Carrie Horwood of Cat’s Eye Carving is holding a stone festival in Gloucester again this year at Llanthony Secunda Priory, two years after her first at the Priory, while the European Stone Festival is moving to Strasbourg in Eastern France.

The Gloucester Stone Carving Festival is on 23 and 24 May. Last time, Llanthony Secunda Priory and the Gloucester Geology Trust benefited from the event to the tune of £2,000 – money the Priory desperately needed to help it carry out renovation work on buildings that date from the 12th century.

This year Carrie hopes to attract 25 masons to carve local Cotswold limestone with the theme of Wild Animals. The event takes place over two days with a live auction and prize giving on Sunday afternoon. Profit from the event will be given to the Priory Trust.

There will be sideshows and stands, a chipper of masons carving amazing and wonderful creatures and the opportunity for visitors to have a go at stone carving themselves.

Like last time, the stone carving festival is being run in conjunction with the Tall Ships Festival in Gloucester Docks.

In 2013, Carrie carved a mermaid that was raffled and contributed £1,500 to the kitty. This time she plans to carve an elephant as the raffle prize, with tickets at £2 each going on sale from March.

Steven Travis Of Stone Working Tools has kindly offered to provide prizes for the winning carvers.

For more information visit www.catseyecarving.co.uk or the official website www.stonecarvingfestival.co.uk.

Then comes the European Stone Festival, this year in Strasbourg, where it will form part of the cathedral’s millennium celebrations on 26-28 June.

Because far too many people did not turn up for last year’s event in Germany’s Freiburg Technical College for Stone Masonry & Stone Carving where the festival was conceived in 1999, this year you will have to pay your 50 Euro entry fee when you reserve a place.

Deadline for entry was going to be December but has been put back to 21 February, so still time to apply, which you can do at www.stein-festival.de/en.