Mayo cooperage welcomes two new fully qualified coopers to their workforce
Dair Nua Cooperage in Foxford welcomes two new fully qualified coopers to their workforce. One of them has been introduced via an ancient tradition.
The profession of Cooperage is thousands of years old, and the design of the casks and methods in the trade has changed very little, if any, in that time.
And Dair Nua in Foxford is keeping the tradition of this ancient craft alive.
Just recently, Henry McDonnell has qualified as a journeyman Cooper last week. He is originally from Ballyvary, but now living in Ballinafad, Co. Sligo. The 48-year-old was a HGV mechanic for 25 years before making the big leap to start a new trade from the very beginning and start an apprenticeship at 44 years of age.
After four years of apprenticeship, he was introduced via an old ceremony called “trussing”:
The trussing ceremony is conducted when the apprentice becomes fully qualified. He is dunked into a cask, the hoops are hammered by other qualified Coopers, followed by all sorts been dumped onto the newly qualified Cooper, this could range from wood shavings, floor sweepings, chalk dust, or anything else that can be got a hold of. The cask is then toppled onto its side and rolled and spun around before the Cooper can exit it again.
Currently Henry is the 10th qualified cooper working in Ireland, there are a further three apprentices currently working in Dair Nua.
Another apprentice passed his trade test last month, Joshua Davidson, and he is to become qualified next summer. Josh is 24, from Lahardane. He is three years into his apprenticeship.
The Coopers apprenticeship is done through the Scottish Coopering Federation. They learn the trade in the Cooperage, there is no college work, it is all on site, and from time to time they will spend time in other Cooperages to learn from other Coopers the different styles of the trade, this can vary from country to country.
After the apprentice has 3 years done, they have to do a trade test. This is done in their own Cooperage and 2 Coopers from another Company comes to him and watches him do a series of tasks, eg, they have to raise a hosghead (wine) cask from being fully disassembled to fully assembled and ready to fill, they have to repair a butt (500litre cask),repair an end by hand, rivet a hoop by hand. This is all done manually and by hand.
If the inspectors are happy with the apprentices work and knowledge of the trade, then after the 4 years of the apprenticeship is up then the apprentice is qualified.
This is what Josh last undertook last month and passed with flying colours.