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News & Things
This
is also the page where I put news and my ramblings.
As you can see we have a new look website, thanks
entirely to Lynne who is now looking after the site
and a very good job she is making of it. Although
I am allowed to put in bits like this where I don't
do any harm.
Another year just starting, yet again I am delighted
with the courses being fully booked up for February/March
and I have put on an extra one in July due to demand
(just 1 space left if you would like it), the autumn
ones have also started to get bookings. I have been
altering the layout of the workshop to give a bit
more space when the courses are in progress and changing
the lighting over the benches to improve things. If
you have been to the course pages before you will
notice that I have given the courses new names. This
is to save some confusion about which course to start
with. It doesn't really matter which course you do
first as they are centred around different subjects,
course 1 Tools and course 2 Wood although there is
some overlap, but if you don't do course 1 there will
be a lot of knowledge you will miss out on and the
same applies to course 2. So, unless you are very
confident in tool usage and handling, start with course
1.
We
have had some interesting Commissions over the winter
and more to come as the year progresses. One of the
most unusual has been a headboard made to look like
flames. using different types of wood to simulate
the flames. To give you an idea of scale, the bottom
rail is 72" long (king size bed) and the top
of the centre flame is 30" high. This has worked
out very nicely an has made an eye catching feature.
The
Show season will soon be on us again and we are hoping
to start a little earlier this year with a show in
May and a new marquee if all goes according to plan.
The dates are on the events page and we will be happy
to see you if you can come along to any of them.
Richard
February 07
Here we are in mid May and are we having fun!!
Some nice people decided to brake into the workshop on bank holiday
weekend looking for tools etc. However the boys in blue where on the
ball and caught them and surprise surprise we got all the tools
back, it just shows you that it is worth putting your postcode on to
your power tools as the ones that where marked where left alone,
properly because I had not only written on them with indelible ink
but I had also used a centre pop to punch the postcode into the most
inaccessible places I could fined. So of course we are now doing
what we should have already done and improver the alarm system and
fitted steel internal doors to improve the workshop security.
I am in the middle of a course fortnight, another
extra 2 weeks and then it will be show time, the new marquee has
arrived and we had an interesting few hours putting it up to see how
it all went together and Sue and I where very pleased with it and we
are looking forward to using it at the Northumberland show in 2
weeks time, I will take photos and put them here but if you can get
along to any of the shows this year we will look forward to seeing
you.
Bookings for the autumn courses are starting to
come in now so if you are thinking about it don't leave it to long
or I am afraid you will be disappointed as I will not be able to put
more course on in the autumn as I have a rather nice commission to
make starting in August that will take all of the spare time up
until Christmas.
Richard May 07
It has come to the end of
August and what a strange show season it has been, we have never had
so many shows cancelled before they could start or cancelled half
way through, The new marquee has been a great success giving us some
much needed extra space and much needed boost to our confidence in
its weather resisting properties, the rain we had in Northern
Ireland gave it a real test and not a drop came through although
hundreds of gallons went underneath it making the ground sheet seem
like a water bed at times, and the Galloway event had the worst mud
we have ever experienced but the organisers kept their nerve and the
show went on and the general public come out despite the weather and
enjoyed themselves.
Having had Keswick show cancelled I am having a
couple of days off to recharge the batteries, walking Ash and
catching up with the housework etc, before we start on the
commissions that I have lined up for the autumn and the courses
start in a couple of weeks time so lots of things to look forward
to.
We have some new help around the workshop now as
Mark who came on two of the courses last year has now become
self-employment and is helping out 2 days a week with some of the
commissions.
All the course 1 places filled up very quickly
this year, so I have put on an extra one in November in place of a
course 2 to give a few more of you a chance to come and learn some
new skills.
Richard (end of August)
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