As well as this blog, I also have a website and Instagram page with lots more images of my work as well as a few more stories. If you like woodcarvings, you might want to have a look.
Running workshops for LinkAge is always a lot of fun. They organise projects to try and get young and old people working together, encouraging communication between two groups that might not otherwise come into contact in a positive situation.
I've led several workshops in the west of Bristol for LinkAge previously and it was great to be asked to run these two days at Blaise Weston Court retirement home in Lawrence Weston.
Everything was set up in the main atrium of the building, so residents could drop in and have a go if they wanted to. There were two possible activities; making a simple, shallow relief carving or working together to make a bench from larch timber, to go in the garden of the home.
I hadn't run a session in this kind of environment before and noticed that many people having a go had mobility issues, which would perhaps make going to a venue elsewhere difficult and unappealing. It was great to see them getting stuck into the activity in a more convenient setting and some people commented that they really enjoyed using tools again, after a working life in a trade such as electrician.
Three young people from the local Gateway school were also helping to build the bench and they worked very hard, alongside one of the residents of the home, making a great job of the finished bench.
Everyone seemed very happy with how things went and I hope that the bench will be in the garden for a long time to come!
I've run a few workshops for LinkAge before and they are always great fun. The organisation brings together younger and older people to work together on projects, giving a chance for communication that is often difficult in society. They also run activities more specifically for older people to get involved with, giving a chance for meeting new people and doing new things.
Previously, we have built benches and produced carved wooden plaques. This time, the theme was building nest boxes and insect hotels. In case you are wondering, an insect hotel is an object or area specifically designed for insects to be able to hide in and hibernate. They are often made particularly to help bees (such as bumble and solitary bees), which have been dropping dramatically in numbers recently.
It was nice to catch up with a few familiar faces again and also to meet some new folks. Some of the new participants were very, very nervous about using tools such as saws and hammers for the first time and were also surprised by how much noise such tools made. However, by the end of the session everyone was cutting and joining the wood without any assistance and produced some great boxes and hotels to take home!
It was great seeing people who were afraid to even pick up a saw at the start of the session cutting parts for their projects neatly, safely and efficiently by the end of it. I hope that they will now feel more confident to tackle similar practical tasks themselves in the future.
