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Individually Turned & Handcrafted Wooden Hearts for Mary Stevens Hospice

The Black Country Woodturners have proudly responded to a request from Mary Stevens Hospice to create some individually turned & handcrafted wooden hearts for inclusion in the welcome bags given to new in-patients at the hospice.

These welcome bags provide patients with a range of useful and comforting items to support them during their stay. The wooden hearts have been specially made to offer comfort and reassurance, giving patients something tactile to hold, gently feel and rub during treatment and moments of anxiety.

On 6 May 2026, we were delighted to present more than 100 handcrafted hearts, all produced by members of our club, with many more still to come. This project reflects the generosity, care, and community spirit of our members, and we hope these small tokens will bring comfort to those receiving care and their families at the hospice.

Those present from the club were the following Black Country Woodturners committee members.
Steve Hackett, Ian Brown, Andy Dore, Brian Smith & Barrie Fisher
On behalf of Mary Stevens Hospice,
Ruth Radley (Spiritual Care Lead), Lee Taylor (Communications), Epi Wasi(Nurse)

Mary Stevens Hospice is our recognised charity, and we have been fundraising for it for many years. We also support the hospice by providing demonstrations and supporting their events throughout the year.

Mary Stevens Hospice Facebook Post.

Hands-On Evening – August 2018

August’s meeting was another hands-on event, we had the welcome return of Keith Drew to the club who had been persuaded to come and demonstrate the technique of making a shell pattern form.

Project set up on the lathe

Keith picked this technique up from a demonstration he attended some time ago, and over time has developed his own way of completing the project, the very simple explanation being that the blank is set up inside a pre-made and marked-up template, this is then used on centre to make the central decoration then offset against the pre-determined marks to form the final shell-like fin decoration. The final product looks great when all finished and can be utilised as an ornament on its own, or incorporated into another project, it is quite a complex piece and provides a challenge to the more advanced turner.

Keith set up his demo, showed us the way it should be done then under Keith’s guidance several members had a go, definitely more tricky than Keith made it look, this was a very interesting first half of the evening, something unusual and much enjoyed by those in attendance. We would all like to thank Keith for giving up his time to educate us all.

The evening then provided additional inputs from Wolfgang on the lathe Goblet Turning, and by Bob Mercer showing us all the correct way to strip and clean a chuck…….

Member’s work displayed during the evening