Category: Young folk
-
Graduating with Full Honours
As part of Welbeck School’s Children’s University project we were asked to give some aspiring students the experience of woodwork. No one imagined that the wood in question would be enormous, raw trunks of willow, birch and oak tree, with bark, twigs & leaves still attached. Undaunted our charges took to splitting, chopping, drilling, shaving,…
-
Weaving The World
Wishing everyone a hopeful January 1st, and a year that might begin with “a happy sound… Love!” Remembering back, 6 years ago working with amazing young people, classes 1, 2 and 4 at Greenfields Community School, working together to weave a whole world. 80 triangles sawed & stuck & woven into a geodesic wonder. Four…
-
Going back to our roots!
It’s not made from a tree… although it is about a tree! As part of Year 5 & 6 pupils at Welbeck Primary School in Nottingham, got a taste of what it might be like to apply to & learn on a university degree. Pupils studied engineering, sport science, nutrition, computer science and over 5…
-
Contrast
From the tranquility, and zen-like concentration of relief carving on Saturday, to the explosive and unpredictable creativity of Family Making on Sunday. Our weekend at the Learning Land was a time of opposites, the textures, & the temperaments. It was a delight to watch these beautiful carvings emerge from the wood. Sinuous curves, precise lines…
-
Unicorns are real!
We can lay another myth to rest too, the folly that says that old dogs can’t learn new tricks, or that younger ones don’t want to interact with anything unless it flickers and yells from behind a glass screen. Yesterday was an exhausting, exhilarating experiment. Our first day Family Making on the learning land. We…
-
More Meadows
Another glimpse into the lime-tree-legacy being spread from the Meadows. We worked with the Meadows Youth Club, introducing traditional hand skills & building beautiful stools from the wood felled for the tram works, filling the room knee deep in curled shavings. It was heartening to see the young folk’s suprise & delight at the quality…
-
Plastic (not) Fantastic
It’s not all woodwork here you know! Looking back to this time last year, Martin spent a week in London, working with Groundwork London & young folks at Pembury Youth Centre in Hackney, who hoped to reduce their estate’s reliance on plastic bags. Used bags were gathered from home, streets, shops and the tops of…
-
Growing pride
The young folks at Newtons Walk School worked hard this summer; designing, digging, sawing, hammering, fixing, building. From a jungle of a school garden, has grown a circle of seating, a hide-away den, good friendship, teamwork, new skills, trust and pride. We’re certainly proud of them all for what they’ve done, and look forward to…