Willow
I started weaving about 23 years ago when a lovely lady called Cat (Catherine Beaumont) showed me how to make the base of a basket
From that moment on I have had a creative journey, working with and learning about willow.
My beginnings were very part time, but in the last few years I've been dedicating much more of my life to the study and practise of this amazing material. My husband Brian and daughter Jaz have joined me in the journey and are now part of the teaching team. Brian has been teaching Conservation management and greenwood crafts for over 25 years and Jaz, nearly 30 now has been home educated and grown up with willow in her veins.
For me, with help from the Basket Makers Association and Worshipful Company of Basket makers I have had the incredible experience of learning from some very amazing teachers, Jenny Crisp and Ane Lyngsgaard, each with their own unique skills and styles I have been able to improve my square work and curvature whilst increasing my knowledge of basket making.
I have since been on courses with Mary Butcher, Anne Marie O'Sullivan, Mary Crabb and Tim Johnson which have all been excellent and have helped me technically with my work.
I am inspired to make, create and design a new, and more than ever to bring this
wonderful medium back to life.
Based in a small woodland near Dorking, Surrey, I run willow weaving and basket making courses alongside my daughter Jaz and my husband Brian, to share this knowledge, at RHS Wisley and our home studio where we weave and enjoy spending some quiet time away from this busy world.
Yoga
My yoga journey began with a book my husband bought me whilst traveling around New Zealand.
I came home and began taking classes in Fetcham with Teresa Rumball studying Iyengar yoga.
Having qualified my journey took many different turns, teachers training in the Iyengar style with Ruth White lead me to learn from John Stirk, Sophie Hoare and now Sandra Sabatini and Michal Hawkin.
It has changed and developed bringing me to a greater understanding of tensions held from trauma and accidents in our past that can hold us back from stretching into our future.
My style is slow, meditative, mindful deeply relaxing and very beneficial for anxiety, stress, deep tensions and injuries and having taught at The Priory and Combat Stress it works very well for those with PTSD, anxiety, eating disorders, drug addiction, deep tensions and traumas within the body.