Colin Henwood
I thought the One Ash day was a great event and the whole project is brilliant!
I am a boatbuilder, I have worked for the last 40 years building, restoring and re-building beautiful wooden boats on the river Thames and beyond. In 1982 I started out on my own having worked for various boatyards. My solo enterprise became a small boatyard called Henwood and Dean Boatbuilders Ltd and was based near Henley on Thames. In 2016 I handed over the boatyard to two of my team and I now work on my own again with a workshop at The Sylva Foundation Wood Centre where I happily carry on working on wooden boats.
Since establishing myself at The Sylva Foundation I have developed a short two day paddle making course as part of their Wood School program. Making paddles has always been a feature of my boatbuilding work. The course involves making a beautiful paddle in Ash, so when I learnt of the One Ash project I thought it would be good to make a special paddle from the timber. A canoe paddle combines function and sculpture, it is carved from a single piece of Ash, shaped to be comfortable in the hand and an efficient means of pushing a canoe along, it is also a beautiful object and a worthwhile celebration of the wonderful Ash tree.
