Welcome

The purpose of this website is to provide you with some basic information about the club – when and where we meet, what meetings are like details about membership and other club activities. It’s not meant to be a gallery of resources about woodturning, simply an introduction to the club.​

​​The Club has been running for over 20 years and has always been affiliated with the Association of Woodturners of Great Britain (AWGB).

Our Roots have always been set in the heart of the Midlands known as the “Black Country”. The Black Country is a defined area steeped in industrial history. For a flavour of its early days follow the link, you may find it interesting:- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Country

The club home is located at Dudley College, a super venue with easy disability access, and plenty of free parking, “Club Nights” are usually held on the third Thursday of the month. 6 pm to 9 pm. (see events page for full details).

Since the start of the 2020 pandemic the club has had to rethink and redefine how it pilots the future, we now embrace technology as best we can, mixed with good old hands-on learning. We were able to remain open throughout the Pandemic period by hosting across the Zoom platform, However, we are delighted to state that since October 2021 we are back open at Dudley College.

We host a variety of meeting types informal online monthly “Chinwags” via Zoom plus monthly club night events, made up of Hands-on, Club turner or professional demos.

All are welcome, from those thinking of taking up this fabulous hobby to those already giving it a go you will meet and enjoy the company of a friendly bunch of folk, sharing your venture to learn more about this historic craft.

If you are interested contact us via the website or simply come along and see what goes on. Details of the costs involved are shown on the  Mission Tag “Joining the Club”. as well as Organisation & Documents where you will find our policies on Safeguarding & Health & