On 26th October, I received notification that I had been accepted onto the Register of Professional Turners here in the UK.

Originally, I had put my application in to the Register back in the summer of 2017, but never followed it up. Call it a lack of self confidence, call it what you will, I never followed it up.

That was until I spoke to the chairman John, who encouraged me to complete it and get the assessment done. So, with a little trepidation, I completed the application process and an assessment was arranged for 19th October. I won’t go into the assessment details, but I had to prove that I was indeed in business, had insurance, showed a professional outlook and kept a professional standard and safe workshop.

Thankfully, it was a agreed within the membership committee, that I met their criteria for membership of the register.

So that’s that! I’m now a registered professional turner.

How do I feel about it? It’s been a goal of mine to reach a standard good enough to get onto the register, and to do it on my own merit. And now that it is done, I am very pleased to have made the grade.

It has given me a boost of confidence as the business continues to grow and further pushed me to a point where I have decided that I need some help in the Hampshire Sheen side of the business. This will free me up to turn more, teach more, and share more with you, and turners all over the country, and dare I say it, the world (through social media, of course!).

This ‘tick of approval’ means a lot to me, both personally and professionally. In my head, it has given me the confidence to move boldly forward, the confidence to continue doing what I do as well as I have been, and to up my personal ante to give the absolute best possible service I can to my customers and followers wherever they may be.

Someone said to me recently on Facebook that I set a high bar for myself. Without a new goal following one that has been achieved, then progress grinds to a halt. By being a member of the Register of Professional Turners, I have an expected level to keep, a bar I set myself to reach, and I always strive to exceed it.

I am looking forward to being involved with as much of the RPT as possible in the future and doing all I can to promote woodturning, a professional outlook and getting stuck in.