July 2026

Bamber Retired

In April this year, on his 10th birthday, Bamber retired from active service as a Guide Dog. He's enjoying retirement and has completely updated his daily routine - having lie ins, eating breakfast later, and enjoying a more relaxed lifestyle.

Chris has passed all 8 assessments to be considered for another Guide Dog and is currently on the waiting list but it could be anything up to 3 years before he will be matched with a new Guide Dog.

What We've Been Up to

The past few months have been busy with speaking engagements and Chris has had a number of 1:1 woodturning students who keep coming back for more! Chris is currently teaching another blind student who lost his sight in a car accident, and has got the woodturning bug.

We'll be talking at a number of schools for their end of term awards events, will be attending the Henry Taylor Tools Open Day in Sheffield, and at the annual UK Men's Sheds Association ShedFest.

Chris will be demonstrating at Dalmann Timber on 22 August and is one of the demonstrators at the AWGB Festival of Woodturning in October.

The smallholding continues to take up our time. The hens have developed a penchant for free ranging and Lulu and Jemima, in particular, can be found wandering about the farm. This morning I spotted Jemima on top of the wood chip pile living her best life.

Lambing was quite steady this year with fewer interventions needed but more complex deliveries when help was required. There are five orphan lambs living in the orchard - I bottle fed them all when they were tiny. Now they are weaned and growing up, they still come charging over when I go to see them. Misty, the only female tries to jump up at me and loves eating my t-shirts. They're all adorable.

Coming Up

This is a list of some of our forthcoming events, TV and other bookings:

Thanks for reading. We'll be back soon.

Keep on turning!

Nicola, Chris and Bamber

Version 237 · Created Jul 19, 2026 · Modified Jul 20, 2026
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