Craftsmen join celebration of ancient skills at forest festival

Pickering blacksmith David Stephenson was one of a number of performers alongside an audience of thousands at Guisborough Forest Festival yesterday, hammering out iron alongside wood turners, willow weavers, wood carvers, charcoal makers and horse loggers.

Mr Stephenson studied palaeontology at college, but has since snubbed old fossils to forge a new career in metal working.

His current high profile projects include making new iron crosses for St Joseph’s Church in Pickering – famed for its Eric Gill font – and which celebrates its 100th anniversary this year. Previously he made the gates for the restored medieval herb garden at the Treasurer’s House in York

Forestry Commission Ranger Cath Brason said the festival proved North Yorkshire’s burgeoning reputation as a hot-bed for traditional skills, many of which are being revived by people swapping careers in the wake of the recession.

“The festival is a fabulous celebration of the great outdoors in the idyllic foothills of the North York Moors,” she added.

“It goes from strength to strength every year and is the perfect way to celebrate our wonderful forests.”