Perfect your Gargoyle carving skills with a special workshop in Southport

Have you ever wanted to have a go at stonemasonry, creating a gargoyle or dragon? 

Well if you’d like to have a go at ‘chipping off the old block’, Sefton Council's Townscape Heritage team have an event for you!

Bullen construction who specialise in stonemasonry will be hosting a drop-in heritage construction skills event at the Prince of Wales hotel, Lord Street, Southport on Wednesday 25th October, 10 while 3pm.

The event will be held on the car park, encouraging everyone from passers-by and students to architects and anyone with a general interest in old buildings to drop in, watch master craftsmen give demonstrations and you’ll be invited to have a go yourself.

Also on hand will be joiners, lead workers and others with heritage skills, so if you have a question to ask regarding a problem at your own property, or you want to see how building work should be done, please come along.

The event is being arranged to celebrate the Southport Townscape Heritage project which helps grant fund repairs to specific older property in the town centre.

Now in its fourth year, significant activity is happening with shopfront repairs on Bold Street, as well as elsewhere on Coronation Walk, Scarisbrick Avenue and Nevill Street.     

Cllr Daren Veidman, Sefton Council's Cabinet Member for Planning and Building Control, said: “This is a fantastic and rare opportunity for people to experience professionally led teaching in a skill and sector that is extremely specialist.

“This is not your average skills workshop and we expect this to be very well attended by both DIY amateurs and seasoned professionals alike.

“I am proud of Sefton’s Townscape Heritage team and the incredible work they have done on the Southport Townscape Heritage Project. This workshop is yet another fantastic testament to their commitment to preserving and enhancing our historic buildings.”

The Southport Townscape Heritage project, which is taking place thanks to a significant grant contribution from The National Lottery Heritage Fund, will see a number of building's brought back into use with heritage features such as sash windows, verandahs, shopfronts and rainwater goods reinstated and restored.

Mike Bullen of Bullen Conservation Ltd., said, “The heritage skills day is a great opportunity to either gain interest in a career in the specialist heritage field of the construction industry or we can hopefully offer an understanding into how your historic building was put together or just an insight what is required to restore and conserve these historic buildings securing them for future generations.”

For further information about the Southport Townscape Heritage project, to follow progress on individual buildings and to learn about related town centre activities allowing people to learn more about the towns’ historic streetscape, take a look at the Southport Townscape Heritage project Facebook page or the dedicated   www.southporttownscape.org.uk website.