Crafting, fields and fires

Nothing beats an opportunity to improve mental health more than spending a long weekend camping in the wilds and getting stuck into woodcrafting activities.  

Every week, Magnus, who used to live at YMCA Exeter, returns as a volunteer to teach green woodwork skills to residents during our gardening group. Thanks to a grant from South West YMCA Trust Fund we were able to give Magnus the opportunity to spend time developing his crafting skills.  

Let’s hear more from Magnus:

“A typical professional conference consists of budget accommodation, three square meals a day, time allotted for training and networking and some drinks with peers in the evening… A conference for craft includes much of the same, except we understand “within your field of expertise” to be taken rather literally.  

We arrived at our conference centre in the mid-afternoon – a smallholding near Durham, with some marquees set up in a field. Our accommodation was conveniently next door – a subsequent field. Our hot meals were cooked over a fire and eaten from many a handmade bowl and spoon.  

In the days we had our training for broom making and wood decoration, in the evenings we had merriment and song around the fire. We cleaved and crafted, met our peers and fellow craft folk – carvers, leatherworkers, smiths, and knitters, toolmakers, bodgers, and tinkers. All the best of the woodsy folk and makers.  

We made treen together (small, handmade, functional household and personal objects made of wood), shared ideas and ate together.  

A conference for craft – all the same hallmarks of an office event, but with colder nights, warmer people, and, unfortunately, the same quality of coffee.”

We’re so thankful to Magnus for his creativity and the skills he has been able to bring back and share with residents.