Forestry Journal looks back at all the action from the Beith-based carving competition Garnock Valley Carves 2024.
AFTER a dull start to the sixth Garnock Valley Carves, the sun soon came out and shone brightly for the 14 carvers showcasing their undoubted skills to an enthusiastic audience.
Early attendees were treated to these carvers doing a lot of preparatory work on their logs. This was long before the actual event started at 10 am and is allowed and encouraged, as Garnock Valley Carves is not seen as a competitive carving competition – although try telling that to the carvers!
It is an interesting time to watch the carvers as they mark out their logs with the locations of cuts to be made, working from either pictures or drawings of their end sculpture. Around them lie an array of power tools, burners, and saws, for this is not just a pure chainsaw-carving event.
14 carvers were piped into the arena at 10 am, including three first-timers – Kaspian Askham, Danny Thomas, and Chris Macdonald, son of Roni Macdonald, who was also participating. Two of last year’s newbies returned in the form of Shane Green and 2023 winner Sylvia Itzen.
Alice Buttress, Simon Archer, James Elliott, Dave Roberts, Ian Williams, Mike Burgess, Pete Bowsher and local Craig ‘Steeley’ Steele made up the rest of the field.
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After four hours of the Main Carving event, and a further 30 minutes of Quick Carving, all gathered in the arena to await the results of the judges’ deliberations.
Councillor Anthea Dickson, the Provost of North Ayrshire, presented the prizes. This year’s winner was Glasgow’s James Elliott with his brown bear. James won the event in 2021, when he also took the People’s Choice award.
“To be considered worthy of a place on a field of such exceptional talent was nothing short of an honour,” he said. “Personally, I would find it impossible to score any above another, so I accept such a placing with great gratitude.
“I chose to return to my carving choice for 2021, of a caricature brown bear. I do not get to carve bears often, and I know the audience at Garnock Valley Carves enjoy them, so it was a no-brainer. Perhaps it is the illustrator in me, but I like to try to portray a little bit of a story. This time ‘Dorky the Bear’ was a hopeless romantic, rather than a ravenous devourer of honey, which my bear was back in 2021. It’s hard to capture the level of detail and realism I work towards in my commissions at a four-hour show, so I prefer instead to keep things whimsical and focus on both the expression and story of the sculpture.”
Runner-up was Shane Green, and his delight was evident for all to see.
“I found the whole experience inspiring,” he said. “Where else can you witness such a creative production of chainsaw carving in four hours? It’s my favourite competition I take part in.”
Third place went to Welsh carver Dave Roberts, repeating the placing he achieved in 2022.
He said: “Garnock Valley Carves this year was an absolute belter of a competition. We had fantastic weather and a great turnout with an appreciative crowd. The organising team did an amazing job. Being placed with my dragon carving was the cherry on top for me. I’m already looking forward to next year’s event.”
It was announced that Pete Bowsher was the People’s Choice with his Bigfoot carving. He said: “I had a feeling that I might be in with a chance. I am pleased to pick it up, and the pound coins used by the crowd to register their votes for it. However, I will need to use them to buy all the other carvers a round in the pub tonight, as that is the tradition for whoever wins this award.”
It was Norrie and Rose Brown who established this event, devoting a lot of hard work to ensure it’s a success each year. Since the start, it has taken place at Manse Field, in Beith, but Norrie revealed that might not be the case for 2025.
He said: “This may be the last year we will be able to use the Manse Field. However, Gareth Wilson, who owns Wilson’s Auctions, has bought a farm and made it into a really first-class venue in Dalry. He has kept it ready for any event and we will be able to use it next year if required. We do call the event Garnock Valley Carves, so really any suitable venue in the valley would be fine, even if logistics may be a challenge.”
Main sponsor Jim Pierce, of J&D Pierce Contracts, was called upon to open the event and judge the winners. He said: “It is always nice to be part of the judging team, and every year it gets harder, as the carvings get more and more intricate. What these guys can produce with a chainsaw is incredible. All of the success of Garnock Valley Carves is down to Norrie and Rose Brown and their brilliant team of volunteers.”
For the first time in covering Garnock Valley Carves, or any other carving event for Forestry Journal, I was asked to be one of the judges and got to fully appreciate what Jim was talking about. It was a completely new experience for me, but one I really enjoyed.
The awarding of prizes was followed by an auction, which Norrie described as “the usual hectic affair”.
He said: “We tried to make things easier this year by asking potential bidders to register, and issued coloured flags so they could easily be seen. It is always interesting to see the enthusiasm of bidders, but we still have lots to learn on being slicker. Our auctioneer, Alex Johnstone, is a cattleman and gets the crowd going, but it is difficult for our team to keep up with the records.
“As always, some of the smaller carvings sell for better prices than the larger ones, probably due to the perceived difficulty of delivery. Alter Fencing, one of our sponsors, helps with delivery of the larger pieces, and can deliver over the whole of central southern Scotland at very competitive rates. All the cash from the Quick Carve is put back into the community.
“Our numbers were up on last year, but due to several other events taking place on the same day we need to consider an alternative suitable date which will need to suit the carvers. It seems that due to the popularity of carving events the calendar is filling up. A good stab at gate numbers is around 1,500, due to folk being able to come and go throughout the day, but this does not include children. The return of the Prestwick Air Show and the increase of visitors to the Viking Festival in Largs both have had a serious effect on our visitor numbers these past two years.”
It is clear that carvers really love this event. Among those returning was Mike Burgess, who said: “Norrie and Rose once again raised the bar this year and even managed to control the weather. Around the camp fire at night, we all comment on just how quickly the team manages to clear up after the event. It runs like clockwork. It was a hard day for me in the sun, but I managed to finish my bench. And it was great to see Shane punching the air on taking second place. It does show how much it means for the carvers.”
The last word goes to ‘Steeley’ Steele, who said: “Garnock Valley Carves is clearly a firm favourite with those who attend, the relaxed vibe and evening fire – with many drams shared – being big draws. We are unsure what is in store for next year with a new venue, due to the sale of the current field, but we are all confident it will continue to be a roaring success.”
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