In Montdidier, retired craftsmen from L’Outil en main pass on manual trades

“Don’t take too much flour, otherwise it won’t work. Make a good gesture to make it into a ball, it’s the thumb that brings everything together. » Leaning over the worktop, Léandre, 11 years old, puts his effort into it but his first little brioches still require a little practice.

Nothing to worry about Michel Liénart, his coach for the day: “I’ve been in the business for thirty years, I’ve had a few apprentices! I am used to transmitting the gestures of the baker-pastry chef. » Léandre looks delighted: “Here, baking is one of my favorite activities. I also liked the mechanical workshop. It allowed me to learn things to tinker with my father who is a farmer. »

Between making brioches and dismantling brushcutter engines, the gap seems at first glance large. Not for the seventeen young people aged 9 to 14 welcomed, every Wednesday afternoon, in the premises of the Jean-Racine high school in Montdidier, in the Somme, by around twenty retirees who teach them, in alternation, the basics of around ten activities: cooking, electricity, baking, hairdressing, gardening, Meccano (the construction game), carpentry, cabinetmaking, mosaic and small mechanics.

These teachers are part of the 7,300 volunteers who work in the 280 local branches of L’outil en main, an association founded at the end of the 1980s in Troyes. The goal: to introduce the youngest to the handling of the tool, to the understanding of gestures and to introduce them to manual professions. Each branch offers activities according to the skills available.

This is how in Montdidier, Gabin, 11 years old, tries his hand at cutting hair on a styling head. “I like it, maybe I’ll try it on my parents,” he smiles, proudly showing how any good professional should hold their scissors. “It’s the first gesture to learn,” explains Jacky Liebert, who worked as a hairdresser in the Paris region and in Brittany. I also take the opportunity to talk to them about hair physiology. The children may not work in hairdressing, but they will learn something from it. »

The intelligence of the hand

A philosophy shared by his Samarian colleagues. These former carpenters, electromechanics or pastry chefs do not want to put pressure on young people who choose to spend two hours a week with them, compared to 95 euros per year. The primary idea is to introduce them to activities that they sometimes do not even suspect exist or that they cannot practice at home, due to lack of tools or parental skills. It’s up to everyone to continue afterwards or not.

For these graying heads, the social bond between generations is a driving force, even if they hope to make a contribution to the revaluation of manual work, while 300,000 craft businesses will need to be taken over in the next ten years according to the Chamber of Trades and Crafts. “We sometimes have the impression that manual professions are just about execution,” note Bernard Cauchetier, president of the Montdidier branch, and Philippe Bacquaert, treasurer. Here we show them that any activity requires thought and creativity. »

From theory to practice

The children take the opportunity to review their school lessons. At the electricity workshop, Robin, 9 years old, who signed up because a friend told him he wouldn’t be bored coming here, makes a map of France where each wiring must correspond the region to its prefecture. Just a stone’s throw away, Lucien, 9 years old, carefully cuts his plank of wood under the gaze of Serge Caffier, carpenter. “When I have them make tea towel racks, we remember the division to calculate the distance between the racks. When we make a nest box, we review the geometry. These are concrete applications of their teachings. »

Arguments which convinced Pierre Urbaniak to enroll his son, Léo: “This initiation can constitute a first route to a manual profession, all the more interesting as some of these professions will be less impacted by artificial intelligence or relocations”. In ten years, five of the young people who went through L’outil en main de Montdidier have chosen a school path linked to their discoveries on Wednesday afternoon.