The only barrel-making apprentice left in England hopes to keep the 700-year-old tradition alive – amid fears it could die out. Joseph Dunlop, 20, began a four-year traineeship last November to become a ‘cooper’, the name given to a craftsman skilled in creating wooden kegs by hand.
But he admitted feeling a ‘weight on his shoulders’ as there are just five professionals left in the country - and he is now the only person in the running to succeed them.
He said: “I feel some responsibility. I’m the only apprentice in England, and there’s some sort of weight on your shoulders.
“But also, I love what I’m doing, and I loved this trade before I even started working here.
“So after I found this was my calling, that weight lifts off a bit because I know if I’m pouring my heart into it, I should not have any reason to worry about it.”
But he admitted feeling a ‘weight on his shoulders’ as there are just five professionals left in the country - and he is now the only person in the running to succeed them.
He said: “I feel some responsibility. I’m the only apprentice in England, and there’s some sort of weight on your shoulders.
“But also, I love what I’m doing, and I loved this trade before I even started working here.
“So after I found this was my calling, that weight lifts off a bit because I know if I’m pouring my heart into it, I should not have any reason to worry about it.”
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