The final stages of the winter drought coincided with the first with the first of our  Development weeks at the end of March. Although my main memory is of idyllic lunchtimes sunbathing on the ‘verandah’ we did manage to produce a couple of stacks of firewood and a new bender, while Roger and Frank created an excellent new warm-box for drying the chair parts. By contrast, he second Development week at the end of April, was ‘blessed’ with over two inches of rain, which was appreciated at least by the long-suffering trees. Despite that we managed to produce five more firewood stacks as well as a magnificent dining table by Owen and Fergus and their helpers. I sincerely hope that August and September will finally give us the opportunity to put this fabulous piece of furniture to proper use during the courses.