This Year, Every member of the Highlife team has undergone formal training of one kind or another, from practical skills, to theoretical understanding.
Ben has just completed all of the taught sections of his NVQ3 in Heritage Stonemasonry, so we caught up with him for a chat about his experience.
-Hi Ben, first of all, tell us who you are and what you do
My name is Ben Silvestre and I’m one of the directors at Highlife Rope Access. We’re a Rope Access conservation company working exclusively in the conservation industry. We do a lot of different work on old buildings but my interests lie mostly in the masonry side of things and therefore I'm doing an NVQ3 in Heritage Masonry
-Tell us why you chose to study stonemasonry this year?
I decided to study Stonemasonry because it's always been an interest for me; my dad is a Compagnon du Devoir (a master of a traditional French trade guild) Cabinetmaker but I didn’t follow in his footsteps when I was younger – I did consider stonemasonry at the time as he had some Mason friends but I never quite got there. When I eventually wound up getting into Rope Access work it was the Masonry side of things that always appealed to me more and that interest only developed as we became a conservation company and specialised in that area
-Where are you doing your course?
I’m doing my course at the Tywi centre in Llandeilo in South Wales. It's a lovely little centre on a National Trust estate that specialises in teaching heritage crafts.
-How was this course funded?
My course was funded by the Specialist Applies Skills Programme (SAP through the CITB); they pay for all the tuition and course fees and some travel, accommodation and food. My salary is still footed by Highlife during that time.
-What has excited you the most during this course?
The most exciting things about the course have been learning to do some aspects of the work that I've previously felt less confident with, such as Banker Masonry. Also having the guidance of someone as skilled as Ollie Coe (the master Mason who's running the course) and having someone like him to ask questions and show you things is invaluable really which I guess is why apprenticeships have always been done under a Master
-What are you most proud of since starting your stonemasonry journey?
I'm particularly proud of two things since starting the masonry journey: I'm really proud of the work we did at Skipton castle this year, we carried out 22 indent repairs to some gathers on a buttress above a steep gorge. I was proud of this because it was, on the one hand a perfect application for Rope Access so it proved how valid Rope Access is in doing that sort of work in that environment, and also because the work was interesting and challenging and I felt like we did a really good job
The second thing that I'm proud of is the work we did on the latest block of training on the course. We did a live project at the National Botanical Gardens near Llandeilo, The four our of us on the course and the Master mason Ollie built a stone window and walled it in as part of ongoing efforts to conserve the Peach house next to the walled gardens
-How do you hope to apply what you’ve learned?
I'm looking forward to applying what I've learned by continuing to find increasingly interesting stonemasonry jobs. A lovely aspect of the conservation industry that people are generally really interested in training because people recognise the need for skills, so when you talk to people about it they will often find interesting projects for you to be a part of, and that’s already happening. So there are more interesting projects in the pipeline that will involve a greater range of skills that I've learned on the training
-What’s next for you?
Now that I've finished the formal training it's basically a matter of gathering the evidence in work to support the qualification. Once that's finished with its its onwards and upwards in our continual cycle of practice and improvement.
Thanks Ben, really great to hear how you’ve been getting on.
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