Ukelele School

When we stayed in the villa in France, we had to pay a deposit. We told the children that if they could help us keep the villa clean and tidy and we received the cheque for the deposit back, they could choose an activity to do with the money.

After seeing Grandpa making instruments at Colwyn Bay, they knew exactly what they wanted to do with the money. They wanted to go to "Ukelele school" as they called it. Grandpa runs two day courses that teach others how to build a Ukelele. At the end of the course, participants get to take away their own crafted instrument. The children, having seen Grandpa play, were of course desperate to have their own ukelele to strum along to.

We were so grateful to Nanah and Grandpa for letting us come, because of health and safety, Grandpa can't usually have children in his workshop. He made an exception because he knew I was struggling health wise and it was a way for my parents to be able to help me with the kids during the holidays.

I'd always known how talented my father was, but being in his workshop, witnessing the mastery that he has of his tools and the wood was something else. When we were doing our GCSE's, my friend Helen decided to build an electric Violin for her tech project and my dad helped her do this. I remember feeling extremely proud that my father was able to pass on his talents to my friend but at the same time feeling a tiny bit envious that I hadn't had the idea to do something like that myself and get to spend some time with my daddy.  We more than made up for it over these two days at "ukelele school":

Ukelele school usually starts at 10, but we arrived slightly later due to various toilet stops along the way!!  I loved looking at Daddy's stock of wood and seeing him talk to my children. Daddy was a trained teacher and his teaching abilities are so innate, I learn something from him every time I see him teach.

Shaping the body and neck:

These pictures show the body of the instrument being shaped. Grandpa puts his signature into every Howlett that is built.  The children were thrilled to have their names put next to grandpas.

Break times:

Nanah and Grandpa live in a beautiful village called Talysarn, right next to an old slate mine and quarry. Grandpa's workshop is right next to their home and we spent some time walking together when the children got restless. Nanah and Grandpa also kindly took the children on mini adventures to enable me to rest and recover.  I think it's safe to say that my children relish the time they spend with their grandparents.

Anglesey:

Nanah and grandpa live so close to the beach that we of course had to visit there. The children had fun running around a nearby surfers park.

Day 2:

As the children awoke early, I took them down to the beach. The gorgeous coast of Ynys Mon (Angelsey) was just incredible. The Fenton side to my family has a long history connected with the sea (family legends speak of pirates, smugglers and of course Grandpa was in the Navy), I think it's no coincidence that all of us Howlett children find great comfort being by the sea.  Although we only ever went on two family holidays in our childhood, we would often, often have day trips to Aber, Barmouth, Ynys Las and most of the Welsh Coast.

Breakfast:

As we were already out and about I took the children for breakfast. They loved having their own miniature milk cartons! I also took them to Llanfair PG and we got to witness a spectacular rainbow just by the old station.

Finishing the build:

Day one of a ukelele build consists of assembling the body. Day two is concerned with the finishing touches. Grandpa encouraged the children to design their own headstock, a challenge they accepted with eagerness.

Concentration:

Building an instrument takes intense concentration. Mia and Ismay remained on task admirably well! Eden naturally needed some distraction. The wonderful thing about my mum being retired right now is that she is able to help Daddy with his business. She set up a craft station to occupy Eden when his attention ran out. (Please excuse my hideous appearance, I'd spent all day and night in the loo and the last thing I could cope with was make up).

The finished build:

Here are the finished instruments. They need to be sprayed and strings hung (jobs that children can't do) but we look forward to receiving the finished models soon. :)

And relax:

So after our time in the workshop, we went for a nice meal by the beach in Porthmadog.

Thank you Nanah and Grandpa for having us.