AN OUT-of-work actor has set up his own business making pens from wood reclaimed from York Minster.

Richard Cunningham set up yorkandbeyond.com through the New Enterprise Allowance scheme offered by Job Centre Plus with mentoring from Business Support York and North Yorkshire.

Richard, who makes the pens using a lathe at his parents’ home in Tadcaster Road, said: “After he retired, my father got into wood turning. He started keeping his eye open for interesting bits of wood.

“He came across an auction for the wood from the Minster four years ago and bought some of it.”

Richard said he would help his father turn the wood and they came up with the idea of making little presentation pieces for people to buy so local people could own a part of the wood.

He said: “It was too good to have as one big chunk sitting around for nobody to appreciate.”

The idea developed to create pens and pencils, and seeing the beautiful elm turned into a pen, Richard decided he had found the right product.

He sells the pens boxed, with a certificate of authenticity signed by the superintendent of works at the Minster and his own written short history of the Minster, through his own website and through eBay.

Mike Everitt, business support specialist for Business Support York and North Yorkshire, said: “Richard has an unusual product in reclaimed wood from heritage sites and the fact his first wood is from York Minster has added a really interesting local element to it.”

Now Richard is sourcing wood from other heritage sites and has started a new line of pens from wood reclaimed from Haworth Church, where Patrick Bronte, father of the famous Bronte sisters, was vicar for 41 years.

Richard, who trained in computer maintenance, decided an office job was not for him, and he became an actor in short films.

He is currently cast in a film called The Film With No Name, which is being shot in the Yorkshire Dales, but he said the pens remain his focus.