Banbury apprentice to learn endangered traditional waterways skills after joining team at historic Tooley’s Boatyard

Sam Baker will begin the formal part of his Heritage Engineering Marine Technician apprenticeship in October.

As part of the apprenticeship, Sam will learn the skills needed to maintain and repair the mechanical, electrical and engineering systems found on boats.

At the same time, Sam will gain real-life practical experience by working on boats at Tooley’s.

Alongside the apprenticeship, the 18-year-old will also learn traditional wooden boatbuilding and canal painting, usually known as roses and castles at Tooley’s.

These crafts are not covered by the standard boatyard apprenticeship, but they form an important part of the knowledge that has survived at Tooley’s for more than 200 years.

With both traditional wooden boatbuilding and canal art and boat painting included on the Heritage Crafts Red List of Endangered Crafts, the boatyard is keen to pass on this valuable knowledge to the next generation.

Matt Armitage, managing director of Tooley’s Boatyard, said: “The additional training created by Tooley’s will give Sam time to work alongside experienced craftspeople and learn skills which cannot be taught entirely in a classroom.

“The practical knowledge comes from having a go, making mistakes and being shown how to correct them. The learner tries again until they eventually recognise for themselves when the work is right.

“In traditional wooden boatbuilding, this might mean learning how timber behaves or judging the sound and resistance of a caulking iron as a seam is made watertight. In roses and castles painting, it means developing the control and confidence needed to produce the traditional designs by hand.”

This style of training has been used for centuries at working boatyards, with knowledge passed from experienced craftspeople to younger workers.

Mr Armitage added: “The earliest apprentice so far identified in the boatyard’s records is Joseph Glaze. In 1809, Thomas Cotton took him on from Banbury’s Bluecoat School as an apprentice boatbuilder.

“His story shows that training younger people was already part of the yard’s working life more than two centuries ago.

“The methods and qualifications may have changed, but the basic relationship remains familiar. An experienced worker still has to make time to demonstrate the job, watch the learner attempt it and explain what needs to be done.”

Tooley’s has now secured £11,000 of funding for the first year of Sam’s additional in-house training and is looking for further support to fund the second and third years.

Sam follows Jacob Beak, who completed his Heritage Engineering Marine Technician apprenticeship earlier this year, becoming one of the first three people in the country to qualify through the new apprenticeship.

Visitors will have the chance to meet Sam and Jacob at the upcoming Banbury Canal Festival on Saturday, October 3 and Sunday, October 4.

Despite a summer drought that has cut the working boatyard off from much of its usual work, the festival will go ahead as planned.

Many of the traders will still be there without their boats, and a market will instead be created inside Tooley’s dry dock.

Matt added: “The boats may have been stopped by the drought, but the traders, craftspeople and canal community will still come together for the weekend.”