P.S. Childs Master Thatcher 1.44

Background: Peter Childs:- Master Thatcher, Award-winning apprenticeship from the Countryside Agency’s (England) Thatch Training Centre in Salisbury, Wiltshire, UK.
Over 30 years’ experience (mainly regional style straw thatching) including self-employment and membership of the Suffolk Master Thatcher’s Association in England, over 15 years of reed and straw work in Ireland.

Employees: Alan Grimes- commenced trainee-ship in scolb and screw-fixed thatching in April 2003 with Brian Simpson. This 52 week Training plan is recognised by FAS and qualifies for the Job Training Scheme.
Owen Murphy commenced his trainee Fas Apprenticeship at Portumna Thatching College, Galway, June 2006. (Vtech Accredited)

Business: Registered business- Income Tax, VAT PAYE/PRSI etc, Tax Clearance for grant-aided work. Substantial premises for off-site preparation of straw and materials storage; own truck, tools, equipment ladders and scaffolding. Fully computerised office back-up; etc

Services: Roof Thatching, Irish Straw Supplier, quotations, surveys, specifications, insurance and mortgage providers, reports, grant information and form filling, roof timberwork .

New and old roofs in quality thatching-grade wheaten straw (not combined) and reed, using steel sways and screw fixings. Traditional thatch or cottage orne styles with plain, bobbin, or highly decoratively shaped and patterned work, to ridges and eaves. Thatching of garages, extensions, porches, canopies, garden features, wells and sheds.

Specialising: Conservation, heritage and tourism work. Historic materials and methods identified and copied where possible, e.g. oats, rye, barley, reed, rushes, marram grass, flax, etc. Using scolb thatching, slice, thrust or fletch thatching, stitching or sewing on. Countrywide service available. Examples of my work can be seen in Skerries, Rush, Balbriggan, Ballyboughal, Oldtown, Meath, Westmeath Louth Monaghan, Armagh, Clare, Wexford and Mayo.

Standards: I operate to the highest and most professional methods available to the modern thatcher. Indeed, the Standards and Specifications document created by myself and Brian Simpson has been adopted by Fingal County Council for the Guidelines on Thatching leaflet.