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Building for the Future
Local young people have completed a two-week training course with The Prince’s Trust at DCRS. Read more...
DCRS Web Videos on BBC Dorset
Emsie, our resident Glassblower, and Salt our blacksmith tutor
are both currently featuring on the BBC Dorset web site.
Watch
the video of them in action
An interview with Rob Buckley
Follow this link to hear Rob talking about sustainable building and the use of lime and hemp (known as hempcrete) on Farm Radio .
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About Us
When traditional builders, Rob Buckley and Suzy Carr, became concerned about the loss of traditional building skills and rural crafts, they decided to do something about it. “Skills are no longer passed from generation to generation” explains Rob. “Our solution to preserve these skills and pass them to new people was to establish a local training centre". Together with Chris Wallis, they applied for a grant from Chalk and Cheese to transform an agricultural barn in the North Dorset hamlet of Farrington, and five years ago Dorset Centre For Rural Skills, also know as DCRS, was born.
The backbone of the centre is still in traditional building, but the emphasis has branched into sustainable building courses since both rely on local materials, local people and very often similar skills. Rob has been pioneering modern straw bale building techniques since the centre opened and DCRS runs successful straw bale building courses throughout the year.
DCRS promotes traditional skills and crafts through courses, but it also aims to support the local people working in these trades. Emsie Sharp's glassblowing studio is based at the centre, and all the course tutors are experts in their craft working full-time either from their own studios or in the field. As well as new skills, the people that come on our courses leave with an appreciation of that craft and the time and skill it takes to create pieces from hand.
The Centre has a Management Committee which meets every six weeks on a Saturday morning. All the time given to the Management Committee is on a voluntary basis and it comprises of the DCRS Directors and 'friends of DCRS' from the local community. All recent activity from the Centre is reported at this meeting and any future plans are discussed and decisions are made by the Committee as a whole.
DCRS has many aims, but profit isn't one of them. The Centre was initially funded to convert the building, but DCRS is now not subsidised or funded. The Sustainable Building Resource Centre is an exciting project co-located with DCRS and is was funded by a Chalk and Cheese grant until the end of 2008.
Our people (and pets)
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