One Ash: Tom Gallon
Oak beam
Tom Gallon is a Hampshire-based Carpenter. He is very kindly looking after the last of our One Ash branches at his farm. Once seasoned, the wood will be used to build furniture for the Cabin. Tom is also a member of the Carpenters’ Fellowship who will build the cabin at Harmony Woods in August this year.
We have been raising funds for the Cabin build and today marks the final day of our Climate Action Campaign on GlobalGiving. The platform has been match-funding your donations up to $100 (£72) and we are so thankful to all our generous supporters! There is still time to donate if you would like to! Matching finishes at 11:59 ET which is about 4am on Saturday morning.
We caught up with Tom this week to chat about his work and involvement with the Carpenters Fellowship.
How did you get involved with Andover Trees United?
I found out about Andover Trees after the One Ash project had started so my connection to it is pretty loose to be honest! I had been in touch with Wendy and offered her some space on the farm I live on to store the remaining timber; we started chatting, she mentioned the classroom and I mentioned that the CF might want to take it on.
What is the carpenters’ fellowship & how did you get involved?
The Carpenters' Fellowship is an organisation aimed at furthering the practice and study of timber framed buildings. Its' members range from some of the leading timber framers in the country, to beginners who want to learn more.
I was trying to find a way to get some hands on experience in timber framing - someone recommended I look them up, so I did and a couple of weeks later I had joined their project at Sylva Wood Foundation building an Anglo Saxon Hall. It was amazing to be surrounded by like-minded people working purely for enjoyment.
The Sylva Wood project looks amazing - how does a project like this work?
It was an amazing experience, I'd never done anything like it before. It was split up into 4 separate weeks of work with each week taking on a different phase of the build. Everyone camped on site or in their cars or vans. We ate together each day and in the evening there would be a talk of some sort followed by drinks around a fire. I personally found it so enriching and inspiring and I don't think I was alone in that. I don't know if we'll be camping for the Harmony Woods project - it would be nice to for at least part of it - it's lovely waking up right there, eating together, working together, it feels good, it adds a different dynamic.
The Anglo Saxon build was a unique thing to be involved with and conservation and repair work is always interesting. There are lots of lessons to be learnt from old buildings which are easy to forget or get lost in modern timber framing and engineering reports.
How long have you been a carpenter?
I had been into woodworking for a couple of years before I found the CF, I was really into making Windsor chairs and Windsor related furniture, but then I discovered timber framing, the CF and this ‘roughing it’ kind of lifestyle that sometimes comes with it and I was hooked.
The CF project at Sylva was really the catalyst for me getting into this sort of work, it opened up so many previously hidden doors to the kind of carpentry that I didn't really know existed but which I'd been searching for.
What are the challenges of building the Cabin at Harmony Woods?
I'd probably have to say Covid is the biggest challenge, or at least one of the biggest challenges. It means the overall community involvement has had to be scaled back a lot which is a shame, but hopefully there will still be opportunities for volunteers to work on it in some way.
Thanks Tom! If you are inspired by Tom’s story and would like to get involved with the Cabin build then please drop us an email to volunteers@andovertrees.org.uk
You can follow all the crafters, artists and wood-workers involved in the One Ash project via the journal pages.