Carrie Horwood of Cat’s Eye Carving has just about got everything in place for the Stone Carving Festival she is organising for 23 and 24 May at the Llanthony Secunda Priory in Gloucester. This is a free event open to the public from 10am to 6pm each day.

There will be an auction of the carvings created during the event at 3pm on Sunday 24 May. Any profit from the sale will be given to The Llanthony Secunda Priory Trust.

The stonemasons are given a block of stone, generously donated by Veizeys Quarry in Tetbury (www.stonesuppliescotswolds.co.uk), and asked to produce an animal-themed stone carving in less than two days.

“Yes, this is possible,” says Carrie. And she should know because she has taken part in many stone festivals herself. She says stonemasons have an ability to work "above capacity, almost like a burst of energy and adrenalin. If we worked like this all year long… well, we probably wouldn’t survive the year. But, with about 14hours work, good food and company it’s amazing what we can carve!“

There is also the small matter of competition. This year Steven Travis of Stone Working Tools has kindly offered to sponsor the event and is providing the prizes for the stonemasons, who will judge each others' work and choose three winners. Stone Working Tools will have a stand at the event. www.stoneworkingtools.co.uk

As well as helping to raise money for the Llanthony Secunda Priory Trust to bring the range of buildings back into use, the festival will raise the profile of stonemasonry as a highly skilled and respected craft and the Masons' Livery Company (www.masonslivery.org) has come on board to sponsor some of the participants.

Alongside the ‘chipper of masons’ there will be activities provided by The Gloucester Geology Trust in the form of fossil hunting – an educational yet fun ways to discover what the area was like during the Jurassic period 150million years ago when the stone being used in the festival was formed. They are not charging, but donations will be received gratefully to help further their work. www.glosgeotrust.org.uk

The Stone Festival is run alongside the award winning Gloucester Tall Ships Festival (www.thecityofgloucester.co.uk/tallships), which presents the chance to see a variety of tall masted ships at Gloucester Docks and the Sharpness Canal.

Charles Ferris of The Newport Ship Project will be there in his medieval splendour encouraging you (for a small fee) to strike a coin of your own. He will also have informative literature for sale and all the money he makes goes to the Newport Ship Trust (newportship.org).

Gloucester City Council has donated some money towards the stone carving event and, in association with Gloucester College, will be running a display about the use of lime mortars and traditional stonework.

Cotswold Archeaology will also have a display stand with information about their recent digs, finds and other excavations (www.cotswoldarchaeology.co.uk).

The Llanthony Secunda Priory Trust (www.llanthonysecundapriory.org.uk) will have a stand with information about their plans are for the future and the important test digs they have carried oiut to see what is buried beneath the ground at the site.

As if that were not enough, there will be various 'pop up shops', including one by tool suppliers Alphacut (www.alphacut.co.uk), another of the of the sponsors, and The Chocolate Bar, a company that makes a delicious range of chocolates and cake – make sure you get there in time to taste their secret family recipe almond meringue cake before it sells out or you will never know what you have missed.

Carrie, the organiser, runs her own stonemasonry business, Cat’s Eye Carving, and has carved an elephant's head as the raffle prize. You can take a look at it on the stone festival website (www.stonecarvingfestival.co.uk). It is well worth spending a few pounds on raffle tickets to be in with a chance of winning it.