With the rain pouring and the wind threatening to lift the marquee on Friday, it was with some relief that Carrie Horwood of Cats Eye Carving woke on Saturday morning to a peaceful, sunny day for the opening of Gloucester's first Stonecarving Festival.

Carrie had organised the Festival for the weekend at Llanthony Secunda Priory in Gloucester’s Historic Docks to coincide with the Tall Ships Festival that is held there every two years. 

The event attracted 18 carvers, including Yannick Nieder from Hannover in Germany who Carrie discovered had learnt his skills from the same Master as Carrie had studied with (Georg Orendi).

The stone used for the event was Tetbury limestone donated by Veizey's Quarry and prizes for the winning works were tools donated by handtool maker G Gibson & Co of Leeds. 

The competitors' choice of the best piece was James Wheeler's drunken sailer in a boat. Tom Kenrick's turtle was the work that the visitors voted to top place and the apprentice award went to Alastair Mason of Weymouth College for his octopus. All the carvings were auctioned off at the end of the festival on Monday afternoon by a professional auctioneer from Nock Deighton, who donated his time to the event.

It is an indication of the success of the event that Carrie spent 22 hours during the weekend showing people how to carve stone on her 'have-a-go' stall. Her plan had been to spend only an hour or so at a time at it but visitors were keen to pick up a mallet and chisel – and it was not just children who wanted to try their hand at the craft, although it is to be hoped some of the youngsters will be encouraged to take up a career in stonemasonry in due course. 

The Stonecarving Festival raised £1,635 for the Llanthony Secunda Priory Trust and £1,090 for Gloucester Geology Trust.

You can read more about the event and see pictures of some of the work in the next issue of Natural Stone Specialist magazine. To subscribe click here.