I found out about the stone carving course at City and Guilds while working at Windsor Castle where the college is involved in an ongoing project to replace the weathered grotesques with new designs. It felt like a huge sacrifice at the time to leave behind well paid and reliable employment in the restoration field. However the level of tutoring in carving, lettering, drawing, modelling and casting has far out-weighted this initial sacrifice. The course also gave me the opportunity to study along side other carving students from a range of backgrounds for three years. I now feel confident about using what I've learnt to further my career in restoration, and move into working on my own sculptural projects.