The passing of Denis Conway

It is with great sadness that I have to post this, my carving tutor for many years has passed away in the early hours of this morning. He was a stalwart in the wood carving industry for many years and it is a sad day for many.

I see a lot of tributes for him on facebook, including from his son John, who I feel will miss him the most.  Denis and John both lived in and shared a warehouse in New Lynn, Denis ran his carving work and carving class on one side, and John would run his boxing gym and carpentry work on the other side.

Carving was a stress reliever for me, and many times after a tough week at work, the carving night made all the difference, especially listening to Denis’s stories of prior jobs.

From an Irish family, and born in Australia, Denis was most at home here were he was able to carve works in Maori culture.  Denis with a chain gang did all the carving work for the Oraki Marae in the 70s and 80s, and he has a lot of people who he helped during that time who now, will no doubt be very sad.

I will miss his humour and the cups of tea we used to have after carving. He always liked me playing my pipes after carving class and the odd whisky.