Traditional building skills were showcased in Callander’s historic town centre on 17 September 2015 to raise the profile of traditional building skills and materials.

School children from McLaren High School came along and were given the opportunity to try their hands at stonemasonry, joinery, roofing & painting and decorating.

The event was run by Stirling Council, Loch Lomond & The Trossachs National Park, Historic Scotland, Forth Valley College and National Federation of Roofing Contractors and was especially designed to encourage young people into thinking about a career in traditional building skills, as well as raising awareness of the skills that are so important in maintaining our historic environment.

Advisers were on hand to explain the opportunities that are available and how to access apprenticeships locally.

There was also free advice on how using traditional methods and materials could enhance your homes.

John McKinney from the National Federation of Roofing Contractors Scotland said: “Callander has a fantastic historical town centre and it is great to see the work recently done in the area and activities to promote and preserved the traditional buildings in the town using the traditional skills on show”.

“Skills like these can be lost but thankfully the support shown by agencies such as Historic Scotland, Stirling Council, Loch Lomond & The Trossachs National Park and Forth Valley College means that they can be passed down the generations and we will be in a far better place to protect our heritage environment in the future.

Gordon Watson, Chief Executive of Loch Lomond & The Trossachs National Park, said: “We are delighted to have been a part of this event. We have supported the renovation of historic buildings in Callander and many other villages, but we are very much dependent on traditional craftsmen to make the aspirations of local communities a reality. Like all of our projects, we want to ensure that there are opportunities for young people to develop the skills that are needed by local employers and we hope this event highlighted the possibilities.”

Jayne Baxter MSP also attended and tried the various skills on demonstration and chatted with each of the apprentices about their experience and their plans for the future.