~ British Violin Making Association

'Founded in 1994 and formally incorporated in the following year out of the belief that there should be a society in Britain to promote a fellowship between makers and all those interested in the history of violin making. In other countries, national associations of violin making took the form of professional organisations with barriers to entry for those who didn’t have the required training, but in Britain there has always been a very strong tradition of amateur making that includes both very talented makers, and amateurs whose background in other fields, as musicians or in such fields as acoustics and engineering has provided extremely valuable cross currents of information and learning.'