Twelve graduates of this year’s Cathedrals’ Workshop Fellowship (CWF) Foundation Degree in Applied Historic Building Conservation & Repair have received their certificates at an Evensong service at Worcester Cathedral on 1 March.
image: for illustration purposes only – Worcester Cathedral by Steve McLeish
… This course has been a truly memorable one…
CWF writes:
The long-delayed (and some might say long-suffering!) ‘Covid Cohort’ have finally crossed the finishing line. Twelve students received their degree certificates at an Awards ceremony in Worcester Cathedral.
The ‘class of 2021’ had a particularly challenging experience on their craft-based programme. Just five months into the two-year course, delivery was suspended during the first Covid-19 lockdown in 2020, when cathedrals were closed and students and tutors were furloughed for up to six months. Thanks to Covid Emergency funding received from Historic England and the Hamish Ogston Foundation the course was adapted for delivery online and continued remotely for almost a year.
However, the practical nature of many of the course modules, requiring visits to cathedrals and other historic buildings, led to further delays and the cohort finally completed their studies, six months behind schedule, in December 2021.
One of the graduates, Tony Nothard from Canterbury Cathedral spoke for everyone when he said: “with all that we went through with the uncertainties of Covid, I really wasn’t sure that we would finally get here. It’s great to be back in Worcester on this memorable occasion”.
This course has been a truly memorable one. Over the last two and a half years not only did the students develop their craft skills to a very high standard, but they also showed remarkable determination, fortitude and tenacity in sticking with the course through the most challenging of times.
They can all rightly be very proud of what they have achieved.
