Born in Carmarthen and brought up in Ammanford, Les's first memories of woodwork was at around four years of age when he remembers visiting a wagoner and wheelwrights workshop just around the corner from his home.

"I played in the sawdust on the workshop floor and made castles, farms and towns from the small offcuts of wood." Les went on to say that while they were only small blocks of wood they were the best toys you could get.

At around ten years of age Les's first real project was a sled. It had been snowing and all his friends were at a nearby hillside sliding down the slope on bits of ply and parts of old chairs. Les decided to make his own sled from some old floorboards and three inch nails. It was a real flyer and Les was the envy of his friends.
While attending secondary school Les had his first woodwork lesson. He made a seed label. Not a very challenging project but it taught Les how to set things out and measure from a plan. As time went on Les tackled larger projects including a small bookcase and a stepladder. Les's final project while at school was a free standing bookcase and magazine stand in beech.
 

When Les left school he soon decided that the only career for him was a carpenter. But Les was unable to find a suitable apprenticeship locally, so he packed his bags and moved to London. This was a brave move for the young Les, but his bold move was to reap rewards for him very quickly.

The very first day Les managed to secure an apprenticeship and was thrilled with the prospect of finally realising his ambitions. Les was trained by Ron Whimsett of Richmond, Surrey and studied at Twickenham College. Les was trained in all aspects of woodwork, from the millwork, joinery and cabinet making workshops to repairs and renovations of listed buildings.
For the final year of his apprenticeship Les was transferred to the Borough Architects Department of Llanelli Borough Council. Where he also studied at Llanelli Technical College. On completion of his apprenticeship Les went to work for a joinery company and later a local building firm. Les also worked for Multiflex Kitchens of Dafen.
In 1974, Les decided he no longer wished to work for other people and started out on his own. He concentrated on woodwork in the building trade, but this was to expand to building extensions on houses and then to complete houses. When Les stopped enjoying the work he downsized the business and returned to his first love, woodwork. Craftwork started to become a passion and more of a challenge and this was the road the business then took.

Designing furniture and other items for the craft market, combined with hanging doors, fitting cut roofs and kitchen fitting seemed a balanced idea. Around this time Les also started running craft fairs and opened a craft shop at a local tourist attraction. Les was commissioned to produce gifts for the twinning town convention when towns in France, Germany, Italy, Holland and Yugoslavia were all twinned with Neath. The craft shop also had it's share of famous visitors, incuding singer Tom Jones, who bought two Welsh spinning chairs and a number of Welsh lovespoons all made by Les. Also Les had rock groups Iron Maiden and Prodigy both visit his craft shop.

By now though Les needed a new challenge and it was around this time he turned his attention to lathe work.

  
 

Rather than turning bowls Les made the decision to try a more challenging project of a spinning wheel. Fourteen different wheels later Les was asked to display them and gives talks and demonstrate them working at The Museum Of Welsh Life at St. Fagans. Les continued his talks and displays for a number of years and was then asked to put on an exhibition of his work at The National Botanical Gardens Of Wales. He can often be seen there now giving talks and demonstrations.

The next project was inspired by a chair les had seen at St. Fagans. A chair with captive rings based on a Tudor design. Les decided to design his own chair with captive rings. After one hundred and eighty hours the chair was completed. The chair was on display at St. Fagans for quite some time.
Les was also approached to make a number of reproductions for Welshpool Land Museum and Newtown Textile museum. Two great Welsh spinning wheels, followed by two carding benches, a four poster weavers box bed and finally a Tudor table. It took a lot of research with the help of the curators of St. Fagans to complete these projects.