Meet 'The Amazings': talented, experienced craft makers :: Craft courses

PR Bernadette from The Amazings teaching knitting

Who first showed you how to knit, bake or saw a piece of wood in two? Chances are, it was someone older than you - perhaps much older. Our elders have so much time-honoured wisdom to share. And that's why we're hearing more and more about a growing young start-up social enterprise called The Amazings.

Go onto The Amazings' website and you'll find dozens of short courses in all things crafty on offer, each one taught by an inspirational (and hence 'amazing') over-50.

Lathe a wooden bowl with Paul, a white-bearded woodturner. Try out loom knitting with Dot, who has well over 50 years' knitting experience. Hand-build a pot with Lesley, who's been perfecting her craft as a ceramicist for over a quarter of a century. Concoct homemade beauty and cleaning products with Judith, who's been crafting since the age of three. Or make a kilt (yes, a kilt!) with Paul.

The beauty of this brilliant new approach to adult education is in the huge breadth of creative subjects to choose from, each one being a genuine passion for the teacher. And if you want to learn something totally different, The Amazings' classes go far beyond crafts - you can learn chess, how to build a property portfolio, Cuban salsa, jazz guitar, wine tasting, even nuclear physics!

Costing around £20 for a single class or £120 for a course, there are over 120 classes to try. And the range of classes is always evolving, as new teachers come on board and suggest fresh ideas. 'We now have 300 registered 'Amazings',' says founder Adil Abrar, 'and we're operating all across London'.

So how exactly does it work for teachers? Adil explains: 'It's free to list a skill, and then we put that to the vote online. Once 20 people have said they would like to learn the skill, we make their class 'live' and people can book it online. On a course, the elder gets 80% of the income, and on a class, 70%.'

Loom knitting teacher Dot tells us that she's been knitting for 55 years, but only took up loom knitting herself four years ago after watching a programme about it on TV. 'I actually used to French knit as a child, and found loom knitting is very similar,' she says. 'I now have a huge collection of different looms.'

When she was contacted by the Amazings team, she says: 'I signed up because I know the importance of passing on skills to others. There's a danger that we lose so much if we don't help the next generation learn.' (Click here to watch a short film about Amazing crafter Dot.)

Christina, an interior designer who is about to lead a course on making home furnishings with your sewing machine, says: 'Teaching children has been part of my voluntary work for many years, but teaching adults with The Amazings is a different challenge. Kids judge their work on how many goes they have, not how good each of those goes is. Adults want to have just one go, but do it perfectly first time.'

What does she enjoy sharing with her students? Her love of colour. She explains: 'I thrive on producing beautiful environments with soft furnishings, and selecting and making art. Colour is my thing and understanding how colour works in our lives is an ongoing fascination for me.'

The Amazings recently launched a 'nominate your town' campaign for people to tell the company which town to roll out to next. Adil says: 'Our idea is to expand to a new city in the early part of 2013 - but it will be for the public to help us decide.' So do cast a vote on The Amazings' website for your town to join in the fun.

And if you're over 50 with a skill (or 10) to share, and you want to earn some recession-busting extra cash and meet new people, why not become an Amazing yourself? All you need to do is let the team know what your idea is by filling in this online form.

Adil says: 'This is how the human race has developed - through elders passing on skills and wisdom generation to generation. This tradition has been a bit lost now that we increasingly live in dense, metropolitan cities, often far away from our parents. We're just aiming to make it easier to make it easier for different generations to mix and pass on skills.

'There’s nothing better than learning from someone who has a lifetime of experience, sharing shortcuts that you won’t find in most books or websites, and dropping in little stories that make the learning experience really special.’

We couldn't agree more!