‘It’s amazing working at Windsor Castle’

At first sight, the workplace of apprentices Ellie Lanham and Matthew Stockl appears unremarkable, with tools and machines strewn around the white-painted rooms.

But a glimpse outside the window serves as a reminder that their workplace is actually rather extraordinary. The two apprentices are the first cohort on the Queen’s Bindery Apprenticeship, and their place of work is the Royal Bindery at Windsor Castle.

“It is amazing, coming to work here every day,” says 22-year-old Lanham. “It really is an incredible place.”

Lanham and Stockl are just months into the five-year programme at the bindery, an institution that dates back to 1770. The training scheme is led by Philippa Räder, head of the Royal Bindery.

The apprenticeship was created in response to the industry’s need for a way to pass traditional skills on to the next generation. “There was nowhere in this country where you could train as a bookbinder in an apprenticeship way,” Räder explains. Until now.

The Queen’s Bindery Apprenticeship was launched last summer, after several years of planning. It is the first bindery apprenticeship to be offered since the 1970s.

The scheme was created to develop a broad range of bookbinding skills among participants, including fine leather binding, edge-gilding and gold finishing, which were deemed to be at risk of being lost forever.

The seven-year pilot is expected to cost about £500,000, and is supported by partner organisations including the Royal Collection Trust, the Antiquarian Booksellers’ Association and the awarding body City & Guilds.

Two more apprentices will be employed this year, with a further two to follow in 2018. Given the small number of places available, demand is high. More than 250 people applied for the two places last year; of these, 19 made it through to a rigorous selection process of workshops and interviews.

“You have to have fine motor skills, you have got to have an eye for detail and you have got to have 3D imagination,” Räder says.

For this year’s intake, the organisers are considering dropping the minimum requirement in terms of GCSE attainment to attract a broader range of applicants.

Stockl, an illustrator by background, was attracted by the combination of “the traditional and the creative” that the role offers. The most exciting part of the process, he says, is “actually going from the folded sheet to the completed book - that is really fantastic”.

Long legacy

The process of binding books by hand has changed little over hundreds of years. A medieval bookbinder would have little trouble working in these surroundings, Räder says.

But for the new recruits, there is plenty to learn, from the techniques needed to use the range of tools (some centuries old) to how they must prepare the materials they are working with. The blocks - metal tools used to emboss gold crests, letters and symbols on to book covers - show their age, reminding the apprentices of the generations of bookbinders who have used them to embellish their work.

Other aspects of the craft, such as the chemicals used and the health and safety rules to be observed, are more up to date. That is why the apprenticeship is so valuable, Räder explains: the apprentices will have the opportunity to move into a range of careers, from historical book restoration to lucrative work binding books for specialist clients.

Accordingly, the work is tough. “It is very different, it is daunting,” Lanham says. “There are tools here I had never seen before.”

Today, Lanham is sewing pages together by hand - one of the first tasks the apprentices have to master. It is more complicated than it sounds; they must work out how the pages for the book being constructed will need to be stacked, and then decide where the holes for the thread should be placed.

Every trick in the book

“They will be starting on quite a lot of repetitive work to really get it fixed in their heads,” Räder explains. “Then we will move on to more complex structures, simple albums. They are working with cloth covering to start with, then moving on to using leather.”

Despite their limited experience, the apprentices were thrown in at the deep end soon after starting their roles, helping with preparations for a piece of work that was to be given by the Queen as a state gift - a regular task for the bindery. “Ellie and Matt provided help making the gift for Colombia when we needed all hands on deck,” Räder recalls.

The team at the bindery is small: all the training is carried out by Räder and one other book conservator. That means teamwork and good personal relationships are crucial, but it also means the apprentices have a vital role to play. Sometimes, the training has to come second to the needs of the team. “They have to fit around the work of the bindery,” Räder says. “We know what the syllabus is, but it might not always happen in that order.”

‘’It is very different, it is daunting. There are tools here I had never seen before’

To ensure that the learners develop all the skills they need, other professionals will also get involved in the process. An outside expert will, for example, deliver training in knife-sharpening and tool maintenance.

The scheme is being delivered with the support of an implementation group and participants will gain City & Guilds qualifications. “It is possible they will even get to level 7,” Räder says. “Once it gets to level 4 and above, we will follow the professional recognition award scheme of City & Guilds. That is what the goldsmiths do.”

During the programme, the apprentices will also have the opportunity to work at other binderies to boost their employment prospects when leave.

For now, though, there is plenty to keep them occupied at Windsor Castle. Lanham’s next target is adding a gold finish to her first book. “From a design aspect, you can be a bit more creative,” she says. “But I feel like it is a long way off.”

@JBelgutay