The Duke of Gloucester Awards
One hundred guests gathered at Mercers’ Hall on October 20th to see HRH The Duke
of Gloucester present his 2009 Awards to Alan Spittle and Dennis Jones.
The Duke of Gloucester Awards [DoGAs], part of The Masons’ Company Craft Awards,
are made every two years and are given to stonemasons who have shown high standards
of craftsmanship in their work.
When the Company launched the Awards in 2007 there was a single category for
Improver Masons who had completed a recognised apprenticeship and training course
and then served as a mason for three to five years after qualification. For 2009
an additional category has been introduced: Project Craftsman of the Year, for
those who have had at least five years experience in the craft after qualification
and who have a portfolio of projects and a proven record of supervision and management.
The industry’s trade association, Stone Federation Great Britain, has joined the
Company in promoting the new category.
The winner of the 2009 Improver Mason Award was Alan Spittle (right).
Alan works at Salisbury Cathedral and trained at the Building Crafts College,
where he was supported by the Company throughout his three years of training.
The Assessors chairman, John Burton, said they were amazed at the standard of
work Alan is producing. ‘He has demonstrated through continual study, perseverance
and a love of stone, a remarkable improvement since qualifying three years ago’.
Two entrants received commendations: Damien Briggs, (below) who is a mason at Gloucester Cathedral
and Ronnie MacKenzie, (below) of Albion Stone, Portland. Both undertook their training at Weymouth
College.
The 2009 Project Craftsman of the Year is Dennis Jones.
Dennis works for CWO, Chichester and he undertook his training at Weymouth
The Assessors said that Dennis’s work shone out above most of the applicants.
‘He continues to pass on his skills and knowledge to other masons, demonstrating
regularly that he can work on the tools but, most importantly, he manages the
team, the contract and instills confidence in the client. He also shows a great
love for the buildings he works on’.
This category also attracted two commendations for Piers Merry, who won The Duke’s award for Improver Mason in 2007, and who now runs his own
business in Cumbria and Ben Newman, of Stonewest, Croydon.
Piers, undertook his training at York College and with Nathan Hunt in California
and Mathias Garne in York. Ben, who trained at Vauxhall College of Building, has
held a SPAB/William Morris Craft Fellowship and attended the Venice European centre
for the Trades & Professions of the Conservation of Architectural Heritage.
The Master, Adrian Sarson, said the awards and their expansion show that the Company is more and more
at the heart of training and development of stonemasons. ‘ I believe we need to
build on this but can only do so if adequate funding is available to the Company’s
Craft Fund, which underwrite the Craft Awards’.
Court assistant David Blake, who handed over as chairman of the Craft Awards
Committee to Liveryman John Milne at the conclusion of the Awards ceremony, said
that the these Awards and the Natural Stone Craft Awards had established the Company
as a major player in recognising the importance of craftsmen. ‘Now with the Stone
Federation supporting a category in the DoGAs we are covering not just newly trained
masons but well established ones making a major mark in their careers. The Duke’s
announcement regarding his Gold Medal now means we cover the whole of a mason’s
working life.’
