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While the art of Woodturning will always be a delight to us in its own right, it's also true that we take more than an interest in the incredibly broad range of people who practise it - and when we say broad, we do mean broad. Nor could we think of a better demonstration of said broadness than the recent appearance in the news of two stories about woodturning practitioners, each concerning opposite ends of the age spectrum. The first story that we will cite concerns youth, which we have too little of in the present team here at The ToolPost. Nonetheless, it's always exciting to see the emergence of the talents who will carry the flame of Woodturning Tools long after we older generations are gone, such as the talented teenager who recently featured in Northern Ireland's Derry Journal, Sean Og Harrigan. According to the article, the now 14-year old from Burnfoot first discovered a love of woodturning as a youngster, following in the footsteps of his craftsmen father and grandfather. Considering thrown-out pieces of wood to be a waste, he duly created original pieces from them. Now, he and fellow Scoil Mhuire student, Oisin McLaughlin, have tasted victory in the intermediate category in the All Ireland Student Enterprise Awards. The duo is responsible for Inish Woodworking, which creates natural bowls, candlesticks, bread boards, wine racks and tea light holders, among many other remarkable items. With Sean Og serving as the craftsman of the business and expressing a love for creating the natural bowls and working with "exotic timbers such as African and Indian timbers", we already can't wait to see what he goes on to do next! Now, for a story that may provide ample inspiration for those with a little more experience - of both the 'life' and Woodturning variety. We couldn't help but be enchanted by an article in The Westmorland Gazette in Cumbria, detailing how two neighbours in the Eden town of Appleby recreated the local Market Cross in miniature form. The impressive piece is the creation of Ian Taylor, 71, and Nick Binney, 65. Former plant operator Taylor stated of his decision to make the replica monument: "I have been going past it for 71 years and I thought: 'One of these days I'm going to make one' - it's just always intrigued me. So I thought I would see my neighbour Nick and see if he would help and we have done it together." The piece now takes "pride of place" in Taylor's sitting room, former self-employed goldsmith Binney having completed the metal works and lettering on the model. As the younger man reflected: "I used to be on the local council and both my parents were mayors of Appleby so I thought it was a nice thing to do." Here at The ToolPost, we certainly wouldn't disagree and would be proud to welcome any of these fine men and boys to our Didcot shop and showroom in the future - if they ended up being so inclined!
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