Sir, Roy Clare’s letter (June 25) states that it is “vital to maintain expertise in preserving textiles and other materials” and notes the growing challenge of the ageing workforce. It should therefore be a matter of big concern to the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council that it is no longer possible to train as a textile conservator in the UK; one must now travel to New York or Delaware to study the subject in English.

Clare rightly draws attention to the need for a variety of training routes in conservation; apprenticeships being one. However, we do not agree with his implication that apprenticeships should be favoured over tertiary-level education. UK plc is an exporter of conservation knowledge and skills, with UK- trained conservators in senior positions overseas. The UK continues to punch above its weight in terms of its influence in this sector. With apprenticeships alone, the UK would lose this position.

Of course, training conservators to a world-class standard in a highly specialised subject is expensive, and this has been recognised by those who have generously supported the Textile Conservation Centre over the years (letter, June 22). Its reward, and the proof of the TCC’s approach, has been the unprecedented success and employment record of our graduates — nearly 300 from more than 50 countries, and the esteem in which it is held across the world.

If the conservation profession and government agencies really can create an appropriate national strategy and a sympathetic understanding of the complex issues involved, all of us who care about our material heritage and its preservation will have real reason to be grateful.

Meanwhile, the trustees of the TCC Foundation will continue in their strenuous efforts to find some future for the world-leading work of the Textile Conservation Centre after its closure by the University of Southampton at the end of October this year.

Peter Longman

Deputy Chairman, Textile Conservation Centre Foundation

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