A Churchill Fellowship can take you around the world. But the journey doesn’t end when you return home. It begins when you bring what you’ve learned back to Australia and use it to create impact.
For 2024 Churchill Fellows Nev Jones and Colin Fardon, some of that impact has come through an unexpected friendship and collaboration, sparked by a shared passion for woodworking.
“We met at our onboarding event in Canberra. The common theme of woodworking brought us together, despite our very different projects,” Nev says.
Nev is a veteran, psychologist and woodworker who spent 20 years as an Army Intelligence Officer before turning his focus to supporting veteran wellbeing. His Fellowship explored the mental health benefits of green woodworking in therapeutic settings for veterans.
Colin has spent more than 20 years honing his craft in fine furniture making and restoration, beginning with high school work experience with master craftsman and Churchill Fellow Geoffrey Hannah. His Fellowship took him to leading collections and workshops across Europe and the UK to learn traditional furniture restoration and conservation techniques.
They’ve stayed in touch since their Fellowship experience, with both taking an interest in the other’s work.
“We’ve stayed in touch since,” Colin says. “I’ve been very interested in Nev’s project. He’s such a nice guy and so selfless and generous with his work and helping people. I find Nev and his mission very inspiring.”
Nev, meanwhile, was fascinated by Colin’s work and the places his Fellowship took him, following his journey with excitement.
When Nev returned from his Fellowship, Colin invited him to see the historic Hannah Cabinet in person – a project Colin is now helping to restore alongside fellow Churchill Fellows Greg Peters and Geoffrey Hannah. The Cabinet has a remarkable connection to Colin: he first encountered it as a teenager while learning from Geoffrey.
Colin also offered to share some of the traditional woodworking skills he had developed through his own Fellowship with veterans participating in Nev’s social enterprise, Halcyon Woodcraft.
It was a natural opportunity to bring two Fellows, their shared passion and the knowledge they had gathered overseas together.
Colin travelled to Nev’s workshop to lead a traditional marquetry workshop for a group of veterans. Participants created their own small decorative panels, learning techniques Colin had honed through years of fine furniture making and his Fellowship experiences overseas.
For Nev, the workshop was one way of putting his Fellowship findings into practice. For Colin, it was an opportunity to share knowledge he had gained overseas and use his skills in a new setting.
But the workshop is just one example of what can happen when Fellows stay connected and find ways to share what they have learned.
“I think all Churchill Fellows experience imposter syndrome at times” Nev says. “It’s not until you are with other Fellows that you appreciate the collective effect of the Churchill Fellow network.”
For Colin, the experience revealed that same potential.
“This collaboration has made me realise the power we can have together, and also the impact we can create,” he says. “Together we have some real power for impact, education and change.”
What began with a conversation at an onboarding event has become a friendship, a shared experience and one example of how the connections between Fellows can create new opportunities to share knowledge and make a difference.
Because a Churchill Fellowship doesn’t end when a Fellow returns home. It continues through the knowledge shared, and, sometimes, the impact created when Fellows come together.
