Anne Watts made her own Bodhran in September 2010..
Highly recommended… I had a wonderful time. It was rich in learning; satisfying; rewarding, enormous fun and socially delightful. The place is a serene escape into gorgeous woodland, and I ended up with a beautiful Drum and beater!
Mog is highly talented craftsman and gifted teacher. He is methodical; organized; explains each stage very clearly, and has a knack for gently inspiring confidence in each person on the course whatever their ability, or experience with wood working and power tools (in my case very little – others quite proficient. This didn’t seem to matter a bit). He is also very careful about health and safety around tools and working practice. Mog gives each student a lot of personal attention so that at each stage he is sure everyone’s drum is of a high standard before commencing the next stage.
The course is very well organized. Dovetailing the drum making we also made a beater on a pole lathe with Stuart. This gave us experience with different wood working skills and tools and was also great fun. Thus everyone had things to work on while Mog and Stuart gave one-to-one attention to each student in turn. We worked satisfyingly hard all day, and then in the evening we relaxed sharing food and enjoying each other’s company around a fire.
The quality of the teaching; the skills acquired; the quality of the equipment, materials and actual drum, beater and case each of us took away with us; the care and attention to detail in all aspects of the course including camping arrangements and catering facilities; the lovely time we spent together in delightful surroundings – all contribute to make this course not only extremely good value for money, but also a most wonderful weekend I will never forget.