Spoon carving at Boiling Wells in Bristol, with the Boiling Wellness group

In July, I got the welcome chance to return to Boiling Wells in St Werburghs to teach spoon carving. 

After four and a half years working there, funding cuts meant that I was made redundant in 2014. I had been back a couple of times to teach since then and it is always good to see the place develop and grow.

This time, I was spoon carving with the 'Boiling wellness' group. It was great to be back in the nature reserve, carving wood with enthusiastic volunteers. We had a lot of fun and everyone got the chance to try a range of woodworking tools, some of which they might not have come across otherwise.

Doing spoon carving sessions with groups is always interesting as people come up with such a range of designs and styles when given the chance to do so. Once they had got the hang of using the tools safely, there was plenty of room for creativity to come out; working with the grain patterns in the wood for example. I hope that people have had the chance to finish their spoons with the techniques we discussed and that they all enjoyed the day as much as I did!

Spoon carving in the sunshine; running a workshop with young people at Boiling Wells in Bristol

It was a beautiful day last Friday - the perfect day to carve a spoon!

I was invited to teach spoon carving to a group of four young people who aren't getting along with conventional education. They could choose from a variety of different timbers (including holly, cherry, lime and sycamore) and also had a range of tools to try; various shapes of axe, different styles of knife, hook knives and spoonbit gouges.

Of course, they were shown how to use all of the tools safely before getting stuck in with them.

There were some very nice spoons made by the end of the day, they just needed a bit of finishing off to be done at home.

Anna and Bill, staff at the St Werburghs City farm, also couldn't resist having a go at carving in the sunshine themselves.

All in all, a great way to spend the day!

Boiling Wells in St Werburghs, Bristol: Images from 2001 and 2014 - Spot the difference!

In the late summer of 2001, some photos were taken while work was being done at Boiling Wells. St Werburghs City Farm had just taken the site over on a lease from Bristol City Council and had started work on turning the derelict wasteland into a space for teaching and activities with young people.

Lots and lots of people from Bristol and further afield have visited this place and have a lot of affection for it, so here's some snapshots of that time for you to enjoy. Thanks to whoever took the original ones from 2001 and also to Jon Attwood, who gave them to the Farm.

I've taken photos a couple of weeks ago to show what I think is as close to the same view as possible,  although Boiling Wells has changed so much that it's guesswork for a couple of them! The images from 2001 are on the left, followed by those from 2014 after each on the right.

 

 

 

 

Last Day as Environmental Officer for Boiling Wells in St Werburghs, Bristol

Tuesday was my last day working as Environmental Officer at Boiling Wells in St Werburghs. I've been working there regularly in different roles for four and a half years, but now I have to go.

I must admit that I'll miss working there every week, Boiling Wells is a very special place. The last session went very well though. The group of volunteers who came to help worked hard with me on making some doors for the roundhouse on the site. Although we didn't have time to finish them, they will look great when done.

Maintaining the site will be left in the capable hands of Bill, the new Estates and Livestock manager for St Werburghs City Farm. Hopefully, I'll still be going down occasionally to help on certain projects.

If you'd like to know more about the site, here's a video that I made there a couple of years ago:

It seemed apt to be leaving at this time of year with a lot of the spring flowers, like these oxlips, just coming into bloom. Times of change, I wonder where the next adventure will lead...

The Boiling Wells roundhouse roof- eight months on.

Here's a couple of images of the repaired roundhouse roof, eight months after the last of the sedum had been laid. It's looking good! 

We had to put some black net around the back of the roof, as a fox or some other wildlife was getting up there and pulling up the sedum mat to look for food. The very dry summer last year also gave the roof a bit of a hard time and meant that a few buckets of water needed to be thrown over it. However, it has grown well to cover a lot of the timber terracing and hopefully next year will see it flourish again.

Another fun day at Boiling Wells!

We had a huge bonfire today.

I had cleared a lot of brambles from the top of the site, so with the help of some of the young people who have visited us on the last couple of Tuesdays they got dragged down to the bottom of the site and burnt. It was quite a blaze!

Even though the fire burned fiercely, there were still some marshmallows cooked over it, although they didn't take long before they were done in that heat.

It's been a great couple of days with everyone and I'm looking forward to one more after Christmas.

A fun day at Boiling Wells in St Werburghs

We had a great day at Boiling Wells today. A group of young people with learning difficulties came for the day and we made pencils, bird feeders and pizzas, which we cooked in the wood-fired pizza oven. Steve England also came down to work with me and Anna (the youth work manager for St Werburghs City Farm). We haven't all worked on a project together since the benches in Stoke Park and it was good to catch up with him. Working with Steve and Anna is always a great laugh and there was a really good atmosphere on site.

The weather was not too cold and it wasn't raining, so it seemed like an opportunity to cook marshmallows over the fire. With Steve's help, a campfire was soon burning and the marshmallows were cooking. I'm looking forward to next week when we will hopefully have another fire (weather permitting!).