THE TRUST

The creation of our school of excellence was the culmination of many years of teaching woodwork by its founder, John Shaw who had formal furniture-making training both in the UK at Rycotewood College; he then was awarded the prestigious Fulbright Scholarship to study at the College of the Redwoods in California under the guidance of James Krenov.

The school was granted charitable status in 2008 in recognition of the importance of preserving and passing on the time-honoured skills of fine woodworking and furniture making to future generations of craftspeople.

We are registered with the NZ Charities Services and details of our organisation are available to the public here.

Helen Gerry is the Trust Manager and is responsible for organising the programme, the tutors and the day to day running of the school. Helen reports directly to the Trust Board which is made up of six committed people (currently five of them are former students) who bring extensive experience to the Trust. They are – Alison Lash (Chair), Peter Cowper, Lorraine Moss-Smith, John Wild, Eddie Shields & Peter Kempthorne who are all passionate about upholding our mission statement:-