Today saw the first day of this new chapter. Was I excited? Well, put it this way: last night I had had just about as much sleep as a young child on Christmas Eve.

Our good friend, Craig, had given me a lift – just as well, as I had about half a hundred weight of tools boxed up, lashed to my old sack barrow! The new recruits gathered at Victory Gate, Portsmouth Historic Dockyard, and were met and led through to Boathouse 4, home of IBTC Portsmouth.

After an induction meeting and tour, we entered our new home from home for the next 12 weeks – Joinery 1. Find a bench, stow our tools, and straight to “work:” squaring off a piece of wood, to make the sides all parallel and true. Somehow, I managed to make heavy work of this and reduced a piece of 5x5cm stock to almost half its size in my efforts to get it right. Thankfully, a break for a tutorial and practical session on sharpening tools, had me return with a sharpened plane blade and less urgency, so growth of the pile of shavings eased somewhat. Saw cuts and chiselling for lap joints followed, and the afternoon sped by, oh so quickly.

No need for extra layers of clothing today – the planing in particular was a great workout. Come five O’Clock we were heading out, and I was home just after six. What a great day, and a great start to this new chapter in my life … so looking forward to tomorrow!