YOUNGSTERS are undergoing “inspirational” training at a specialist centre in North Yorkshire which will provide them with the necessary skills to help preserve some of Britain’s oldest and most important buildings.

The Heritage Craft Alliance, based at Thorp Perrow, near Bedale, is working with the Canal and River Trust to teach the youngsters traditional stone masonry, carpentry and lime mortars to work on the thousands of Georgian and Victorian buildings that make up Britian’s 2,000 miles of waterway.

The course, part of NVQ qualifications has been specially created by the Craft Alliance, backed by the Heritage Lottery Fund. Glen Young, Managing Director of the Alliance said:”They will be spending 11 weeks at our training centre, learning critically important skills to help them preserve and restore heritage buildings.

“ Contemporary building skills are inadequate to conserve, repair and restore traditionally built structures. Inaccurate work can cause damage and severely reduce the life of historic buildings.”

He said the Canal and Rivers Trust is responsible for the conservation of the third largest stock of heritage buildings in the country.

Jamie McNamara of the Trust said they had had applications from as far away as Canada because of the high value put on the course.

“It is inspirational, they get the chance to work on the buildings here to master heritage skills in stone masonry, carpentry and lime mortars. They then spend 26 weeks working on waterway construction sites. These are crucially important skills which will help preserve traditional buildings for the future. “