Another Good Club Night - August 2006

I'm sorry but I have to write wow wow wow again, our club turn in nights just seem to be getting better and better. It all started as I arrived; Tony greeted me with a boot full of goodies he had bought on Ebay and Don had already unlocked and a number of members where asking me about Sunday with John Davis. So I jostled my way through the eager group of members and put the hot water on for a cup of tea, well it was the obvious thing to do when it gets busy. Before I knew it the hour preparation time I gave myself had passed, the teashop was ready and open and had served a good number of teas/coffee's before the meeting opened officially at 7.30pm. All the relevant tables had been set up and were loaded with items, and an encouraging number of entries on the competition table had been placed and where being discussed by members.

Don started his pre meeting chat but got called away for a phone call, I had my list of items to sort so jumped in and got those out the way, Don returned and set the evening in motion and off we went. John and I had put our names down for the tea tonight and with the help of Brian and John it was set up and running. Its quite useful because you get to chat to members you wouldn't normally chat to long with, and its quiet enough to hear some useful info.

I looked around the hall for a while and took some pictures, I meant to go back to the competition pieces after Eric and Peter had finished judging but forgot, fortunately Ray our official picture guy sent me a copy of his so thanks Ray. Our turn-in tonight had a new demonstrator from our club. Derek our magazine editor offered to demo this month, so we had Bill who to you regular readers needs no introduction, Dave Comley who has done a number of nights and as I said before Derek made up the three turners.

In addition to this Angy showed us how to cord up a stool seat and explained the work she does. Plus it gave her the opportunity to invite the members to a casual coffee afternoon on October the 19th where her classes are held in Portsmouth, so put that date in your diaries. I know this is important to Angy as it gives her and the class the chance to say thank you for all the help they get from the club. (Ps, don't tell Angy I put that bit in) I sat for a while and the stringing was explained, It will be interesting to see if it's as easy as it looks or if I can remember the method, Ill have to make a stool and get Bill in her class to show me how its done.

So where do I go from here? I've mentioned the turners but not what they did. Well Derek did pens and had a good crowd watching and asking plenty of questions. Bill, well he did a lot of chatting while showing the technique of multi centre turning, I don't think there is anything Bill cant turn on a lathe, every time I see his demo he's turning something different. And Dave turned an earring stand and then let members have a go at texturing with the Robert Sorby tool; he had a good number of takers on that one. So a good cross section of ideas that haven't been included at a turn in before plus the opportunity to have a go, I think Bill and Derek had people have a try as well. We are becoming very open and have go now here at the club, its something the powers to be have been encouraging for quite a while now and it is very much in evidence in every aspect of the club.

I think as with the last turn in with refreshments available all night, the demonstrators didn't get to have a break, so next time I will make sure they do as we don't want to put off potential demonstrators. As with all club nights the time just flies passed and soon we where coming to the end. Don made a few more announcements, I finalised the details of our Sunday with John Davis and announced the winner of the 2nd Web quiz, Rick Smith one of our members won the £25.00 worth of Chestnut products supplied by Terry Smart from Chestnut, many thanks to Terry. This last quiz was over to many months really for various reasons, but the next one will have a new question each month so you know roughly when to expect them. I get close on 100 answers to the quiz each time, but it would be nice if this figure was to grow, so if you haven't entered before then have a go at the next one. Its very easy to enter plus it makes you search the web and that takes you to woodturning sites of interest you wouldn't perhaps normally look at, or to think or research back to passed club events for clues.

So with the demonstrations finished and the competition results announced, plus the recognition of the gallery pieces, it was over to Trevor for the raffle, and again none of my numbers where drawn, something very wrong here? The army of helpers cleared the hall very efficiently including restoring the kitchen to its former clean and tidy state. The money counted and handed to Phil, odd thing this, a cup of tea/coffee and a biscuit or two is 20p, but every month without fail the tally is odd as in the total amount of 20p's put in plus 9p or 4p or the like, very strange? I guess some put in more but don't take the change out, very commendable.

Its at this time of night that the members go into overdrive taking advantage of the last few minutes to chat turning and exchange those important dates and phone numbers. So with my last few, "don't forget Sunday with John Davis" reminders I said goodnight as the lights went out and the doors where locked and there goes another good club night.

Boots- August 2006