Zinc sink

Door

Four bay dresser

Four bay dresser

Oak chest with slate panels

Lichen

Calum and Toms ice cream rickshaw

Here we see the vehicle head on. I have had no input in to Toms designing and creation and no input in to Calum's boundless energy and motivation in creating a niche for himself in a world he might otherwise not have found. Nevertheless I can't help but feel a little proud in mixing two elements that have caught fire. For over five years now Calum has been a well known and interesting spark of illumination that in straighter towns might not have had the same impact.
But like all vehicles that are on the highway, wear and tear through every day use takes its toll. Alongside the complex gearing and chassis, its motor, indicators and other lights, the suspension system pedals and brakes there is the paintwork and Perspex, a freezer box and various shelving that all can deteriorate through every day use. And being honest about it all, Calum can find himself frustrated and perhaps not being as careful as some might be. Consequently, as Spring slowly edges towards summer their incredible creation requires some TLC. A few maintenance issues and a fresh motor are required. And being a unique vehicle there really is only one place able to work on the vehicle. Were it so simple, Tom might have seen his happy customer cycle away and never see his client again. And being unique and essentially a prototype based on the successful conventional rickshaw design that is the backbone of Toms business, there has been a fair bit of extra work Tom has had to carry out. Tom must have given thousands of hours free to Calum who can be hard at times to communicate with. Lovable though he is, Calum can sometimes not be as aware of the suffering of others. That's not to say he takes Tom for granted at all, but at times it has been difficult for Tom to be able to afford to carry out repairs.

Calum’s ice cream bike

The things we are most proud of outside of our own creations can be the connections and the interweaving of people and their potential. They are often the most difficult and beautiful at the same time. Our legacy is something that happens despite ourselves and rarely comes about through pure intentions. When I moved to Somerset I knew very few people here. I arrived surfing the wave of perhaps my worst mental breakdown and I'm forever grateful to Gareth Neal and Fred Baier for putting me back together again. Gareth introduced me to Fred and I found myself making furniture for one of my heroes in the field. This introduction, this interweaving by Gareth helped me reestablish my self esteem whether it was his intention or not.
Whilst at university in High Wycombe my partner at the time was at art college in Cheltenham and we would alternate our weekends. Consequently I got to know my girlfriend's freinds and their partners. This is how I got to know Tom Nesbitt. He is a designer most well known for the rickshaws that can be seen everywhere from Soho to Scotland though the highest density of them is in Bath and Frome where Tom has made them for something like two decades now.
A chance meeting shortly after I had moved to Frome was with an old friend from my mid teens. I had lived with Ron Tree when I was about 16 having found myself homeless. I had no family to turn to but being part of the counter culture I was fortunate to be able to find a roof for me and my girlfriend of the time. After some months there we moved down to live in a communal house in Cornwall and I lost touch with Ron. Move forward nearly twenty years and I am walking through the town centre when I bumped into Ron. I recognised the tattoos on his hands. In a strange twist of fate he had become the frontman and singer for Hawkwind. Hawkwind were our band in our teens and I was blown away by how he had found himself fronting what had been probably our favourite band.
Soon I got to know him again and I got to know his partner and his son, Calum. Calum is autistic though I'm not knowledgeable enough about his condition other than to say he is a remarkable person. Back then he must have been between five and ten and somehow we connected. He'd come walk my dog with me and we have remained close as he has grown into a remarkable young man. His enthusiasm is infectious though it can run away with him and he can lose a clear sense of what other people are feeling.
Having grown through various obsessional periods where he would become engrossed in the police. He would produce drawings, repeated in great detail of police. He would dress as a policeman and collect police related clothing and items. At some point he became obsessed with becoming an ice cream man. He created a bicycle with chimes and began operating as an ice cream vendor. The thought of him driving an ice cream van was a step too far but something in my head connected and I knew he would be fascinated by Toms rickshaws. So I arranged a time for him to go down to Toms workshop which at the time was in Frome. It was only meant as a way of showing him what might be possible were he to focus and work towards it. Ron came down and he had a weary look which I didn't understand but do now. This lit a spark and I think I gave Tom a heap of work. As I said his obsession can be overwhelming but he can achieve incredible things and sees no boundaries where I might see problems. I also feel some guilt towards Tom in that he has given Calum an unbelievable amount of time and energy.
Having made the connection I lost touch with them both for a couple of years as life took me down some strange avenues. The cost of one of Toms rickshaws is in the low to mid thousands. They are a sophisticated and well designed vehicle that Tom has developed over many years. He doesn't do one offs. The cost in time and research and development is too great. Yet one day I saw Calum riding an electric, bespoke ice cream rickshaw. Tom made his dream come true and has given Calum a chance at a career no one could have predicted.

