Lakeland Arts has partnered with Kendal College to offer an apprenticeship in engineering that focuses on imparting both traditional and modern skills required for crafting heritage boat parts at Windermere Jetty Museum.
In May 2023, boatbuilding was included in the Red List of Endangered Crafts. To address this, a new apprenticeship program focused on heritage engineering has been developed. Its goal is to provide support to the industry by training and retaining a proficient workforce. This workforce will play a vital role in preserving, conserving, and managing our precious heritage and historic environment for generations to come.
Natasha Suriya, Lakeland Arts’ Digital Marketing Assistant, recently had a conversation with Finlay Scott, Lakeland Arts’ Heritage Engineering apprentice, to discover his interests, motivations and hopes for the future of the industry.
NS: Hi Finlay, please will you tell me a little bit about yourself?
FS: After GCSE’s I started doing A levels in biology, chemistry, design and technology. At the end of my first year, I realised I really enjoyed the practical side of design and technology and being in the workshop. I decided to move and do the T Level in engineering at Kendal College. This was a lot better as I was getting into the practical side of things a bit more.
In the summer, between first and second year of the T level, I saw an advert for an apprenticeship at Windermere Jetty Museum which looked like an interesting opportunity and now I’m here!
NS: What interested you most about becoming a boat engineering apprentice?
FS: I have my heart set on engineering, gearing more towards the mechanical side of things. There’s something about old engineering and machinery that’s just special and you feel that you’re working on something that feels more significant than modern things. That drew me towards Windermere Jetty Museum. There are lots of heritage boats around -there’s something special about them.
NS: What engineering skills are you hoping to develop?
FS: I’ve come to discover the great thing about this apprenticeship is that I can develop a bit of everything, pretty much any skill under engineering. From machining to metal fabrication and a bit of electrical stuff as well. I’ve been doing the more museum-based side of conservation work, which is unique to this apprenticeship.
NS: How do you think your work will impact the future of boatbuilding, conservation and restoration?
FS: I think bringing young people in, such as myself, is good for keeping these specialist skills alive for future generations. It can be hard developing the basic skills that you’d need to be an engineer or work in conservation, because there are so many companies focused on highly skilled workers. Apprenticeships in general are good for broadening the range of skills.
NS: Do you use both modern and heritage engineering skills?
FS: We want to conserve as much heritage engineering as possible, but obviously there are times where we need to bring in modern solutions especially when it comes to safety, because we didn’t really have the best health and safety back then. So, things like boilers need to be checked properly. Just the other day we had a boiler inspection to test it was all working properly. It was made from an old boiler that had been cast and a new boiler that we had built, so it was a modern component being placed into our heritage boat. Sometimes you’ve got to do that because the original components have been lost or they are too dangerous to be used in this day and age.
NS: To conclude our chat, if you could choose any boat from our collection, which one would you most like to take a trip on?
FS: Definitely Jane, it’s stylish.
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- Finlay (left) working on Osprey’s boiler.
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- Finlay (right) testing Osprey on the lake.
With thanks to supporters of our boat conservation work and Kendal College for making this apprenticeship possible.
