The Les Thorne Junior Master class

Writing and pictures by Jordan Drain, age 11

Apart from the food and drink my bag was packed ready the night before, I was exited as I haven't been to a master class before and wasn't sure what to expect, I didn't even know if we where watching or having a go. I was up around 7 a clock and couldn't wait for Mick to arrive to take Ryan and me to see Les. Mick arrived about 8.00 am and as we where getting in the van Ryan turned up. Ryan read the map and we arrived about 9.00, quite a bit earlier than expected but it gave us time to get the chairs out the van and look around the work shop and say hello. Les told us that we where in a workshop, not a class room and not to press any buttons, this is what Mick tells us at the beginning of every Saturday club meeting. Kirsten was earlier than we where and passed the time playing Sat Nav games with Grampy in the car. Alex and Kayleigh arrived soon after with mum Nicky and after they all had their cups of tea and coffee Les started the demonstration.

We were told a number of things and Kirsten and I got a remote each to switch the dust extractors on when told. First thing he showed us was the three main shapes on a short piece of white wood. Then he turned an apple with a twig stuck in the top; the twigs are from a Besom broom, we didn't know what that was till he said Harry Potter, it had a black bit in it that looked rotten, it was made from Ash. Then he turned a spinning top, he used a chatter tool and then put felt tip lines on it, this spun for quite a long time. Next he turned a bowl with some colours on it, some sprayed and some rubbed in, we pressed the remotes for this one, that was Sycamore.

The last thing he turned was a thin bowl which still had the bark on it when it was finished, there where great streams of shavings coming of it when he shaped it. He shaped the outside with a light bulb on the inside, this made it glow bright, the more he cut the brighter it got, it was brilliant, it was very thin, that was Beech.

We asked lots of questions and Les asked us some, we asked about the other things in his workshop when we had our break and at the end. During the demonstration Mum Nicky's phone rang so she went outside to speak, when she came back in Les gave her detention for using her phone and we laughed. I remember hard wood and soft wood, hard wood has leaves and soft wood has needles, and Sycamore is the one that has seeds that spin round and round as they fall from the tree.

At the end we all clapped and Kayleigh gave Les a Christmas card we all put our names in and I gave him a bottle of wine from us all to say thank you. We all thought Les was a very clever wood turner.

The roads where very wet travelling and we got home safely, there where 6 cars broken down on the way home. Mick let me show my mum the pictures I took on his camera before he went home.

A cool day out.

Jordan December 2007 AKA Jammy Dodger