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Idris' Chair2023 marks the 50th anniversary of the founding of the organisation that started out as Outward Bound Sea School Aberdyfi Mountain Rescue Team and is now known as Aberdyfi Search & Rescue Team. As part of the push to raise funds for this charity-funded volunteer operated organisation in this our celebratory year, we are running a prize-draw for a remarkable piece of furniture called “Idris’ Chair”.
Standing just shy of 1m tall, the chair was made from hardened plywood by Team volunteer Matt Young. Originally from Yorkshire Matt came to Aberystwyth University in 1995 for a degree in Environmental Earth Studies, a path leading to a long career in conservation and forestry related activity. He learnt the craft of building log-houses in Finland and brought those skills back to Wales to set up business here. Finding himself the proud owner of a CNC routing machine, a computer controlled wood cutting device, he recently started to explore the artistic possibilities of the materials he was so familiar with, and the rest is history. The chair took 3 days to create: half a day for the cutting, and the remainder in the assembly and finishing. When asked about the creative process, Matt, true to his straight talking, no nonsense Yorkshire heritage, reported that “sanding the internal angles was a pig.” However, when asked what was it about wood that made it his life’s work he was much more effusive. “Each plank is different, with its own visual character, and that’s before you start thinking about different species with their own individual smell, texture and properties. It is the complete sensory experience.” Intrinsically linked this passion for forestry is a love of the outdoors and wild places. As an experienced mountaineer, Matt can be found in the mountains whatever the weather, and has been a member of the Team for around 3 years. It’s a neat circle: from mountain rescue to mountain-chairs to chairs to wood to trees to mountains and back to mountain rescue again. The prize-draw will take place on 3rd September '23 |
Who Was Idris? |
Idris was a mythical Welsh giant who, in between spitting to create lakes and flicking gravel out of his sandals to create boulder-fields, used a glacial bowl in the mountain above Dolgellau to sit and ponder the stars. This range of peaks is to this day still known as Cader Idris or “Idris’s Chair.” As the majority of the Team’s rescue activities take place on the slopes of this particular mountain, it was an irresistible choice.
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Another Tale |
Of course, there is another story that links Matt via trees and mountains to the Team, but that’s one for another day.
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