Skree part 19. Research chemicals

https://youtu.be/AO-PXcgANs0

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Tree surgery

Stairwell moths

Common Plume

The Mushroom Man | A Psychedelic Documentary on Gordon Wasson & Sacred F...

https://youtu.be/EUyvWZrSagU?si=e2wKtRDcrF0EynYz

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Stairwell moths

Shoulder stripe

Stairwell moths

Twin spotted Quaker

Stairwell moths

Shoulder stripe

Stairwell moths

Shoulder Stripe

Stairwell moths correction

Early moth

Stairwell moths

Early Thorn

Peacock

Peacock

Skree part 16. 10 economy bin bags and an oak beauty

https://youtu.be/diUYd0_KE2c?si=nqIySh8XWImvgM96

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10 economy bin bags

Remember Richard

Richard revisited
https://youtu.be/04OdxHcgrpo

Sent from my iPhone here is the block of wood mentioned in the YouTube series Skree part 16. Though no plaques or commemorative gravestones are permitted the green burial site of Lawnswood Cemetery I made this block as a marker of where Richard and his dad are buried. Following Richard's death I went through a psychotic phase of grief was drawn to make something for my friend who died way too young. If you can hear me I miss you every day. You were my closest friend and you always will be. Love to you my brother.

Stairwell moths

Oak beauty

Skree part 15. The death of Woofy and reflections on the death of Turps ...

https://youtu.be/2V8HpfPRooY?si=0XWSwiDhoUGkhnXo

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The change in pot between 82 and 2000

https://youtu.be/PC_Ayqt38dU

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Introvert

Big block of oak with blue holes

Wired and twisted

Wall cabinet

Hyperbolic parabaloid doors with silver handles and hinges. Inside are two drawers with dovetails cut at compound angles

Brick table 1

Rejected table top

Brick table 2

Disabled table

Gimson rocking chair

Early top later rejected for a scorched oak top

First year project for Shrewsbury college

Overgrowth detail

Present I made for Philip Hussey

Table I made for Fred

Lichen cabinet

Brick table 2

Desk in maple

Overgrowth

Disabled table

Captain Hotknives RIP

https://youtu.be/bpvX6lnuf6o

Sent from my iPhone

Skree part 13. Placed in the middle of nowhere in the Clun Valley where I didn’t know anyone I helped renovate a cottage expecting my partner of the time to move there. Once the house was getting liveable in I found work in the area, well, within an hour’s drive expecting to be joined by my partner. I learned that you should never trust anyone, however much they claim to love you. You are born on your own and you leave this life on your own. I learned to never trust anyone again.

https://youtu.be/J8Rlm0OeFCg

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Disabled table

In bog oak veneer and boxwood inlay from around 1999. This is one of my personal favourites but it is one of the least popular pieces I have made. I thought I'd lost any photographic record of it. I made it while I was a technician at the university of Wolverhampton. I would look from the fourth floor and lose my sense of scale. It was about using classical cabinet making decorative techniques to show the fantastic within the mundane.

2009

I think this was taken around 2009. Rosie, Karen and Andy Lee.

Stairwell moths

Nice to see a dotted border out early. Nice looking moth . The female can't fly and presumably does all the housework while the male goes out exploring. I woke up in a miserable state hoping to improve as the day progressed and the sight of a moth on the stairwell door came as an uplifting surprise that got my move in a better place. They are fairly common and can be spotted from February to April.

