Dave Lucas is sanding down an old pine church pew, painted, in rather poor eighties taste, with brash golden swirls. Dave is bringing the piece back to its beautiful original pale nutty wood ingrained with darker brown knots and whorls. “When it’s done, I might paint it, or just leave it natural and give it a coat of wax,” he says, gazing with pride at his workmanship. Dave, in his late fifties, has suffered from learning difficulties all his life and although he was well cared for at his local authority day service in Banbury, he found the routine of swimming trips, cooking sessions and arts and crafts “not very interesting”.
Then a miracle happened. One of his care workers, Nathan Wallis, found a discarded small cupboard, missing its door, during a clearout of the centre’s greenhouse. Having trained as a joiner-cabinet maker, Nathan, with the help of some of the centre’s users, fashioned a door for it using an old wooden chopping board. “One of the other members of staff saw it, and said ‘that’s lovely’ and promptly bought it,” says Nathan. “It was then that I realised we could turn the craft activities into something both rewarding and useful,” he says.
Some of the furniture on sale at Second Time Around’s shop
Now, the day centre users are working flat out on up-cycling old battered furniture: sanding, scrubbing, painting and waxing; fixing shaky legs and refreshing cabinet doors with mirrors or chicken wire. The look is shabby chic – with the emphasis on chic – the wood painted an elegant French grey or pale wheat colour, or simply left natural. From selling the odd piece to relatives or other care workers, the project has moved on to taking commissions from pub restaurants to private clients who want a much loved piece rescued and restored.
With the help of Oxfordshire County Council, the project has moved to a larger premises on the outskirts of Banbury, a hive of bustling activity as the craftspeople keep up with demand for the fashionable pale, distressed woodwork they specialise in. For Dave, the project has transformed his life. Every morning he is collected from his day centre to spend hours lovingly coaxing tired old pieces, bound for the bonfire or landfill, back to life. “It’s so much more worthwhile than what I was doing before,” he says. “I really look forward to coming here.” His patience and thoroughness, his care to follow the grain of the wood and move rhythmically on from coarse-grade to ever finer sand papers means even a complex spiralled jardinière emerges palely glowing from its ugly coats of dark lacquer.
It’s not entirely clear whether it is the furniture, or the people who restore it, who are getting their ‘Second Time Around’ – the project’s name – either way, there are plenty of second chances on offer here.
Even the volunteers are getting them. One volunteer, young John Tysoe, was all set for a career in the Royal Marines when he suffered a damaging bleed on his brain while out running, aged just 21. The damage left the otherwise fit and active young man unable to find a proper job, so he worked as a painter and decorator until his mother heard about the charity and he offered to volunteer a day a week. “I was always interested in antiques and old furniture,” he says. “I look at pieces made more than a hundred years ago and wonder what their story might be – who ate at that table, who sat on that chair. We have enormous fun here, we laugh, talk and keep each other company.”
The tools too, mostly donated from shed and garage clearouts are also enjoying a renaissance. “Because of the difficulties our users face, we only use hand tools as we don’t want anyone’s finger getting chopped off,” says Nathan. “Likewise the paints are all water-based so we don’t require white spirit to clean the brushes. A bottle of white spirit might look like a bottle of water to someone here. The result is, every piece is hand-crafted and uses natural paints and waxes.”
Although Oxfordshire County Council pays the supervisory care workers’ wages, the project needs to wash its face financially, which means it must clear £18,000 a year or more to pay for rent on the workshop and other costs. “We get a lot of donated paint, and wood off-cuts from a local sawmill but we need to keep selling our furniture so we can keep going. There are many more potential users of the project, but at the moment our places are full up,” says Nathan.
For more details visit https://www.facebook.com/pages/Second-Time-Around/375683522486881
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