Newsletters 2011
May 2011
At the time of typing my last Newsletter in December a second wave of snow was approaching if not actually falling and we all know what that led to! What a contrast we have now! No sooner did winter disappear than spring sprung very rapidly and merged with summer-like weather far earlier than usual. The early warmth of the new year saw a welcomed release from another bitter winter – no more appreciated at Skillway than anywhere else. Our large workshops faired well at retaining some warmth and although not quite sauna-searing temperatures inside, excellent daily attendance was kept by our students who set about their work with vigour and enthusiasm.
Prior to the start of term in January, our main office was moved from Crown Court to the workshop site in Nightingale Cemetery. A small room at the back of the Creative Arts Centre now serves this purpose very well. It is marvellous now for both Vivien and myself to be at the centre of all that is going on at Skillway. Apart from being in closer contact with Greg, we benefit enormously from being able to integrate with staff and students instead of feeling on the periphery of the project a mile or so away. Please do feel free to visit us: we have an excellent coffee machine!
Our numbers remain steady although we could accommodate a few more students. However we are in no rush to fill the places being very careful to select those students whom we feel would benefit the most from Skillway. Our resources are limited so a certain degree of ‘selection’ is sadly necessary. We are currently recruiting students from ten local schools and we are pleased to welcome on board a student from a new school for us – Bohunt in Liphook.
Our Workshops and Creative Art Centre have remained very productive and many inspirational pieces have been completed. It was particularly pleasing that a small group of students were invited to spend a day at UCA Farnham (University for the Creative Arts) where they spent much of their time in jewellery making under the tutelage of their staff. So successful was their visit that another group has been invited back in June. We are enormously grateful to UCA and hope this event may become a once-a-term ‘special’ session for us. Particular thanks must go to Pam Powell and Catherine Bullock for all their hard work especially with students from The Abbey School, Farnham - their class is a hive of industry and a huge inspiration. Also huge thanks to Helen Sturney and Janet Davis with their students who have been making fabulous decorative mirrors - one hangs in pride of place in our office! Pieces of work in our Carving in Stone class begin their design stages in this room with lessons in calligraphy from Jim Honeywood before being ‘chiselled or crafted’ in the workshops. Again, the quality of work achieved is outstanding and a great credit to Jim with his far ranging skills in stone masonry – we are exceedingly grateful and fortunate to have his assistance. Our Creative Arts Centre is a magnificent kaleidoscope of colour and creativity and is always well worth a visit.
Our two main workshops housing Carpentry and Metalwork have been in constant use as usual. Both disciplines have seen ‘fresh’ students beginning at basic skills while the more experienced ones have been involved with making more complex structures. It would be invidious of me to give special mention to any particular project since they are all quite varied. However, such is their fine quality and usefulness that they all could be quite easily sold. The students receive excellent tuition and learn many different skills whether with operating lathes, cutting, drilling, designing or problem solving etc. Our skilled craftsmen, all volunteers, are remarkable people and no amount of adulation can ever do them justice. Martin Gardiner, Mike Hoad, Des Bell, Roger Shapley to name but a few have each inspired their students and have instilled confidence and a ‘Can Do’ approach in our teenagers’ lives where it has been sadly lacking. We are also especially grateful to Scott Taylor who left us recently for another job for returning in his ‘time off’ to cover for Steve Parry who takes his annual summer leave on his Narrow Boat and to Adrian Knight who gives up his ‘day off’ from work every week to tutor at Skillway.
We are delighted that due to generous funding from the Godalming Lions Club we have able to start a new Basic Mechanics course designed to give students a better understanding of the workings and maintenance of simple 4-stroke engines, similar to those on their own mopeds. This course will give them the knowledge and ability for diagnosis and home repairs when their machines refuse to work!
Skillway cannot function without the huge and generous financial support from many individuals and organisations; we are always exceedingly grateful to them and humbled by their help and utter belief in our work within the community. We are particularly grateful to Aldro School and Friends Of Aldro Association who adopted Skillway as one of their two chosen charities to support for the past year and raised a colossal sum of money. The Lions Club of Godalming and surrounding villages held a wonderful Quiz Evening in February in aid of Skillway and hosted their largest number of competitors; we are very grateful to them and for their large donation, a presentation photograph appeared in the Surrey Advertiser. The money raised by the Lions has been spent on four, static, 4-stroke Honda engines for our new Basic Mechanics Course. We were treated to a magnificent concert given by the Guildford Symphony Orchestra at Charterhouse in March and received with enormous thanks the door collection at the end of the evening. We have received very generous funding from The Matthew 25:35 Trust for whom we are hugely grateful. Guildford Rotary has very generously sponsored a pupil for another term; we were delighted to welcome some of their members and their President, Rodney Cartwright, to a tour of the workshops towards the end of March. We are also very grateful to Ian Smith, President of Godalming Woolsack, for having nominated Skillway as the charity for his year and for all the promotion and publicity they do for us; and to Linda Smith, President of Guildford Inner Wheel, for their support of Skillway. We cannot forget the number of individuals who have given their huge and generous support too and we thank them very much indeed.
Skillway is performing well and we remain very pleased with the continued good publicity it receives through local media, organisations and loyal individuals but we are always seeking new ways to improve our project by allowing room for new ideas to evolve. We are always on the lookout for new volunteers to join our team and especially if they are able to bring new concepts and skills to us. If reading this you would like to help or if you know of somebody who might, please contact Greg Bleach, our Manager, on 01483 414081 – no age limit apart from being over 18yrs and no qualifications required either!
We shall be having our Open Morning at the Workshops on Saturday 25th June, 10.00 am to 1.00 pm, light refreshments will be served. During the morning a presentation will be made of the prestigious Crispin Hill Progress Award to our most improved student of the year. We hope as many people as possible will attend. It’s a wonderful opportunity to see the sort of work we do, meet staff and students or simply to socialise and catch up with old friends. Everybody is most welcome.
Lastly and as always, huge thanks to our Administrator Vivien Gillman for all her tireless work behind the scenes. Also to Greg Bleach, our Manager, for making sure Skillway ‘hums’ and is a beacon of light within our community; to his Assistants: Jon Taylor and Richard Jeffrey – and to all other volunteers who I have not mentioned above – all such wonderful and very gifted people.
Humphrey Davis