Weymouth College Stonemasonry
Centre of Vocational Excellence

Annual Boss Carving Competition at Weymouth College

20 May 2005

Stonemasonry students at Weymouth College were on fine form for the annual stone carving competition, 35 competitors from as far afield as Australia, America and Ireland took part in the competition held in the new workshops, built using money awarded to the department as a Centre of Vocational Excellence (CoVE). Those taking part ranged from members of the Applied Architectural Stonework & Conservation, NVQ and even two local schoolboys on a masonry taster session.

2005 Competition Winners (click for larger image)

The contest is held annually by the college's Masonry Department to showcase the talents of its students; the entrants having just two and a half days to complete a full boss carved in Bath Stone using only hand tools. An impressive range of entries meant the judges Chris Bromidge from Bath Stone Group, Dave Henson Senior Conservator from Salisbury Cathedral, Phil Thomas, Headmaster of Wey Valley School and Henry Russell from Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors amongst others - had a difficult time choosing the winners. Chris Daniels, Programme Leader for Foundation Degree applied Architectural stonework and Conservation at Weymouth College said: "this is an ideal opportunity for students who are entering the world of heritage conservation and traditional craftsmanship to produce a piece in the traditional setting of a workshop under a time limit.

"The standard was superb and although we chose three very deserving winners there were quite a lot of other entries that were only half a point behind."

The first year prize went to Johnny Wilson. The second year prize was awarded to Dave Edgar and the overall winner was Gareth Shiels. All winners are studying on Higher Education programmes in Applied Architectural Stonework and Conservation at Weymouth College. They each received a certificate, tools and Gareth received a book voucher from Donhead Books.

Victoria Trachy, Higher Education Co-ordinator at Weymouth College said: "We were very pleased with this years' event which showed the high level of skills of the Masonry students at the College. They all did exceptionally well.

Education and Training

Weymouth College offers stonemasonry and conservation courses at both Further Education and Higher Education Level. Programmes on offer include NVQs in Masonry, Carving and Lettercutting, Recreational Stone Sculpture and the Foundation Degree in Applied Architectural Stonework and Conservation validated by Bournemouth University. Weymouth College has been recently awarded a Centre of Vocational Excellence for its Stonemasonry courses and has developed a new state-of-the-art masonry workshop.

Tel: 01305 208955
Fax: 01305 208892
Email: chris_daniels@weymouth.ac.uk