CAPEL Manor students and staff joined with hundreds of people demonstrating their craft at WorldSkills last week.
Crowds of students looked on as the college’s saddlery department made a general purpose pony saddle, worth £800, over the course of the competition.
Capel Manor’s head of saddlery, master saddler Line Hansen, was joined by her deputy Christer Dahlberg to put the saddle together on alternate days.
Cordwainers’ at Capel Manor – as the saddlery department is officially known – is just one of only a handful in the world offering full time saddlery courses, and has made bridles for Princess Anne and the Queen.
Ms Hansen said: “This saddle would take an experienced saddler 25-35 hours to make so it was a full-on job to make sure it got done. WorldSkills was a good opportunity to promote traditional English crafts to the next generation as well as letting youngsters know about the educational opportunities out there using skills. It seemed to spark the children’s imagination as they asked us how they could get involved.”
A BBC crew also filmed Line putting the finishing touches to the saddle. The footage may appear in a short film they are making about apprenticeships, due to appear on the BBC website in November.
As well as the saddlery stand, which was manned by Capel Manor under the umbrella of the Worshipful Companies of Saddlers, Loriners and Cordwainers, Capel Manor College also had a joint stand with sector skills council LANTRA.
Staff dressed as beekeepers, tree surgeons and gardeners and gave away hundreds of prospectuses and a score of press packs as well as promoting the gardens to teachers interested in school visits.
WorldSkills is an annual event held in cities around the world, showcasing the best young craftspeople across a huge range of subjects – from landscaping and cooking to cabinet making and aeronautical engineering.
Britain came 5th overall with 4 gold medals, 2 silver medals, 6 bronze medals and 12 medallions for excellence.
Images by Harris Digital
