HAYES IN THE HOUSE: Safeguarding our special character and culture
| Updated: 09:01, 09 April 2021
If asked to consider the sectors which drive our economy; food production, financial services and manufacturing all spring to mind.
But beneath the hum of these powerful engines of prosperity, a cacophony of quietly turning cogs make a pivotal, albeit often underappreciated, contribution to our communal wealth.
Amongst them, the heritage craft sector, with a turnover of £10.8billion, supports â directly or indirectly â more than 210,000 jobs.
Sir John Hayes.
However, craftsmen and craftswomen â in the absence of specific, fixed financial support from central government â face unprecedented Covid-19 related challenges. Research conducted by the Heritage Crafts Association reveals 70 crafts are in danger of extinction, with an additional 36 crafts now âcritically endangeredâ.