First saddlery training centre for Walsall in decades opens its doors

A centre to teach a new generation of saddle, bridle and leather-goods makers has opened its doors to help young people into work in Walsall.

The Walsall Leather Skills Centre is offering training to create jobs in the town while supporting the leather businesses upon which Walsall’s reputation has been based for centuries.

The training centre, in The Bridge, is funded by the Saddlers Company Charitable Fund, the principal charity of the Worshipful Company of Saddlers, a City of London livery company tracing its roots back to the 11th Century.

Working with Midlands-based training company Performance Through People, whose roots are in Walsall, the Saddlers Company Charitable Fund has converted vacant shop premises to provide a training workshop offering a wide range of saddlery and leather-goods courses.

Those behind the project hope it will help to plug a skills shortage and reinvigorate an ageing workforce in the town’s saddlery and leather industries. Twenty years ago, around 150 manufacturers were operating in Walsall’s leather industry, compared with around 80 today.

Among those to benefit are a new apprentice who is following in the footsteps of her saddler grandfather.

Hannah Scoffham, aged 19, from Walsall, has changed course to begin an apprenticeship after originally studying health and social care at college. As well as learning at the new Walsall Leather Skills Centre, she will work alongside her grandfather Alf Peakman at Ideal & WRS Co. Ltd in Walsall.

She said: “My grandad gave me a taster afternoon at work to see if I liked it and I knew it was what I wanted to do. It is a good industry. A lot of my friends are doing things like business studies at university but I’m doing something completely different that is also family-based as I get to work with my grandad.”

Peakman started in the saddlery trade in 1973, working his way up from warehouse worker to saddler. He now makes saddles for clients including the Ministry of Defence.

He said: “Our saddles are used by the military including the Household Cavalry. From start to finish each one takes about two and a half days. It is great to see Hannah coming on board as I see a lot of myself in her at that age. It’s nice to have a younger member of the family to train and she is a good learner.”

Patrick Burns, the Saddlers Company trade and training adviser, overseeing the workshop project, said the centre is part of a strategy to promote Walsall Leather as a brand. The Saddlers Company believes Walsall leather products are rightly recognised as among the best in the world.

He said: “This is an opportunity to ensure high quality bridle and saddle making remains in Walsall. The town is known for the quality of its saddlery with exports all around the globe.

“With a skilled, but ageing, workforce new blood is needed to sustain the knowledge and technical understanding critical for a successful modern industry. Leather products, particularly saddles and bridles, made in Walsall can command considerable prices because customers know they are of the highest quality, made to exceptional standards.

“With the opening of this centre we look forward to working with the Walsall leather industry to build a strategy that will sustain growth for their businesses, deliver employment opportunities for young people and create prosperity for the town. Given the twin challenges of Covid-19 and Brexit, we must do all we can to exploit the opportunities that are out there.”

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