Introduction of new member Robert Squarebriggs, Canada

Hello fellow wood carvers,

My Name is Robert Squarebriggs, I live in Miramichi, New Brunswick, in Canada. I am 66 years old and have been carving wood most of my life. I am not a professional, I am a person who has a great passion for carving and expressing myself through my efforts. Upon completion of school I joined our armed forces navy for four years, as a seaman sonar operator. Having been born on Prince Edward Island on Canada's East coast my love for the sea is great. I have a passion for sailing ships and the sea. I began building ship models, while at sea, and continued after I left the navy for life ashore. I went to work in a maximum security penitentiary as a correctional officer for the next six years. I departed that job and went into industrial security first in the mining industry and later in the pulp and paper industry. I succeeded to the position of security director after a few years and conducted operations for a paper making company of 2500 employees, and assisted in the human resources department in various capacities: safety, teaching, recruiting, interviewing, and union relations.

My carving continued along as my life progressed, first as a model ship builder, always from scratch, built from draughts of original historic vessels. My ancestors were all sailors and ship builders, so I suppose it was natural for me to have this passion for ships. I began carving other styles and subjects to help me improve my skills as a ship modeller and found that I very much enjoyed carving a wide variety of subjects. I always wanted to insure that I could pass on my skills to the next generation, so I took on an apprentice a few years ago. I am teaching my second apperntice currently and enjoy the teaching aspect very much. I have been fortunate to have been recognized by our local community and my work has been recognized in several local and provincial newspaper articles, followed by several national and international magazine articles. My other hobby is reading and I have accumilated a nice collection of works of fiction and a sizable research collection of books and other information on sailing ships, their design and their construction. I often am requested to lecture in the local community on the subject. This region has had a long history of ship building in the age of sail, including a shipyard operated by the Cunard family.

My working career was ended abruptly due to an automobile accident in 1998 in which I sustained a traumatic brain injury and damage to the spine. I had to relearn many of my skills, including speech and mobility, and I have physical and cognitive limitations, but make the best of what I have. I enjoy talking with people and am an avid outdoorsman and use to hunt regurlarly. Now I enjoy my time at home with my wife of 45 years, two grown daughters and five wonderful grandchildren. My best companion is my Siberian Husky dog.

I look forward to sharing and exchanging information on carving with your group and am happy to answer any questions that you may have about my efforts. While I am not a professional carver, I do sell many of my works, to clients in this country and the United States.

Thank you Jakob for the welcome. I was fortunate not to have been involved in combat during my time in service. The closest was to chase Soviet submarines in our waters, Gulf of St. Lawrence, during the Cold War. Exciting but not dangerous.

We to have our issues with crime and immigrants, but such is every Western country now a day. No system is perfect, but we do what we can to help and try and pick out those who would do harm. I would rather stick to carving than think of all the problems surrounding us in this world. My service in the penitentiary service is not something I like to remember with fondness, it was a bad time in our prison system, with much violence and many hostage takings. A very difficult place to work. I have earned every grey hair that I have.

Bob