I don’t normally do welding workshops with children as young as 12 but Charlie was really keen and his mum Helen had been on one of our weekend sculpture courses so i thought, why not. Plus, it was his birthday too. He took to it really well, picking up MIG welding quite quickly, wasn’t scared of the noise and the sparks despite even burning his finger slightly at one point – the classic welders trick of picking up something that doesn’t look hot, but is. He also tried plasma cutting and angle grinding too. Like a typical 12 year old he had lots and lots of ideas, narrowing them down seemed to be the difficult part. In the end he settled on making a snake / giraffe / dog / scorpion hybrid and an apple tree. It was a great afternoon and lovely to see someone so young clearly at ease with the equipment and materials, i’m sure he had a great birthday.