Mastercrafts - Monty Don the new champion of Traditional Crafts

"THEY are the crafts that seemed to have fallen foul of our throwaway culture. The intricate dry stone walls cutting gently through our countryside and the delicate wrought iron created at the anvil were seen as dying skills of a bygone era.

Apparently not, according to gardener and presenter Monty Don, who insists such crafts are enjoying a renaissance as people reject the thrill of instant gratification and opt for “meaningful skills [that] modern life hasn’t been very good at supplying”.

Full article here in the Express
http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/150876/Why-we-ve-all-fallen-in-love-with-traditional-crafts-again

If you care about traditional crafts and would like to see them supported and promoted visit the Heritage Crafts Association www.heritagecrafts.org.uk
or joint the facebook group https://www.facebook.com/pages/Heritage-Crafts-Association/76521534812?ref=mf

Isn't he heading up a television programme soon about heritage crafts? (or is it someone else........)

The prog is called Mastercrafts starting from 12 Feb at 8 pm hiden away on BBC2 ...

BBC2 when will they put stuff like this on BBC1...

Hmm, I wonder what they will do, get a popular format, find that its too popular for BBC2, move it to BBC1, change the format to make it "more popular" loose viewers end of programme... Haven't we seen this kind of thing before!!!

Good, if pessimistic point Spar. So an excellent indeed awesome first series, degenerating into a third, where we can see Monty going through the motions with some gurning d-list nobody who has no idea what shes doing, whilst carrying out pointless idiotic interviews with "celebs" who make jokes about the very the basis of the programme, all wrapped up in stomach lurching "magazine" segments.

I'm really looking forward to Mastercrafts, thanks to my overactive imagination they have a lot to live up to and it had better not turn out to be yet more reality sodding tv

Luckily I won't get to see it if it does go that way since we ditched the television. Hope it doesn't though, I quite like Monty, think he'd be good for this one.

It was good Badger.

Didn't like the competitive element at all and would far rather have seen more of the actual crafts, instead, but overall very good.

Nice to see some familiar, local faces on it as Mike Abbott works and does his stuff just up the road from me.....

Guy Mallinson was very good on it as well, very patient and an excellent tutor I thought. IMO.

I thought the bit at beginning was helpful, when Guy Mallison said that you either have an aptitude for working with green wood, or you don't. I found that quite freeing, as I don't have an aptitude for working with wood at all (I had to do a term using wood at art college on a 3D design course) - there's a temptation to think that you have to be good at everything, and it was liberating to knowthat you don't, that you can accept your limitations.

I though it was excellent, although I desperately envied all three participants. Guy Mallinson came across as a surperb and patient teacher and as for Mike Abbott - we're not worthy! Infinitely better than the irritating My Dream Farm.

Guy is a member of the forum and I'm sure that he would be pleased to hear this :-)

I still have an issue with Monty Don, TBH. The thinking woman's garden crumpet.

neither of his current series suggest otherwise to me.

Must admit I am not that fond of him either, does that mean I am not a thinking woman Billy

I don't view him in "that" light at all Billy....I just see him as a presenter, who knows a fair bit about gardening and happens to live nearish to me....

I admire the work he does, especially with young offenders..but crumpet? No.

O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!

Mastercrafts is now available for download via UKnova torrents site.

Downloaded, watched, digested, watched again with the cheesy grin faced attentiveness of a Fanilow being sung to by Barry.

Oh boy, oh my, I am so jealous of Charles, Sarah and Tom, and of course of Guy and his amazing beautiful workspace. Jealous and inspired and even more determined to build my pole lathe this year.

I had my doubts about the format, when I heard that it would be a competitive format, just more reality tv, but I honestly thought that it couldn't have worked better. I enjoyed seeing Guys skilled disciplined approach to work and even watching the 3 students struggle and eventually succeed. I felt Sarahs triumph at the end and loved those chairs.

For me, they could have made an entire series following Guy, Charles, Tom and Sarah for the 6 weeks they spent together.

It was nice to see Monty working again, he had a hard act to follow when he took over from the irreplaceable Geoff Hamiliton and I am sure that coloured my attitude towards him during his tenure in Gardeners world (I find the current incarnation unwatchable). It must have taken a lot of therapy to recover from his stroke to start presenting again - kudos to him.

I have just stumbled across this thread- thank you all for the very kind and encouraging words - they are very much appreciated and valued and thank you also for all of the very welcoming "welcome' messages.
I wish that the editors had shown a bit more of the craft techniques that they all had to practice, but having said that I am delighted and grateful to the BBC & Monty for raising the profile of traditional crafts - hopefully it will benefit everyone and particularly the Heritage Crafts Association and their great work on this. I am in regular contact (daily at times) with all 3 trainees and it is very gratifying to see that the whole experience really has had a positive impact on their life. Our course bookings are going really well as a result of the exposure, which is fantastic from my point of view. I can't imagine what it was like going through 6 weeks of film to get 1 hours tv out of it.

Hi there Guy - great to hear your view on the programme and people's response to it. Have to say that Mr C and I loved it - was great to quite simply see this kind of thing actually on TV - and definitely the sort of thing that I'm glad my TV licence goes towards.

Mrs C