Stairwell moths

Dotted border

Skree part 12. Peter Vincent part 3. Pete Bog Man and the sole authentically certified existing work by the artist

https://youtu.be/Xl1IDzuxHF4

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High Wycombe

https://youtu.be/Nl7t0ZkcPjQ

Sent from my iPhone

Skree part 10. Return to the cottage where I lived from age 16 to 18 roughly

https://youtu.be/9x_hMA2AX-0

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Peter Vincent part two

Skree part 9. Peter Vincent part two
https://youtu.be/gmbfsnadx0Q

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Peter Vincent

Skree part 8 Peter Vincent
https://youtu.be/BkuGpDT3mKE

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And I'm so scared

But I know that my fear must be a small fraction of what her fear must be. Another doctor appointment today that resulted in very little other than an increase in her dose of antidepressants that I don't think work much. She found an NHS letter that describes her deterioration. How the cavities in her lungs are now much worse and contain toxins as yet unknown. On Friday we're back to the hospital for the camera through the nose and into the lung. She is very scared of going. It sounds incredibly uncomfortable and painful. It will be a challenge to get her to go but without it the situation will be undiagnosed and her deterioration will be more swift. I know that she won't get better. She will have good days and bad but the direction of the path is certain. I'm here to hold her hand all the way but I can't help carry the pain for her. Poor flower. I wish to dive into an ocean of heroin and never come up. I'm sorry. I'm so useless.

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Another day

Goes by and we make it until teatime. I haven't slept keeping an eye on Claire. She has had a few patches of sleep from which she wakes in pain. She says she doesn't want to live like this. That she doesn't want to live. All I can do is try get her through in the hope that she will feel better than she does now at some point. I make sure she drinks. I try to get her to eat. Tablets and oxygen and tablets. She's sick of lieing in bed but she can't move without a red hot poker of pain skewering her. I ask if she wants to go to the hospital. She does. Then she doesn't. She isn't delirious. Not the psychotic episode from last year. Just pain. I can only nurse and bring her things if she needs them.

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Her Pain

I feel ashamed. Claire has been in and out of hospital since a few weeks before Christmas. Her fragile health has taken various dips and levels. Now she has been getting extreme pain in her chest. There are few pain receptors in the lungs but recently she has begun to suffer from pain a lot. At first she described it as being in her boob but in the last couple of weeks has started to say that it is in her chest. She is reluctant to go for the next test which is a bronchoscope. She is very vocal in her pain and screams out. I have to get some sleep though it is often broken when I hear her wailing. So I have brought her all I can, she doesn't want to go to the hospital and I'm not sure that they would be able to help her with this much as she is already on a high dose of painkillers. With emphysema the small pockets that make up the lung break into larger pockets and lesions and the lung loses the ability to exhale. She has some toxins in there that, as yet they haven't been able to identify and I believe that until they have sent a small camera in to look at and to take a sample they won't be able to do. Without sleep I am unable to look after her or the dog or take her back and forth to the hospital and due to her periodic wailing I have had to go lie in the next room to try to get some sleep. I feel guilty and ashamed for this but can think of no other way to manage. She has said that she doesn't want to live like this anymore. I don't know if she will recover and enjoy better days or if this is how she will be. She tried to go stay at a freinds house but I had to go and collect her. I tried to get her to see her gp to get a referral to get a place on a respiratory ward today but she wouldn't do that. I explained that it is Friday and that over the weekend we would have to go through the A and E system. This can take several hours waiting with the many other people in need of attention. She is quiet now but she will wake again before long so I should grab an hour or two of sleep while I can. I love her and for sickness and in health swore to be there. I just pray that the pain will subside. That she won't be suffering so much soon. But I don't know how things will play out.

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Skree part 9

https://youtu.be/unYvLU6e_xQ?si=Sg_nHSD5zLMsy5Xm

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Skree part 8

https://youtu.be/xqu5Zv1AXh0?si=LqaG1Lqoeb49QEPY

Sent from my iPhone

Skree part seven. Leaving Bentley by mistake.

https://youtu.be/j0lsJRMMYms?si=2wqE_TQZFcKa6Jai

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Skree part six. Slade Reading Rock festival 1980

https://youtu.be/BX9WW-88HZk?si=ndkf5GuiR0h-gO1J

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Skree part four

https://youtu.be/KlsZXoTPQ_E?si=q4CZV8p41a1zgpCK

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Skree part three

https://youtu.be/sLm52Puq2eQ?si=xakQbBkwxHfkV5at

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Stairwell moths

Winter moth