The Hands on Harps Team

Creag and Morwenna met in Australia and share a passion for travel and music. This has lead them, including other places, up Mt Kilimanjaro, all around Europe in a van for 2 years, busking, along the Camino de Santiago with their instruments, volunteering in Kenya, India and the Philippines and now to Nailsworth, a town in South Gloucestershire where at the time of writing they have one toddler and a baby on the way.

Morwenna has played the harp since the age of 12, after seeing a harpist at a school May Festival and convincing her parents that she wanted to learn it. They made a deal with her-they bought her a small table harp and said that if she persisted with it for a year then they would pay for harp lessons.

She did, so they bought her some lessons with a local teacher. She enjoyed playing the harp and has gone on to play weddings, funerals, restaurant gigs as well as various art exhibitions, open days and festivals.

Creag grew up in a business environment-his parents ran Swallow Systems, a company that made educational robots for schools. With his dad and best mate Steve he made racing robots to compete in Mircromouse, which gave him an appearance on Blue Peter at the age of 12.

He started playing the guitar aged 18 while at university in Nottingham. He has never had a face to face lesson, learning all of his songs and techniques from videos online-this is part of the inspiration for this course. He first made a harp in 2012 for Morwenna’s Christmas present, and is passionate about working with wood to make beautiful things-he has also made a bed, various signs, a model of his Dad’s workshop, wine racks.

Charlie and Hannah met while studying guitar making at London Metropolitan University. They both have the travel bug so we don’t know how long we’ll have them for, but we’ll hold on to them for as long as we can!

Hannah, being a keen viola player since the age of 15, always had the desire to make her own instruments. She went on to receive a First Class Honors Degree in Musical Instruments from London Metropolitan University in 2016. Upon graduating Hannah and Charlie were recruited to Hands on Harps to continue instrument making. One of the many projects she has come up with is a beer keg cello.

Charlie began his journey into instrument making at the age of 16, when he first started modifying an electric guitar to install a touch pad that could control effects. By age 19 he had already began building guitar effects pedals. Charlie hand built his first instrument under Mark Bailey in Ayr, Scotland. He then went on to receive a First Class Honors Degree in Musical Instruments from London Metropolitan University in 2016. Upon graduating he and Hannah were recruited to Hands on Harps to continue life as luthiers.

Anya met Creag and Mo through mutual friends whilst they were revisiting friends in Australia. They recently reconnected at a friends’ wedding and took the opportunity to work together. Anya has spent years working with various charities and now lives on the quiet coast of Northern Ireland, enjoys walks, crafting and baking.

Our Philosophy

Our stated aim is to make learning the harp affordable and accessible, but we are proud to make sure that we do that in a way that doesn’t compromise our values.

We source our wood only from FSC certificated suppliers. FSC® is an independent, non-governmental, not for profit organization established to promote the responsible management of the world’s forests.

We will always pay our employees the living wage. We are accredited by the Living Wage Foundation.

We endeavor to make learning the harp affordable. Our aim is not to make gilded, overly ornate lever harps that cost the same as a family car. We want people to be able to afford to get their hands on a harp and have fun with it.

We believe that harps shouldn’t be seen as fragile items that people are afraid to touch. Danish oiled wood is quite well protected, and it’s also quite easy to repair if a harp comes back with a few scratches on it. Don’t be afraid to share your music around a campfire!

We believe that anyone can learn the harp, and that it should be fun. There is a place for classical training, but it’s not for us-we prefer the folk tradition of training people to be intuitive musicians with a connection to their instrument, rather than automatons who can churn out a piece of sheet music if it’s put in front of them.

Have a look at this page to see some of Hands on Harps’ friends