is not enough on its own to help me progress quickly. I approached my branch of the BHI to ask if any of the members would be prepared to spare a little time but was told it was very unlikely that any member would be willing to give up their time freely as they would be too busy earning a living and would also be worried about me taking work from them in the future. This is a sorry state of affairs, having spoken to the BHI they completely understand the problem and cant see any immediate way to resolve it. We are losing a wealth of experience at an alarming rate and I do wonder about the state of this profession in a decades time.
ReplyDeleteI was fortunate enough to have had dealings with Andrew Fleming previously and when I asked him if he was willing to help me he said yes. I cant tell you how grateful I am to now be in the situation where all the words and pictures on my distance learning course are now making much more sense. I do hope that other horologists out there might read this blog and have a slight change of heart if ever asked to help or train someone; lets all do our bit to keep horology alive and well.
Thank you Andrew for "putting your money where your mouth is".
"and would also be worried about me taking work from them in the future"
ReplyDeleteIf they are any good they will have enough work. If they are not any good you should not use them for instructors!