Been a busy week since taking ownership of my new property, with help of a good friend and my big sis, we have mostly gutted the shop, and cleaned the apartment and got lounge and bedroom painted and I laid the bedroom carpet today. Will be moving in on Thursday and moving equipment on Friday then the work will really start in earnest.

Norwich Woodturners meeting tomorrow evening has been cancelled. See you all in April.

View from my front door, guess it had to happen, after 5 months I’m finally getting the keys to my new place today and it decides to throw me yet another obstacle. Still heading over to the shop shortly to start cleaning the apartment and decorate a couple of rooms, and hopefully move in properly early next week, then the fun begins ripping out the ground floor to convert into my gallery, turning room and workshop.

Last picture of me in my current workshop, next one will be in my new workshop and gallery as I get the keys next Tuesday, it’ll be a busy couple of months refurbishing the place but hope to have the gallery open by Easter, and workshop areas done 2 weeks later then start addressing everything else. Also a picture of my new property and what I hope it’ll look like in a few weeks. Busy but exciting times await.

Another step in the right direction, have transferred the money for the deposit on the new property so hopefully exchange of contracts and a completion date will be forthcoming. Only taken 4.5 months to get this far. Also received notification yesterday that my application to join the Register of Professional Turners supported by the Worshipful Company of Turners has been successful following my assessment and workshop visit last week. I will now be able to start getting quotes for the shop livery, brochures, flyers etc. Finally the end of all the delays and waiting appear to be nearly over, who knew buying a combined residential/commercial property would be so problematic. Fingers crossed for the next couple of weeks that nothing else crops up to delay the move.

My first time in print!, 5-page article about me and my work, the magazine goes to over 60 countries, that should raise my profile a bit. Thank you to Mark Baker and his team at ‘Woodturning’ magazine for this opportunity.

All loaded up ready for doing a demo tonight at Chesnuts Woodturning Club in Hadleigh. I was last there in July 2016 so it’ll be nice to see some old friends, glad the weather has calmed down, wouldn’t have enjoyed a 100+mile round trip in the weather we had last night.

Here’s a picture I was able to do myself!! When piece is turned off it’s just a mirror, once switched on it becomes a little different and has a 44 button controller to adjust the colours, flashing, fading, static lighting effects.

Piece I finished earlier this month but I struggled to get a decent video of it, thankfully my son and daughter home for Christmas from uni, and Skye was able to superimpose two video clips together to achieve this clip, all my efforts failed!!

Merry Christmas to you all, my family, my friends and my online friends I have yet to actually meet. Hope your all having a fantastic day. Xx

Well finally great things are happening for me, my life and my Woodturning. I’ve finally obtained a mortgage for a property in Lowestoft in Suffolk on the High Street, this property has a ground floor shop, storage and workshop space and has a 3 bedroom flat above. I will at last have a place of my own again, from which I will be able to live, work and sell my turned work, hopefully I’ll be moving in in January and with the space I have I will also then be able to offer tuition in a safe and comfortable environment, from trial sessions to more advanced tuition. Once my application to join ‘Register of Professional Turners’ has been accepted, then I think I’ll be able to classify myself as Britain’s most easterly professional turner as my new base will be about 200yards due west of Britain’s most easterly point, namely Ness Point, so you’ll know where to find me!! I have also recently received a proof copy of an article about myself and my work which will be published in ‘Woodturning’ magazine soon, I hope it’ll be an interesting read for those who purchase the magazine, as it’s quite personal at times, perhaps too personal, but I wanted it to give an insight into not only my work but also of me as a person and a woodturner.

A few of the bits ready to be installed into my latest wall hanging, led lights, heatshrink sleeving and mirrors, wall hanging is basically done, just got one more piece to turn for it then I can start assembly, after all this effort on this one I hope it works as planned