
sarah crosby is crowdfunding
Weʼre raising £30,000 to help Joanna Williams of Fire Iron Art who lost her entire workshop in the fire at the Underfall Yard Bristol UK
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Story
On Saturday 6th May 2023 a huge fire ripped through the Underfall Yard on Bristol harbour destroying a number of buildings and businesses including Joanna Williams blacksmiths workshop - Fire Iron Art.
Thankfully and most importantly no one was killed or injured . A man has been charged with arson.
Joanna is absolutely devastated by what has happened and has been advised by numerous sources that nothing will be recoverable. As the workshop is too unsafe to enter she is still unable to see up-close the total destruction inside, so remains in shock.
“It is too unimaginable to comprehend and I remain in disbelief at the fact I have just lost everything in one night".
Joanna would have been celebrating her 10th anniversary at the Underfall yard later this year. She set up the forge with her life savings in order to follow her dream as a blacksmith, but now it is all gone.
Sadly the insurance did not cover the contents of the workshop which makes her loss even more tragic and why we are appealing for donations. Specialist machinery, equipment and hand tools that took her over a decade to acquire and make were destroyed along with sculptures, sketch books and so much more. Many items being irreplaceable.
Money raised will support and enable Joanna to recover from this enormous loss and get creating again, until then she is unable to carry on working and has lost her livelihood.
During Joanna’s 14-year career as a professional blacksmith she has worked hard to build her business single-handedly, investing everything in it.
My forge wasn’t just my workshop, it was my artist studio, my home from home, it enabled me to be independent and was the culmination of over 20 years of hard work, it was everything.
Over the years, she has welcomed countless visitors passing through the Underfall yard into her forge who wanted to take a look at a traditional craft in action. She has opened her doors and demonstrated for various events and has passed on her knowledge and skills to numerous students.
With your donations, we can help her rise like a phoenix. Thank you
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Updates
6
1 month ago
sarah crosby
1 month agoAn update from Jo - Thank you for all the generous donations. Your continued support is grateful and appreciated. I will be selling three sculptures that survived the fire at Nature in Art Museum, Wallsworth Hall, Gloucester GL2 9PA on 28th & 29th Oct along with the last pieces created in my workshop before its destruction. My water birds are now truly Phoenixes! Hope to see you there. Joanne
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5 months ago
sarah crosby
5 months agoThank you to each and every one for your generous donations and kind words of support. I am very grateful for all of the help I am receiving. I wish I could thank each of you personally. I don't have admin access to this page to be able to. I am trying to post regularly on my social media and am happy to be contacted directly fireironart@yahoo.com where I can then reply in person. Please visit my link tree https://linktr.ee/fireironart for more info. I would like to thank Sarah C who kindly set up this appeal for me. Thank you again Joanna
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6 months ago
sarah crosby
6 months agoShare this update to help us raise more
sarah crosby started crowdfunding
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Supporters
446
Kester
Nov 28, 2023
So sorry to hear about this, I’d moved away from Bristol and had no idea about the fire. I had a wonderful day with you back in 2019. Best of luck!
£30.00
Katie Robinson
Nov 11, 2023
Hopefully you can get your business going again soon.
£15.00
Anonymous
Oct 29, 2023
£10.00
Anonymous
Oct 22, 2023
£50.00
David Williams
Oct 12, 2023
Keep going!
£15.00
Anonymous
Oct 8, 2023
£20.00
Anonymous
Oct 8, 2023

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