Alastair Simms

Last updated

Alastair David Simms is one of the last remaining master coopers in England. [1]

Contents

Early life

Simms grew up in the town of Masham in Yorkshire. [2] He attended Masham CofE Primary School from 1968 to 1974 and Bedale High School from 1974 to 1979. [3]

Training

Simms began his apprenticeship in 1979, training at Theakston Brewery in Masham. [2] He became a journeyman cooper in 1983. [4] He attained the rank of master in 1994 when his apprentice completed his training, [1] which is the requirement for mastery. [5]

Career

After leaving Theakston Brewery in 1995 he worked for eighteen years at Wadworth Brewery. In 2013 he set up his own business, the White Rose Cooperage Ltd, in Yorkshire.

Simms was involved in the 2015 film In the Heart of the Sea , providing barrels and other items, creating a cooperage on the set and being filmed working with other craftsmen. [2] In August 2018 he took the position of Head Cooper at Yorkshire Cooperage. In October 2020 he took the position of Master Cooper for Jensen's Cooperage Ltd in Ripon.

Simms has appeared as an expert on the BBC television series The Repair Shop . [6]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Smith's Brewery</span> Brewery in Tadcaster, North Yorkshire, England

John Smith's Brewery in Tadcaster, North Yorkshire, England, produces beers including John Smith's, the highest selling bitter in the United Kingdom since the mid-1990s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cooper (profession)</span> Maker of staved vessels such as barrels

A cooper is a person trained to make wooden casks, barrels, vats, buckets, tubs, troughs and other similar containers from timber staves that were usually heated or steamed to make them pliable.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Masham</span> Market town and civil parish in North Yorkshire, England

Masham is a market town and civil parish in North Yorkshire, England. It had a population of 1,205 at the 2011 census.

Webster's Brewery was a brewery that was founded in 1838 by Samuel Webster and operated at the Fountain Head Brewery in Halifax, West Riding of Yorkshire, England. Webster's Green Label, a light mild, and Yorkshire Bitter gained national distribution after the company was taken over by Watney Mann in 1972. Throughout the 1970s it was known for the advertising slogan: "Drives out the northern thirst".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Black Sheep Brewery</span> Brewery in Masham, North Yorkshire, England

The Black Sheep Brewery is a brewery in Masham, North Yorkshire, England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Simm</span> English actor, director and musician

John Ronald Simm is an English actor, director, and musician. He is best known for playing Sam Tyler in Life on Mars, the Master in Doctor Who, and DS Roy Grace in Grace. His other television credits include State of Play, The Lakes, Crime and Punishment, Exile, Prey, and Cracker. His film roles include Wonderland, Everyday, Boston Kickout, Human Traffic and 24 Hour Party People. He has twice been nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Actor and the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Samuel Smith Old Brewery</span> Brewery in Tadcaster, North Yorkshire, England

Samuel Smith Old Brewery, popularly known as Samuel Smith's or Sam Smith's, is an independent brewery and pub owner based in Tadcaster, North Yorkshire, England. It is Yorkshire's oldest brewery, founded in 1758, and one of three breweries in the town. Samuel Smith's, which is an unlimited family-owned company, produces a range including bitters, stouts, porters, lagers, and fruit beers, and is known as a highly traditional and somewhat eccentric operator of around 200 pubs due to its continued use of dray horses, bans on music and mobile devices, and low beer prices.

Robert Pugh is a Welsh actor, known for his many television appearances, including the role of Craster in the HBO series Game of Thrones.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">York Brewery</span> Brewery in York, England (closed 2018)

York Brewery is a brewery, formerly located in York within the city walls, owned by Black Sheep Brewery in Masham where York Brewery beers are currently brewed.

Combe Delafield and Co. was among the major brewers in London during the nineteenth century, before being acquired by Watney in 1898, thus forming Watney Combe & Reid.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Society for the Preservation of Beers from the Wood</span>

The Society for the Preservation of Beers from the Wood (SPBW), founded in 1963, is the oldest consumer-based group interested in stimulating the brewing of, increasing the awareness of, and encouraging the drinking of traditional cask ale. The Society also supports and encourages the use of wooden casks for beer dispense.

William Jackson was an English organist and composer, who also spent some time being a miller, his family's profession, in their home-town.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Camerons Brewery</span> Brewery established in County Durham, England

Camerons Brewery is an English brewery established by John William Cameron in Stranton, Hartlepool, County Durham, in 1865. It is the largest independent brewer in the North East of England, with a brewery capacity of 1.5 million hectolitres and a tied estate of 75 houses. It is one of the oldest industrial concerns in Hartlepool, and has historically been one of the largest employers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Castle Eden Brewery</span> British brewery

Castle Eden Brewery was a brewery that operated in the village of Castle Eden in County Durham. It was best known for Castle Eden Ale, which continues to be produced at Seaham.

Beer is produced through steeping a sugar source in water and then fermenting with yeast. Brewing has taken place since around the 6th millennium BC, and archeological evidence suggests that this technique was used in ancient Egypt. Descriptions of various beer recipes can be found in Sumerian writings, some of the oldest known writing of any sort. Brewing is done in a brewery by a brewer, and the brewing industry is part of most western economies. In 19th century Britain, technological discoveries and improvements such as Burtonisation and the Burton Union system significantly changed beer brewing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Theakston Brewery</span> Brewery in Masham, North Yorkshire, England

T&R Theakston is a brewery in the market town of Masham, North Yorkshire, England. The company is the sixteenth largest brewer in the UK by market share, and the second largest brewer under family ownership after Shepherd Neame. Its best known beer is Old Peculier.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Royal Clarence Yard</span>

Royal Clarence Yard in Gosport, Hampshire, England was established in 1828 as one of the Royal Navy's two principal, purpose-built, provincial victualling establishments. It was designed by George Ledwell Taylor, Civil Architect to the Navy Board and named after the then Duke of Clarence. The new victualling yard was developed on approximately 20 hectares of land, some of which was already in use as a brewing establishment at Weevil on the west shore of Portsmouth Harbour, to the north of Gosport.

<i>The Repair Shop</i> British television show

The Repair Shop is a British daytime and primetime television show made by production company Ricochet that aired on BBC Two for series 1 to 3 and on BBC One for series 4 onwards, in which family heirlooms are restored for their owners by numerous experts with a broad range of specialisms. Furniture restorer Jay Blades acts as the foreman.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Church of St Mary the Virgin, Masham</span> Church in North Yorkshire, England

The Church of St Mary the Virgin, Masham, is the parish church in the town of Masham, North Yorkshire, England. The church stands on the site of an Anglo-Saxon place of worship with some the original Saxon stones incorporated into the current church. Archaeology has determined that the site has been used as a place of Christian worship for over 1,400 years.

<i>The Burton Cooper</i> 1977 English statue by James Butler

References

  1. 1 2 "England's only master cooper predicts demise of barrel making". The Telegraph. Retrieved 20 April 2014.
  2. 1 2 3 "Cooper's mission to keep the barrels rolling". Yorkshire Post. Retrieved 20 April 2014.
  3. "Alastair Simms". LinkedIn. Archived from the original on 28 June 2014. Retrieved 20 April 2014.
  4. Tierney-Jones, Adrian. "Coopering: roll out the barrel". The Telegraph. Archived from the original on 10 February 2010. Retrieved 20 April 2014.
  5. Fenwick, Treeva. "Barrel-maker seeking apprentice". BBC News. Retrieved 20 April 2014.
  6. "BBC One - The Repair Shop, Series 3, Episode 1". British Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 19 May 2019.