Billy Walden

For those of you who may not know, back in 2021 Billy became a contestant on Channel 4’s ‘Handmade: Britain’s Best Woodworker’, gaining recognition for his attention to detail and his already impressive achievements for someone so young. Billy first started having an interest in carpentry at about 8 years old when he used to build jumps for horses for his mum and he enrolled on a college construction course at the age of 14.

As well as progressing to the semi-final on Channel 4’s show, he has also become the first student from his college to be entered into the Skillbuilds competition. Billy won this title and then went on to come second and first in the Institute of Carpenters Craft Competition.

Billy continues to create and restore extraordinary pieces and give back to his community, particularly through community projects such as Bentham Skatepark’s new shelter, funded and commissioned by GPLD and The FOLD. He is also building his YouTube channel; Billy Arthur Walden, which will be a mix of ‘how to’ videos, clips from different projects he’s working on and fun videos of anything else he gets up too. As recognition for his hard work, Billy was nominated for a Craven Community Champion Award through Craven District Council under the category Arts and Culture and made it to the final three!