A LITTLE ABOUT ME AND WHY I SET WHEELCHAIR WOODTURNERS UP

Me at Ability Fest Glasgow 2006

I served 27 years in the Armed Services, during that time I suffered a spinal injury, which is now degenerative and to cut a very long story short, now means that I can walk very little and mostly use a wheelchair for getting around. I also have heart disease and have had 5 heart attacks. As you will see from my workshop pictures I am able to use stools to work from and my favorite is now a wheeled kind of high chair, which allows me to pull myself around.

 

I am lucky that I manage to sell all of my work either through the Sunderland Art Centre Craft Shop or through various craft fairs and this finances my hobby, well almost!

 

My Workshop is completely Wheelchair friendly.  The concept of WW is to set up a workshop and organization that can help and advise other people who are disabled or have limitations, whatever they are.  To have a website that you can contribute to, if you have solutions or ideas mail me and if they fly I will post them and give you credit.

 

The WW workshop now has two lathes, the Poolewood DVSL, click to see the review, which can be lowered to wheelchair height when necessary and I also have a Silverdrive Statesman 280 which can be worked at stool height, plus I have also purchased a Charnwood Mini Lathe which is for use in the workshop and also for taking to locations for demonstrating.  I have funded about 50% of this re-build myself and I have also obtained a grant from Scotland UnLtd which has allowed me to finish the work.  Without the support of advertising sponsors and Scotland UnLtd not even this website would be possible.

I am offering beginners the opportunity to come to my workshop and learn the basics, plus being able to sort out what they need to set up their own place, I desperately want to keep this all FREE, so I am hoping to get advertisers on this site, however at the moment I have to charge £30 for 2 mornings at the workshop to cover my overheads,  I have also built the mobile setup so that I can go out to locations and give demo's.  In time I also want to mount a webcam in the workshop so that if someone wants to see maybe how to make a certain object, then hopefully, if I'm up to the task, I can show them.  If anyone knows how to set up a webcam on this site contact me please. 

THIS IS A NOT FOR PROFIT ORGANIZATION