Tuesday 13 July 2021

Slough House Wood with Katie Abbott and friends



May 19th 2021

Well it has been a long time since I was last here. Katie has moved to be nearer her family.  I have visited Will and Sue not too long ago but not seen Nic and Olvin since lock-downs. This group never waste a second of their time.  Always doing new stuff or reinventing different ways of doing it. 

Katie and Sue were busy doing crochet.












Olvin has been busy making himself leather and wood tool bags.











Spaniels bonding amongst the bluebells.













Swarm of bees moving around the wood but settled here.







Nic has some lovely planes - a Stanley bedrock and a Lee Neilson



Always a pleasure to meet up again in the woods. Am experiencing difficulties inserting videos still.

Monday 21 June 2021

Burwash Group at Heddingham Art Centre

Sunday 13th June

This was the first outside event for the newly relocated Burwash group run by David Owen. 



A very pretty and shaded venue on what was a very hot day. This group were alway very well setup for interaction with the public especially children. Willow work, shavehorse and rounders ,aking the hedgehog. 

Tuesday 6 April 2021

Burwash group

Easter weekend meeting at Burwash Manor Cambridge.   3/4th April 2021

The ex Wimpole lathers are now relocated not too far away and closer to the M11. They are set up on the border of the car park which means the public have to walk past them to access the shops. They have created a green woodworking area with shavehorses, a secure storage for tools, kettles etc and a separate pole lathe area. There are plans to expand this area even further. 

This was the first eased lock-down meeting under the rule of six.  There were three separate areas of work, the other was in the car park. Obviously great to catch up with some people I have not seen for a very long time. 



Shane and Jayne were processing chair parts prior to steam bending.










Isaac is a local lad who was doing his own thing, refreshing to meet younger blood who are passionate about traditional skills. This area is normally used for the pole lathes.




David Owen was sporting his Easter Hat, very much in vogue with the egg hunt he was involved with over the holiday period. Assisted by Jon Bailey and Elspeth a very talented young lady who appears to excel at everything (now I wonder where she gets that from?).





These are the plans for the round wood building they plan to erect in the corner of the car park. It will be used to run green woodworking courses.











Jayne on the shavehorse is talking to Mike who has changed his lifestyle and is now an artisan sough-dough bread maker. My birthday present is asleep underneath.







Well this meeting was successful and all bodes well for the future. The driving force is David Owen but it all works so well due to the contribution made by others - Simon Damant, Jim McVittie, Andrew, Jon Bailey, Shane and Jayne O'Reilly.