The Worshipful Company of Masons

These awards were presented for the first time in 2007 and will be awarded every two years in future. The Awards are made to qualified stonemasons in England, who after achieving their qualification in stonemasonry, have worked for a period of between three and five years developing their craft and have demonstrated in their everyday work a high degree of skill in masonry of carving of stone and considerable improvement since qualifying.

Three young masons received the Awards from The Duke of Gloucester, who is a Liveryman of The Worshipful Company of Masons. In addition to a prize to the value of £450 to be used in the furtherance of the winners’ career, the Company has elected each one a Yeoman Freeman of the Company.

The 2007 winners are:

Gary Collier: (right) He qualified from York College in 2003. He was born in Oldham and works for Lloyd & Smith of Oldham. Gary achieved the Silver Medal at the 2005 WorldSkills in Helsinki and at the 2002 Skillbuild - The judges described Gary ‘as a credit to the craft of stonemasonry…a perfectionist who earns the respect of all those he works with…’

Piers Merry: (centre) He also qualified at York College in 2003 and now works with Master Mason, Matthias Garn, in Bugthorpe, Yorkshire. After qualifying he spent three years at the studios of Nathan Hunt in California honing his architectural carving skills. It is for these skills that Pier’s has received his award - The judges believed Piers ‘has a real passion for what he does… has good hand and eye coordination… and is an intuitive and natural carver’.

Martin Smith: (left) He has been employed by Wells Cathedral Stonemasons Ltd since he left school and completing his qualification ay Weymouth College. He achieved third place in the 2002 SkillBuild competition - ‘Martin has shown outstanding improvement since qualifying’, said the judges, ‘with an excellent ability to work in different materials…one piece of work we saw showed skill and competence that belied the fact he has only five years experience since qualifying’.