It was rather anonymous amongst the stacked shelving of Readers Digest publications, Celebrity Bio's, cookery, miscellaneous novels and encyclopaedic volumes but immediately stood out as being of some interest.
For a 70 year old book it is in good condition and surprisingly so as being a Technical Guide on the art of Bricklaying it must have been stuffed in the back pocket of a workman's overall, bike saddle bag, up against a mess tin and left about on the top of the usual trappings of a training room or construction site.
The book, as the title indicates was targeted at those just on the first path or, in brickwork terms, lower courses of a vocation in the trades and hearkens back to the good old days when an Apprenticeship to a Master Crafts-person (my modern equality based description) was a laudable pursuit and promised gainful employment for a lifetime upon completion of the mentoring and with Certificate in hand.
The Post War Period, was one of a resumption of Technical Schools such as Building Colleges for new entrants as well as those leaving the Armed Forces and seeking to retrain to capitalise on the massive re building of a bombing shattered stock of buildings and infrastructure.
The actual age range for the book is 13 to 16 and covering a three year full time programme in theory and practice from classroom to workshop and out on site.
Bricklaying has, in the eyes of lay persons, the perception of magic and mystery.
How is it possible to make such great and edifying structures, multi storey and often on a huge scale out of hardened clay blocks and mortar joints, one on top of t'other?
It is certainly an art-craft and although often relegated to a menial labouring status the brick laying teams of today are masters of their own destiny and justifiably reap the financial rewards for their skills.
A National House Builder, at risk of having to shut down many of its large sites because of a critical shortage of time served bricklayers opted for the idea of an Open Day with full catering and cash prizes to try to entice brickie teams onto its work force. It was widely advertised and promoted but on the actual day, no one turned up.
The status of bricklayer is almost at endangered species level but in the good old economic conditions of supply and demand they are able to pick and chose clients and contracts at will.
The situation is not likely to improve as training opportunities and modern apprenticeships continue to decline.
In response to such labour shortages the construction world is looking at alternative materials to traditional brick for high volume house building in particular with a return to large panel and prefabricated systems and these are already popping up from the backs of lorries on many sites throughout the UK. I have written previously on the development of automated brick laying machines which are already being used in Australia and set to be imported into this country.
Back in 1948 however the gearing up of the construction sector was very well supported as far as working with bricks was concerned and that little green book will have been a prized possession as well as an essential reference work for those entering into a principal building craft for life.
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