Thanks for letting me join the forum. I’m a beginner to silversmithing, and have enjoyed reading the posts on this forum, and seeing the vast amount of knowledge and skill here! I retired as a GP at the beginning of this year, and having dabbled in making bead jewellery (using mainly recycled jewellery bought from eBay and broken down into its parts) my aim for my retirement is to learn silversmithing. I can see this learning will be ongoing for the rest of my life! I have done a beginner course, which I loved, have been stocking up my work bench, buying and reading books, and am excited to continue learning and progressing.