My journey into woodturning started at the turn of the Millennium when I bought my Husband Graham a lathe for his Birthday. Snainton Woodworking Supplies where I bought the lathe, run a beginners night for those whom have purchased a lathe from them. I started to go along with Graham for the social side of the evening and to show an interest in his new hobby. Before long I was so enchanted with the beauty of timber and the endless possibilities available to the holder of the tools, I had to have a go. I was so taken that by the end of the year (my birthday and Christmas) I was the proud owner of my own lathe and chuck.

Graham and I joined two woodturning clubs and began to see professional demonstrations; these were a source of inspiration and a wealth of invaluable information. As my turning improved I started to enter club, Northern Federation and National competitions with great success. These competitions and my desire to create something different were responsible for the development of my open segment work and with it the design of my open segment wheel. I designed a gallery style bowl clad with open segments for one such competition. I had already made a traditional gallery bowl filled with spindles and was not too eager to repeat the experience so I came up with the idea of bridging the gap with open segments instead. This lead to other projects using open segments as an accent. These items have now become my signature pieces.

I started to demonstrate the open segment turning and involuted turning and turned professional in 2006. I was becoming well known for my open segment demonstrations and was being asked to demonstrate at Clubs, Woodworking Shows and Retail Outlets across England. Through popular demand I now produce and sell a range of open segment wheels (click to view)

In January 2007 I was accepted onto the Register of Professional Turners run by the Worshipful Company of Turners, London and the icing on the cake came in late March of 2007 when The Worshipful Company of Turners awarded me a Bursary. The Bursary has enabled me to set up this website and will finance the production of the first of a proposed two DVD’s later in the year.