Help Catherine & James recover following their workshop fire

On Tuesday, my parents (Catherine and James) suffered an unimaginable loss. I had just returned to university and received a phone call from my brother that there had been a fire at my dad’s workshop, and that dad had not yet been accounted for. Luckily, I shortly found out that everyone was okay and that dad had escaped with just some burns. This was such a huge shock for me, for all of us…This business has been their life for the last 30 years and suddenly everything was gone… All my dad’s favourite antiques, his tools, his machines, pieces he had created over the years and all of my mum’s woodwork stock and machinery vanished…Even our cars have been damaged and covered in asbestos…

They have been so touched by the community response from friends, local businesses and past clients. Everyone has wanted to know how they can help, and many suggested crowdfunding so I thought I could help out in this way. They are soon meeting with insurers as despite their cover, it’s now looking increasingly complex and concerning - they have no idea what the future holds. So much was lost that night, two businesses and a lifetime of hard work and passion.

A good way to describe how everyone is feeling, particularly my parents, is numb. Their lives have revolved around this business, which was based entirely out of the workshop. The scale and intensity of the fire, as emphasised by the firefighters, left the business with not a single tool or machine, upcoming order, antique and produced furniture, all gone. My mother also used the workshop to prepare all her materials for her community woodwork classes. She loves the classes so much and so do the kids as you can tell from the pictures on the social media for wild little builders.

They will never be able to replace the carefully curated antiques and curiosities, family collections - including my dad’s endless vinyl record collection, books and random creations and purchases, especially his favourite chair which had seen long service in our family. They had planned so much more for the workshop too, having just transformed the unit to have a space for Mum's woodwork classes, and a new metal finish and furniture range which Dad had spent the past year tirelessly working on.

My parents felt uncomfortable with the idea of crowdfunding despite friends recommending it. Yet I felt helpless about how little my siblings and I could do to support them, so I decided to set this page up. The funding from this page is to help my parents get back on their feet, to remove some of the stress about how they will pay their mortgage and bills, so they can return to a “normal” life once more as soon as possible.

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