Visiting Lecturers

Over the years, I have arranged for various guest lectures to come and give presentations to
students and staff of GMIT Letterfrack some of which are outlined below.

Robert Ingham
From the UK, Robert was the principal lecturer at Parnham College for twenty years. Parnham
was set-up and run by John Makepeace (a chest of drawers from John would start at £100K).
Robert has personally trained some of the most prominent makers in the UK, many of whom
we have had students on placement with. Two of Robert’s books are in the college Library.
Since leaving Parnham Robert runs his own business designing and making one-off pieces to
commission. Ten pieces of Robert’s furniture have been awarded highly prestigious Guild
Marks by the Worshipful Company of Furniture Makers. He is a regular contributor of articles
to "Furniture and Cabinetmaking" and judges their competition at the Axminster Show
annually.
I organised Robert to visit and give a Making Master Class to each of the four, first year groups
and a presentation for all staff and students. I arranged for Robert to visit every year for four
years until funding became an issue. The feedback from students was remarkable.
Shown below is Robert with myself and a group of 1st year Furniture and Wood Technology
students.

Mick Hudson, Clifton.

On numerous occasions I organised for Mick Hudson from the Clico Tool Company in the UK
to visit GMIT Letterfrack to give demonstrations to all four first year groups on Clifton Bench
Planes. Students receive a 5 1/2 Clifton bench plane as part of their tool kit. They very much
enjoy seeing the selection of tools on offer and their intended function.
Seminar on Excellence in Bespoke Furniture.

Due to an appetite from students for exposure to some of the best in the industry, I organised a
seminar on ‘Excellence in Bespoke Furniture’. I set about organising the logistics and created
a line-up of three distinguished multi award winning speakers; Knut Klimmek, John Lee -
graduate of GMIT Letterfrack and Andrew Varah (RIP) from the UK. The seminar was
attended by over 100 students and staff. Each of the speakers presented their work which
followed with a Q&A session. The students engaged fully and had an endless supply of
questions which had to be cut short. The feedback from students was very rewarding. Below
shows a poster that was prepared to advertise the event.

Festool Ireland.
Festool are premium manufacturers of woodworking tools. As a method of exposing students
to as many tools and processes as possible I arranged for Festool Ireland to bring their roadshow
to the college and give demonstrations to the student groups. This has now become an annual
event. The students are shown the full range of tools and functions and are also given the
opportunity to use some of the tools themselves. The feedback from the students every year is
very positive.
Michael Enden, Director of PMI Recycled Plastic Lumber
I invited and arranged for Michael Enden to come and present to GMIT Letterfrack staff and
students on Recycled plastic lumber (RPL). RPL is made from 95% recycled plastic milk
cartons which is processed and turned into a useable material simulating wood. Michael gave
a presentation on the materials many uses and many advantages as the material is impervious
to the elements. He displayed pictures of various projects his company had completed including
outdoor play parks, fencing, stables, ice skating arena seating and more. It was the first time
the students had been exposed to the material and its scope within the wood products industry.
A poster advertising the presentation is shown on the following page.