Why did I become a French polisher?
Well for me it all begins with School, I was never very
happy with the Schools that I attended, the teachers I thought, did not have the
patience or I think for some of them even the knowledge to be able to teach.
Looking back I remember if I was struggling with a
subject the teacher would call me out and I would have to stand in front of the
blackboard and stay there until I could come up with an answer.
Despite the embarrassment caused by this, It did no good
for my self-esteem.
I found that the only subjects that I did reasonably well
in were the ones that I enjoyed and thus metalwork and woodwork.
I loved to make things with my hands, as I could have an
end product that I could be proud of.
I found that the teachers of craft subjects were much
more understanding of pupils that showed an interest in their lessons and for
me, this was certainly the case.
When the woodwork lesson came around I would be very keen
to make an object and then take it home for safekeeping.
I loved cutting the wood and the smell of the pine
timber that seemed to be used perhaps due to its soft density.
As my School days were to come to an end I had to make a
choice what field of work to go into.
And with poor academic achievement, I was dealt limited
choices in my career decisions, my School prior to me leaving set up careers advice day I did attend the day and looked at
all of the advice and information on display, I was keen to look for any
company’s stand that had any connection with woodwork, I saw a stand from Harrods Ltd, and at that time I did
not know about Harrods and just what a distinguished company it was and still
is.
Well I asked the Harrods representatives if they had any
positions that involved woodwork and the answer was yes they did, with this in
mind I wrote to the personal department not really expecting a reply well
finally I did get a reply from them saying that they had a position for an
apprentice French polisher in their Cabinet factory in South Kensington, I
thought yes perhaps French polishing might just be a little easier than
woodwork.
I signed the apprenticeship form that bound me to Harrods
for four and half years, I was keen to take on this challenge and nothing was
going to stop me.
I was fortunate to work with some truly skilled
craftsmen, and looking back it was to be a great opportunity and grounding to
be able to develop my skills and learn from some of the best craftsmen around.
My apprenticeship I think was not an easy one as I had to
do all of the very worst jobs like emptying the rubbish bins, sweeping up the
workshop, going to do errands for the polishers.
There were days when I thought that I could not go on
with this apprenticeship and would often want to give up, but talking to my
Father he would encourage me to stick at it as he used to say “If you learn a
trade no one can take that skill away from you” How true that turned out to be.
I can remember one of the French polishers saying to me
“If you want to learn this trade you had better settle down and stop messing
around” When I returned home, I thought about what I had been told and that was the
turning point I changed for the better and learned as much as I could from all
of the polishers, their techniques skills and them adapt them to suit me.
Time passed and the day came when I was to complete my
apprenticeship.
In those days a new apprentice was expected to leave and
gain more experience elsewhere this is what I did I was to leave Harrods and
move to another company to learn their methods and skills once again.
I eventually returned to Harrods and was employed now as
an adult and treated with respect, this was very refreshing for me and some of
the French polishers that had taught me were still there, it is those craftsmen
that I owe my gratitude. I hope this
will inspire you!
Thank you for reading.
Regards,
Andrew.
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Thank you.
