The Worshipful Company of Turners

Supporting the Craft, City and Charity for over four hundred years

Stuart King demonstrating on a lathe donated to Chesham Grammar school

Taking a leading role in the renaissance of the craft, the Company and its Charity support a wide range of educational, training and professional activities, often through the provision of lathes, tools and training on a long-term basis. Part of the programme is focused on schools caring for children with special needs.

 


  • In 2023 the Company established a new relationship with Blackhorse Workshop in Walthamstow, East London, a social enterprise offering workshop access to all. They inspire new makers and creative businesses to grow with affordable studio space and the support of experts. Blackhorse is now an accredited centre for delivering the Company’s Certificate in Turning and two of the Charity’s lathes have been relocated there.

 

  • The Charity has continued its relationship with the Queen Elizabeth Scholarship Trust (QEST), a charity which invests in excellence in British craftsmanship, by agreeing £15,000 to fund three further QEST scholars over six years.

 

  • The Charity continued its relationship with Cockpit Arts, a ‘business incubator’ for craftspeople. It bridges the gap between talent and opportunity by providing affordable studio space and in-house business support to emerging makers. Cockpit appealed for help in raising c. £3 million for a major refurbishment project, including the development of a new ‘wood hub’. The Charity agreed to make a £10,000 donation, from two legacies, to buy equipment for the new ‘wood hub’ within Cockpit’s major refurbishment , and a further £1,500 to fund a ‘wood hub manager’ over the next three years. The facility openeds in December 2023. The Charity is also providing studio space from January 2024 to Dave Evers, a pole lathe turner who will use his time at Cockpit to further develop his turning skills.

 

  • The Charity has also developed and launched the Yeoman scheme under which previous winners of Company training awards are invited to become a ‘Yeoman’ in the Company and receive further support and a chance to network. The Charity is very grateful to an anonymous benefactor which has allowed the Charity to provide over £5,000 a year to support the scheme over the next decade or so.

 

  • Another ‘first’ saw the Charity support two Emerging Turners’ Workshops (ETW), organised by the Register of Professional Turners. The first was held at the Max Carey Trust in Portishead, with 18 young professional turners learning new techniques as well as business and networking skills. The success of this event led to a second being run in August 2023 in Mirfield, near Leeds, for 17 young tuners, almost half of them female ,which demonstrates the wide appeal of the craft.

 

  • An award of £2,900 was made to Countryways, a community wood-turning and craft centre in Buckinghamshire, to buy a new lathe for their expanding centre.

 

  • A further grant of £2,000 was made to a student musical instrument maker at West Dean College, to assist with her fees. West Dean College is the only institution in the UK providing this kind of vocational training.

 

  • Our support of City events included a donation of £1,000 to Wren 300, a charity marking the 300th anniversary of the death of Sir Christopher Wren, to help train craftspeople to repair City churches. We also offered a day’s tuition with Carlyn Lindsay worth £250 as a prize in a Lord Mayor’s fund-raising event – the drama ‘Forever Trial and Error’ at the Old Bailey – as well as commissioning ten breadboards which were sold, with bread provided by the Bakers’ Company, at the Lord Mayor’s Big Curry Lunch in support of Armed Forces charities.

 

  • As is customary, several small donations were also made to Armed Forces charities, St Paul’s and Bart’s Hospital.


The Turners’ Company Charity – An Historical Perspective, Impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, ‘Turning for Good’

How you can support the Charity

Support and donations in 2020 & 2021


The Company’s Charitable Trust

The Turners’ Company Charity is registered at and regulated by the Charity Commission No. 267372. The Charity’s principal aims are to support the craft of turning and to promote charities related to the Company and the City.

Click the link to see the Company annual charity reports: Annual Reports (year to 31 May)

 

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