Mostly, our one-month intermediate course students make wonderful pieces of furniture for themselves or for other two-legged members of their family.

Not so Sarah Quick, from Midlothian near Edinburgh, who is close to completing a beech cabinet, complete with drawers and sliding doors, as a dog cage for her English pointer, Kobi.

It’s shaping up to be not only a perfectly functional piece of furniture, but a lovely example of how good design and craftsmanship can harmonise both form and function.

The sliding panels of her dog cage are made from spalted beech, and the drawer fronts and top from ash.  The interior is lined with melamine for easy cleaning.

We started our intermediate only recently to fill a gap between our one-week introductory course and the intensive 30-week professional course, and it’s proving very successful.

Sarah, already a keen hobbyist, was keen to learn more about turning raw materials into finished products, and she’s learned a huge amount about milling from raw wood, dovetail and domino jointing, making drawers and drawer runners, and sanding and finishing.

She’s also thoroughly enjoyed the experience, which has been a complete change from her previous job as a development officer at the Scottish Rugby Union.

Our intermediate courses are primarily taught by staff member Alan McGovern who has 33 years of woodworking experience, and we only have a maximum of two students at any one time to ensure lots and lots of one-to-one tuition.

Even better, the intermediate courses have no formal start and end dates, to ensure that tuition can be fitted around students’ other commitments.