Presentation of the 2018 Craft Awards

Presentation of the 2018 Craft Awards by Mr Bob Howard MBE and the Master

The E&R Fuller Award for Bricklaying The Mason-Elliott Award for Roof Slating and Tiling The Montgomery Award for Wall and Floor Tiling The Stokes Royal Engineers Awards The Company’s Cadet Force Awards Master Craftsman Awards

Trinity House London EC3N 4DH

Monday 5 March 2018

The support of the Tylers’ and Bricklayers’ Craft Trust is gratefully acknowledged

The E & R Fuller Award for Bricklaying This and the next two Awards are made to the winners in the SkillBuild National Final competitions held in November 2017 at the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham.

SkillBuild, including its 15 regional heats, is organised by CITB-Construction Skills.

Bricklaying is one of the most varied construction trades and this year’s competition set pieces and the challenging time frame to complete them have again shown the high standards of the competitors. They have had to demonstrate a range of skills to complete the set tasks which include conformity to drawings and specification, gauge, level, plumb and bonding, joint finishes and cleanliness of face work.

Competitors work to zero tolerance with marks deducted for each millimetre of error and have to work in a safe manner or will lose marks if this is not adhered to.

The difficulty of the set pieces challenged all, but the enthusiasm and professionalism of competitors again highlighted the high standards applying in bricklaying.

The Winner of the 2018 Award is Sam Yeomans from Stafford College

Sam’s Course Tutor was Julian Harrison

The generosity of Hanson in providing materials for the final is acknowledged

The Mason-Elliott Award for Roof Slating and Tiling The finalists in this year’s competition had all won regional heats and were under considerable time pressure to execute a demanding test piece. Contestants were required to work on a standard double faced rig providing all the necessary battening and underlay to achieve a finished roof which incorporated Western Red Cedar shingles to two faces with hip and ridge cappings and, separated by a proprietary spacer, a multi-coloured concrete tile roof which incorporated a given pattern. Roof edges to be finished in a continuous dry verge. The standard from all competitors was high with all competitors showing mastery of a number of different skills.

The Winner of the 2018 Award is Harry Pennock from Leeds College of Building

Harry’s Course Tutor was Chris Messenger

The competition was sponsored by the National Federation of Roofing Contractors (NFRC) supported by a number of member Companies

The Montgomery Award for Wall and Floor Tiling The tiling finalists were required to execute two decorative tile panels on prepared backboards from detailed drawings, identifying the correct materials and tools.

Complex designs needed to be carefully marked and set out before fixing, and required some elaborate circular and raking cutting using only hand operated tools. Competitors were given three tasks to complete over two and a half days and the standards achieved were consistently high with some excellent executions of the task.

The Winner of the 2018 Montgomery Award is Mark Scott from City of Glasgow College

Mark’s Course Tutor was Robert Hammond

The generosity of The Tile Association and those of its members who provided materials for the competition is acknowledged.

The Stokes Royal Engineers Awards The Awards are given to the best Class 1 and Class 2 Bricklaying and Concreting Trainees at the Royal School of Military Engineering at Chatham. The Class 2 winner is drawn from a pool of around 100 Sapper trainees; the Class 1 winner comes from a smaller group. On completion of their training, they will be able to use traditional and modern brick and block laying techniques and to mix and pour concrete on building and civil engineering sites. They will also be able to set out buildings and erect scaffolding. In assessing the Awards, account is taken of theory and skills and, at Class 1 level, supervisory duties.

The winners of the Awards for 2017-8 are

Class 1 — Lance Corporal Lee Dimbleby

Class 2 — Sapper Chet Gurung

The Company’s Cadet Force Awards The Company supports Royal Engineer badged cadet units in London District. These are either Army Cadet Force units or the Army contingent in a Combined Cadet Force.

Best Cadets

Best Cadet 2016: Cadet Sergeant Belinda Perez

Best Cadet 2017: Cadet Sergeant Major Shyam Gadhvi

Best Adult Volunteers

Best Adult Volunteer 2016: SSI Charlie-Maud Munro

Best Adult Volunteer 2017: CSMI Aaron Foran

Recognition of Master Craftsmen As part of the Company’s Millennium review the Craft Committee embarked upon the difficult task of determining a structured process whereby the Company is able to recognise as Master Craftsmen those practising our crafts who have not only advanced their skills beyond the measure of conventional qualifications but who are also seen as mentors and role models for those following in their footsteps.

In conjunction with the industry associations representing Roof Slating and Tiling, and Wall and Floor Tiling, a formal procedure was established in 2013 enabling the first Master Craftsmen in modern times to be recognised at these Awards in 2014. The diversity of the bricklaying industry presented additional challenges but after consultation with the industry a procedure similar to those for the other crafts was determined. Master Craftsman Bricklayer status was conferred for the first time in the modern era at the Company’s Awards in 2016.

This year we are delighted to recognise a Master Craftsman who has met the stringent criteria:

Master Craftsman Wall and Floor Tiler Gary Bricknell

Photographs of the Chapel of St George and the English Martyrs in Westminster Cathedral

Acknowledgements The E&R Fuller Awards are supported by the Fuller Family in memory of Past Masters Edward Fuller (1954) and Robert Fuller (1962) The Montgomery Awards are funded by the Montgomery Trust set up by Past Master Brian Montgomery (1980) The Mason-Elliott Awards are supported by funds made available by Past Master Newlyn MasonElliott (1997) The Stokes Awards are made available from a trust fund established by Past Masters Christopher Stokes (1984) and Jeremy Stokes (1989).

The generosity of these families has helped the Company to nurture and reward excellence in our traditional crafts. This is our positive response to the need for Livery Companies to be relevant to and involved in the crafts that form their historic bases.