Another Good Club Night October 2007

As usual I arrive and put the kettle on, Don, Gary Rance and Luke, and Colin are there and the members weren't far behind them, the hall was set up pretty quick and it wasn't long before Angy was serving tea and Coffee. This is an ideal time to talk to the demonstrator, Gary is very patient with us and it's a pleasure discussing things with him. Mark arrived and went straight into the kitchen as he had offered to do the teas tonight, I joined him later. The raffle tickets where selling well, loads of chat between members, Brian brought me two more books to write reviews on, that's four I have now, I must find some time and get it done. The competition pieces are placed and some beautiful pieces arrive on the gallery table, many thanks John, he can't always make a club night but when he does come he's always got something interesting for the gallery.

Last year I accepted the position of co-vice chair, this year as Bill was happy to carry on I stood down, now you would think that releases me to a quieter club night wouldn't you, not a bit of it, I offered my full support to Bill and as he was away on holiday, by the way its good to know Bills taken a holiday, he so needs one. Back the club night, as you may remember last club night was our AGM and Bill took the chair as Don was away, so to add a bit of fun to the proceedings Don and I had an arrangement for the opening few minutes. So Don struck the Gavel and called for quiet, I stroll up shouting wow, wow, wow, and gently removed the gavel from his hand, I then reminded him that as the official stand in for Bill I have been authorised to keep control of the club as from the AGM and hand it back official tonight, so I did the usual welcome and politely handed back the Gavel, not sure they all understood and I hope they don't think I was being rude, but it was different and most thought it was funny.

The notices where read out and Gary Rance our demonstrator for the night was introduced, he briefly showed some basic cuts and tools before starting the candle holder, there was a constant flow of questions and answers all night while he turned this very ornate piece, the detail was brilliantly executed, just what you would expect from this very talented turner. Luke was on form throwing in an occasional comment.

Luke took the first piece out to spray it while we stopped for a break, the usual crowd gathered round the lathe and others caught up with the latest news, and I tried to sort some things while serving. The break over and it was back to Gary, in answer to a question he showed us how he sharpens his tools, it was interesting to see how high the grinder is, I never thought of raising it, its called a bench grinder so it automatically sits on the bench, learning all the time as they say. Back to the project, the second part of the piece was turned with particular attention to how you can make a spigot bigger should you need to, I wondered if I could get away with using that idea for my Box lids? That piece as finished to loud applause and Gary moved on to make a simple spinning top, Luke took over for a while, he showed us the chatter tool and colour pens with the usual banter between father & son. The top was spun and the applause given.

Don thanked Gary and Luke for their demonstration; you can always guarantee a good show from these two guys. The competition results where announced and it was over to Trevor for the raffle. In no time at all the hall was cleared and members where saying goodnight, I gave away some lumps of Ivy and chatted about the junior club this coming Saturday, and all to quick its time to put the lights out and lock the doors, and there goes another brilliant club night.