As the new Master, I welcome you and thank you all for being with us this evening.
In particular, may I extend a warm welcome to our new members.
Archaeological discoveries have revealed that, from the earliest evidence of human existence, people have made things with their hands. Things such as tools, weapons, jewellery and religious artefacts. We have a history of making items for hunting or defence, but also for trade. We use hand skills as an aid to living, making items of practical use, or simply the creation of art for art’s sake; items of beauty.
In medieval communities, people were sometimes known by the manual skills or trades that they practised such as Carpenter, Mason, Fletcher, Smith, Wright; names which prevail even into the modern age. You may have a name such as this yourself.
However, in more recent times, hand skills have been superseded by automation; manufacture by machine, not by hand. Even the Luddites failed to stop the progress of the Industrial Revolution. Now, in the Digital Age, computers control the machines; Artificial Intelligence controls the computers; artful creation surrendered to an algorithm. Crafts which once could be done only by humans are now done by intelligent machines in a fraction of the time and at reduced cost. I perceive the potential loss of that special tactile quality of handmade objects.
There is a feeling of a slow erosion – for craftsmen a sort of redundancy.
I was intrigued and a little alarmed recently by news of a house building project in Holland which proposes to replace bricklayers with robots, bringing a whole new meaning to Flemish Bond.
In this context, just what is the relevance of our august and worshipful Company of Smiths?
“Concordia Fabri”. – Craftsmen in fellowship
This implies a group dedicated to craftsmen as opposed to machines.
It is important to say that the term Craftsmen is used here in the sense of human operatives – men and women- as opposed to machines. Gender bias has no place in our Company. As you see, we have a number of very talented women in our midst.
I believe that there is huge value in human craftsmanship. In myriad and subtle ways, the hand of man can be detected in a handcrafted item against its mechanically produced counterpart. A machine has no mind, hence no soul, therefore no feelings. But we do!
A sort of echo of those very human aspects is left ingrained – imprinted in everything we make. There is a unique quality about objects made from materials that have been manipulated by human hands.
But are we just pursuing some archaic, outdated, ideological and romantic notion, or is there some relevance to our continuing with this celebration of skilled hand work?
No longer do we need to be a protectionist group, sheltering our skilled trades against poaching interlopers from elsewhere.
During my term as Master, I would encourage us to work together to discover a fuller picture of our historical context and also to reach out to other Guilds and Companies like our own; in the interests of comparison and perhaps fellowship. We would seek to make contact with and learn about other groups like ours. We need to consider our relevance in a rapidly changing world.
To this end, we perhaps need to establish a clear identity of our own.
I acknowledge the importance of communication and would look to investigate the use of the internet and social media links to this end. I believe that the key to our long-term survival is to progress and move forward, as opposed to stagnating.
As a group, we feel proud to take our place in the long tradition of people who have earned a living with their hard-won training, knowledge, experience and the skill of their hands. We believe that there is something here of value to be preserved and treasured. We hold out the hope that, by encouraging new craftspeople to join us, the Worshipful Company of Smiths will long continue to uphold the ideals of craftsmen in fellowship.
Master Freeman Don Young