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Lillian Baumbach – fully trained plumber

This is Lilian Baumbach, the first woman who trained to Master Plumber level in 1951 in USA.
There is no record of the first woman to train as a plumber in UK although we know that a woman plumber helped Jewish refugees escape from Nazi Germany during WW11, so women plumbers have been around a while in Europe.
Here in UK there have been female plumbers for some time but it’s only been since the late eighties that anyone noticed this.
When Hattie Hasan, founder of Stopcocks Women Plumbers trained as a plumber in 1990 she was the only woman on her course.
Sadly, it’s the same for most of the women in training who’ve been contacting us for years.
We’re supporting women who’re already trained to become self-employed Stopcocks Women Plumbers with our mentoring and business start-up but now we’re changing the face of training too.
The delivery of training to plumbers leaves a lot to be desired and in our opinion some of it is more than partly responsible for the creation of rogue traders.
Adults wanting to train (and the vast majority of women who train to be plumbers are over 24) are virtually forced by the inflexibility of much of the construction college training into the unscrupulous arms of the private training institutions. Fees charged are upwards of £6500 for training that is unusable while others add on and add on essentials as you go (the more you’ve already spent, the more expensive they get), so you end up paying far more than you’d thought to complete your training. None are able to ensure trainees have access to enough work to complete, or to earn a decent living at the end of the training.

Small wonder people who can’t afford to continue set up while inadequately trained, supervised or experienced.

We want to provide an alternative to this and intend that what we’re providing with a pilot group of women plumbers can be extended.
We’re collaborating with a college to improve the standards of training and assessment and to provide a real training alternative suitable for adults who want to fully train as plumbers.
Our training is quick – one year to train fully and set up your own business as a Stopcocks Woman Plumber, yet long enough to consolidate skills since we aren’t just providing training, we’re providing mentoring and ongoing support which – essentially continues after the training ends.
We support our members to set up their own business so we’re enabling our plumbers to become highly independent and also to have access to appropriate levels of support when it’s needed, to be great plumbers who don’t just do a great job, but who also give excellent customer service. We do this by providing ongoing training, yet more mentoring, a community and a growing national brand.

email or call us for more information
https://stopcocks.uk/women-plumber-training/