In 2018, I was asked by the cancer charity Penny Brohn UK to carve their annual ‘Jackie Collins Woman of the Year’ award. This is given to a woman who is inspiring, not only because of their success in business or fund-raising but also because they have fought cancer.

​That year’s recipient was Jacqueline Gold, the head of the Ann Summers chain which specialises in selling products to spice up customer’s love lives. One of their most famous products has a rabbit theme.

​Each award is tailored to reflect the recipient’s favourite things and when someone from the charity asked Ms Gold’s representative what she likes, the list included positivity, yoga, healthy eating…and her rabbit.

​The person from the charity seemed quite surprised when I said that the rabbit was the most promising of all the potential subjects for a carving! The sculpture was carved from Lawson Cypress wood (known as Port Orford cedar in the US), which grew at Ashton Court in Bristol. Although I didn’t attend the award ceremony, apparently Jacqueline Gold was very pleased with it.

​The design also had to be functional in some way, so I included a small compartment in the back for Jacqueline Gold to store her keys, loose change or spare batteries.