Another good club night - March 2005

I was at the clubhouse half an hour before the official start tonight and I still felt as though I was late, just about everything set up and groups of members busy chatting away. As usual I explained my competition piece and placed it on the table with the required documents and had a quick look at what I was up against, tough this month I thought with some very good entries. There was a trailer full of blanks in the car park and that gave me the chance to select a piece for next month's competition.

We had the usual chairman's welcome and informative chat, I took the opportunity to explain a few things then it was over to ken to introduce the demonstrator for the evening. Terry Smart was the guy and had travelled all the way from Ipswich to be here. He is a representative of Chestnut products and that was the theme for the night. The club lathe was set up but only to turn pre-turned 2" diameter spindles to show the effects of various treatments.

As you would expect there was bowl full's of detail about what goes with what, and more importantly what shouldn't go with what. It was difficult taking it all in but I wrote down what I could, for the guys in the audience I think their best bet was to listen to the area they had problems with and try to remember just that. It worked for me and there is always another day for the bits you missed or you can ask other club members.

During the midway break there was a number of purchases made with a good crowd of members inspecting the vast array of products on show. I got my cup of tea and took the opportunity to inspect the items on our gallery table. We get some very clever and interesting items shown here regularly.

During the evening Terry covered a number of different finishes as he chatted away answering questions all the time, he is very knowledgeable about all the products and turning related problems. He covered a number of safety issues which I think is always a must do topic but with the reasons as well which helps it sink in more. Terry knew Bill Thorne who was in the audience and as anybody who knows Bill you can imagine there was a fair bit of light-hearted humour throughout the demonstration. It finished slightly earlier than usual as Terry had to drive back to Ipswich tonight and was then off to Glasgow in the morning, busy guy.

Ken thanked Terry for his efforts which was followed by a good round of applause from the audience. There was a last minute update on various matters and then it was the raffle draw as the chairs where put away. Sadly no prize tonight for me so perhaps Derek got lucky this time? The club lathe was put away and the hall swept up and brilliant, no shavings this week so no vacuuming to do. There where the usual last minute bits to sort out and there goes another good club night.

Boots - March 2005