About Me

I December 2017 I retired from the stresses and strains of running a charitable youth and community project. The continuous effort of finding funding, growing and unnecessary processes and bureaucracy finally caught up with me and developed supressed stress and acute anxiety and this forced me into retirement 3 years earlier than planned. I returned to my passions of working with wood, iron, coaching canoeing from flat water to white water. I am also a member of Ballydown Church Camera Club and this website allows me to put up some of my photos and also test my skills doing product photos. I've also started adding my wife's Sue needle work under Misc. Also I have a passion for early times north American fur trade living; the flintlock era. I enjoy researching this era and then making as close to authentic items like bags, powder horns and blacksmith items etc to test my skills and improve my frontier man dress and way of life. I love old school technology and skills. I want to record my living history research journey and works on this site, my beavertooth Facebook page and my YouTube channel so I can share my journey with family, friends and those who enjoy or benefit from my research and work. I see this website as more a blog from my work and water adventures. I still do run some canoeing courses to promote British Canoeing Paddlesport Development. The rest, is just fun and a way to manage my anxiety and test my skills. Retirement should be fun and enjoyable, right? I am not a business, so I don't take orders, but if you need something made like a paddle or totem pole, or and old historical item that needs repairs, talk to me. If it is something I'm interested in, with no time pressures, I may be able to help. Finally, getting older has challenged me a lot to my declining physical capabilities, which I find hard to except at times. As a person of faith, I am reminded of the verses in Isaiah 43: 18-19; "Forget the former things, do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up, do you not perceive it"? So, it seems I am at that stage in life where I need to adapt to "aging life." Time will tell how the old beaver adjust to the "the new thing", God has planned for me and how I will keep myself at the cutting edge in life.