A Radstock based plastering company, Durrant and Daughter, were recently awarded bursary places on a heritage lime plastering course at the National Trust Heritage skills centre at Coleshill, Swindon.

The course was organised by SPAB, the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings, originally founded by William Morris to preserve buildings from harmful restoration.

Today, SPAB encourages excellence in conservation and restoration, trains the new generation of professionals and craftspeople, and advises local planning authorities.

The bursary places were generously awarded to Durrant and Daughter by the The Worshipful Company of Plaisterers, the 46th Livery Company of the City of London, which encourages excellence in all aspects of plastering.

The course was led by Marianne Suhr, a Chartered Building Surveyor, who is a leading authority on the use of lime, who readers may know from the BBC series, Restoration and her articles in The Telegraph. The plastering techniques were taught by Sean Wheatley and Michal Wolf, both working Plasterers who are nationally renowned and respected for their work on historic and period properties around the country.

The course covered all aspects of lime plastering including the installation of traditional laths and water reeds as backing materials for the plaster, applying haired lime backing plasters, and chalk and lime finishing plasters. Another aspect of the course was Ornamental Plastering, where Students were shown how to cast plaster enrichments and run ornate cornices and mitre the corners of the cornice.

Jon and Lottie Durrant would like to thank The Worshipful Company of Plaisterers for sponsoring their bursary places and the SPAB Tutors for their generosity with their time in passing on their skills and knowledge.

Jon and Lottie now intend to practice what they have learnt on the course in their workshop, with the aim of carrying out heritage plastering work in the near future.

More information on SPAB and the courses they run can be found at http://www.spab.org.uk/

Durrant and Daughter’s progress can be found on the Facebook page: https://www.

facebook.com/DurrantandDaughter