Mentors and Students
I hope everyone has a had a lovely Christmas and are looking forward to a prosperous New Year. Whether that be financially, attaining more knowledge within your chosen field or maybe more time with the family. Success can be measured in so many ways.
I sit here tonight with no notes in front of me but with a want to write something, for myself or for others, Im not really sure. However, with the house my own this evening. I sit here with my thoughts and nostalgic thoughts they are. Recently I have had people contact me through social media and want to tell me of their memories of a trade they love, the way in which it was passed on to them and the indelible mark which was left by the people who took time and patience to show them the beauty of working with their hands. I have to say I truly love talking to people about this. And I can’t help but wonder, even with all the resources the internet has to offer that generations are missing out on the human interaction between mentor and student. The critical feedback loop that is required for us to know if we are on the right road or not. Informed of this by people who know how to do it. The respect that we once yearned for from the ones who came before us and showed us the way is now a thing of the past and been replaced by a thumbs up or a little heart icon given to us by our peers. And even though this means that people have taken the time to engage with us to offer support and encouragement it will never replace the the true feeling of a mentor issuing you a task to complete on an important piece. Be it furniture, roofing, joinery it really doesn’t matter. What matters is the fact they have placed their trust in you. Why? They taught you. They know your capabilities and the years of experienced gained by these role models has given them the right to say if you get to more on or if you don’t. There is no written test. If you succeed in completing this task to a standard to which you are happy but more importantly they are, you pass and that little creaking door opens slightly and that small ray of respect is offered by someone you truly admire.
I was shown this way of life by two individuals who meant the absolute world to a 16 year old boy who wasn’t having the easiest time in life. We all have stories to tell. Yet, at that age you’re still not a man. You’re at the age when guidance is required no matter how much you think you know or how right you think you are. That being said I knew that Carpentry and Joinery was what I wanted to do more than anything and I was so keen to learn. Garrick was the joinery foreman who taught me joinery and machine work. Trevor was a site foreman running big one off jobs as well as all the first and second fix and everything in between. An awesome organiser and greatly respected by the trades that worked under him. He knew how to deal with people. Make no mistake these two men could well have flipped roles as the training I was given, had been given to them in the same way I was recieving it. It was all encompassing then. You knew how to do the job or you didn’t. That was it. Yet Garrick had an inbuilt flare. The man could have been an artist. I remember once Trevor saying to me.
“You and me will have to work at it boy, but Garrick can just do it”.
It’s funny you know. They didn’t demand respect from anyone. They just got on. Humility was in both of them. Yet because of what they did and how they did it you couldn’t help but admire and respect them both. As a young lad if I couldn’t grasp a way or reason for doing something they would stop what they were doing and with a fag paper sketch they would go through whatever I needed help with until the concept was etched into my mind. Trevor always said it was easy with me because I so badly wanted to learn it.
“If you got a boy that wants to learn and is accepting of the lessons. Well, your 3/4’s of the way there”.
They taught me so much. I went through the trials and tribulations of being an apprentice and the fun for them that it entailed. Some of the stories probably worth of a post of their own. Yet, I wouldn’t change a thing. They taught me so much. They guided me, helped me with my tools, invited me into their lives and taught me the trade that has made me and my family a living ever since. They were and still are my mentors.
These days when I’m working on or finish a project they often pop into my mind. The true feeling of gratitude of learning from them rushes over me. Pretty deep stuff I guess. I still do odd and sods for Garrick’s son-in-law, Ben. Who runs his own successful Winchester based building company. I became close to the families of both Trevor and Garrick. A fair few months back Garrick’s daughter, Laura got hold of me. She had been to see him with Ben and their children. Being the man he is and at his age, Garrick doesn’t really require the social media thing. Yet she showed him what I had been doing via Instagram etc. Showed him my work at his dinner table. I’ll never forget the words she said to me after he had had a look at it all.
“He went all quiet. Thinky James. You know my Dad. Do you know James I believe you are my father’s greatest working achievement. Dad said the student had out done the teachers”.
Laura never knew, she will now I guess. The odd tear rolled down my cheek. It sounds silly but the comments were too much. I still believe now they would run rings round me. The respect I have for them both is unquestionable.
I find it so sad that these days that the sort of teaching I was given is dying out. Time and money dictate. Get the job done. Technology moves on and that’s as it should be. There are some extremely talented people out there who want to share the ways and knowledge. Yet I can’t help but think so many people are are being taught from videos online that have been watered down from the original source of the content. Information is being lost in translation and what I have described above will never be delivered by Youtube.
The real question must be. Do you ever miss what you never had?????
