All over the world traditional skills and trades are disappearing, and with them whole ways of life. With mass markets and global trade there seems little hope for the survival of the skilled craftsman. But the desire to own beautiful things, and the desire to make beautifully crafted pieces don’t disappear.

Our purpose is to record on film as many as possible of the traditional trades and crafts that are in danger of dying, with the aim of stimulating their survival and revival through inspiring people to support and develop them, and encouraging people to take up or set up apprenticeships and courses.

We are putting films onto a (provisional) website where anyone can download them for no charge. There are so far approximately 100 short films available, half of which are already on www.vanishingtrades.eu distilled from film producer Richard Goodwin’s extensive documentaries shot throughout France. They range from eel fishing in the Camargue, to stonemasonry in Provence, to musical instrument repair in Paris, to silk weaving and sweet making in Lyons. The website has already attracted much attention from all over the world.

We have begun to make films in Scotland, where there is potential to stimulate regeneration and sustain traditional skills, through attracting tourists as well as future craftsmen. Films so far include: tartan weaving, whisky making and peat cutting in the islands, spinning and fish smoking in Fife, a bagpipe maker, a fiddle maker, a traditional highland gathering, and a village shop and post office in Perthshire (the shop has already sold nearly 200 DVDs of the local highland gathering).

We are now planning:

• to make more films, concentrating on Scotland, England and India
• to create a sophisticated website on which the films can be accessed (geographically, by type of trade or craft), with clear indexing and cross referencing
• to build a data warehouse providing links to the craftsmen and trade organisations depicted in the films, and to courses and apprenticeship schemes for those who wish to pursue or perhaps even rescue and develop particular skills.

Over the next two or three years we plan to make a series of films in India (beginning January 2008), and in other European countries including Italy and Poland, as well as disappearing crafts and skills in other parts of Britain.

We will encourage people to send us films of traditional trades that they would like us to consider putting onto the free Vanishing Trades website. There will be editorial control over all material to maintain quality and for technical reasons.

We will promote the website to libraries, schools and colleges worldwide, and to the tourist industry. This might become a vast project, but it will start small and slowly develop, becoming at the very least a priceless resource for future generations, at its more ambitious helping to sustain or revive irreplaceable skills and knowledge.

Richard Goodwin nrb@yahoo.com

Ann Blaber

annieblaber@gmail.com

020 7607 6454 / 07767 603183