POLAND-OBSOLETE PROFESSIONS Young Poles turn back the clock for disappearing professions

Record ID: 146244

  • Title: POLAND-OBSOLETE PROFESSIONS Young Poles turn back the clock for disappearing professions
  • Date: 23rd July 2015
  • Summary: ROSKOSZ, POLAND (JULY 22, 2015) (REUTERS) VILLAGE OF OBSOLETE PROFESSIONS PAVERS FITTING STONES INTO COBBLED ROAD STONES BEING FITTED PAVERS FITTING STONES INTO COBBLED ROAD VARIOUS OF STUDENTS MAKING ROOFING OUT OF RYE (SOUNDBITE) (Polish) PRESIDENT OF THE RIVER BUG FOLK UNIVERSITY, BOZENNA PAWLINA MAKSYMIUK, SAYING: "The profession of the wheeler does not exist any more,
  • Embargoed: 7th August 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Poland
  • Country: Poland
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA1Y72SOQ9ACVJTQX0G7TZ8Z5QE
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: In Poland's Roskosz, a team of stonemakers hammer cobbles into a road between one of five wooden shacks, ready for the footfall of apprentice weavers, thatch roofers, tilers and bakers. But this isn't a medieval village: this is a European Union project to train youths in professions rapidly growing obsolete.
    The scheme, managed by the local European Centre of Upbringing and Education in Voluntary Work under the title "Obsolete Professions as an Idea for the Future", saw the creation of a purpose-built settlement which comes to life every morning with the ringing of hammers and clack of looms.
    For the 160 participants, hours may begin early but lessons are far from traditional classroom learning, with hands very much on from the off. Masters and trained supervisors keep a careful eye on students as they grapple with materials and technology they may never have even heard of before.
    Organisers said that the lessons were not just intended as a nostalgic quirk, but that to provide a solid training from which participants could later earn money.
    "The profession of the wheeler does not exist any more, there is no such work, but we have managed to discover four masters of this profession in Poland who were just conducting educational demonstrations in heritage parks. And now it won't be a demonstration, but a profession acquired by the young man who will be able to apply it in practice in atypical services and orders which may appear as the skills reappear," one master and president of the River Bug Folk University, Bozenna Pawlina-Maksymiuk, said on Wednesday (July 22).
    "In today's world which is chasing technology and modernity and is flooded by mass products, people are seeking a unique product, which is hand-crafted and inimitable and will be sought by increasing numbers of people who want to improve their life once they've got richer. It is seen both in the material and the spiritual dimension, where they tend to complement their equipment with utensils which have the value of being unique and inimitable. I think that professions like thatcher or shingle fitter, blacksmith or baker-confectioner will be popular amongst the clientele. They will be professions sought-after and well paid, as we constantly think that they will be a rarity," the Director of the European Centre of Upbringing and Education of Voluntary Work Regiments in Roskosz, Andrzej Czapski, said.
    Budding tradesmen and -women have to be between the ages of 18 to 25 and in danger of social exclusion, with applications coming in from all over Poland. One eager weaver, Tobiasz Kubasik, said that he could imagine stitching together a bright future with his newly-found skills.
    "Thanks to this, it might be easier to find a job in the weaving sector and related sectors. Moreover, there is a chance of getting a job in rural tourism by weaving and showing how to weave fabric and how it used to be woven," he said.
    His master, Magdalena Papakul, agreed that students were learning that the creation of unique, high-quality items could be both lucrative and fulfilling.
    "You can earn profits from it and I think that the youth may do it as well, thanks to the fact that there are dressmakers here that make little backpacks. The youth wouldn't be interested in fabric itself. But when they see that they make such a beautiful things as vanity bags, some handkerchiefs, telephone cases, they start to see that it may be used afterwards, that it is fun to do," she said.
    The village plays host to nine different professions: blacksmith, wheeler, saddler, stove fitter, stone mason, roofer, baker, confectioner and weaver.
    But just because it seems a world away from desks in a classroom doesn't mean that the junior artisans are exempt from the trappings of the normal education system: all must face an apprentice examination in July this year in front of the discerning eye of the Craftsman's Chamber, who will assess whether the apprentices' time -- and the funding from the EU -- have been well spent.
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