Giving presentations and ideas generating workshops at the St Monica Trust retirement home in Bristol

The St Monica Trust runs several retirement and nursing homes around the Bristol area. I have been asked to carve some sculptures for them to commemorate a grand and well-loved old cedar tree. It grew in the grounds of the Cote Lane site but had to be felled for safety reasons.

As part of the process, it seemed important to give the residents a chance to say what they would like to see carved from the timber of the old tree. So a couple of days ago, I visited the Cote Lane site and gave three presentations to do that.

 

After a presentation about the history of woodcarving and the different ways that it is done around the world, there was a brief demonstration of relief carving and then a chance for those attending to give their ideas for sculptures. There were also some examples of different kinds of timber and some of my previous work there, to help set the mood for thinking about things that are carving related.

 

There were plenty of good ideas put forward and those attending (some of whom are keen woodworkers themselves) hopefully enjoyed the day as much as I did!