New Briggate HAZ Welcomes the Heritage Skills Festival

People in Leeds got to grips with traditional craft skills at a heritage celebration event held in the grounds of St John’s Church in the city centre in Saturday 24th September.

The event was staged by Leeds City Council in conjunction with the Churches Conservation Trust, and was organised to highlight work happening as part of the New Briggate High Street Heritage Action Zone (HAZ) regeneration project.

We were delighted to welcome lots of visitors to the Churchyard, who learned about skills and techniques that are used to conserve historic buildings, with opportunities to get hands-on experience of some of the skills being showcased. We were lucky enough to be joined by a blacksmith who helped people make their own bottle openers and coat hooks, coppice workers who shared their skills and helped people make their own flower from coppice wood and we had demonstrations of hot lime mixing, sash window construction, plaster moulding, clay moulding and mosaic making.

With thanks to Michael Godsell for the Photographs.