Penrhyn Castle Demonstrations

The first demonstration I should present to you are the dovetails John Winter made for his new tool box. The four corners are to about the same level.

Hand cut dovetails by apprentice John Winter

The next demonstrations are at the bench. What I want to demonstrate here is not my skill or intense passion for my work, but the intensity of those watching. My audience is a fairly mixed age range as you can see. 50% are children under 15 years of age. The feel the softness of the wood after the plane is done. They coo as their fingers slide along the inlay I just let into the surface. Its the first time they ever felt newly surfaced wood.

Even before i started to demonstrate my young visitors were intensely soaking in the atmosphere as though drinking their favourite refreshment. You can see them glued to the bench and as quiet as mice. They wanted to hear what I said before they knew anything about my work, they never interrupted once and they remembered what I said.

Visitors become inspired as I talk about my craft, my tools and the wood itself.

Notice now how after 25 minutes of demonstrating the children are still glued to the spot. Not one child turned to leave. They were engrossed in my demonstartions throughout. Now my experience with demonstrating ti children spans about 18 years during which time I have demoed to at least 30,000 of them. I cannot recall one of them ever walking away. Now my point is this. In our present educational structure, these children cannot pursue woodworking beyond a very dumbed down level of Design and Technology class in resistant materials. How we plan to handle the conservation of our craft work without restoring woodworking centres in schools bemuses me.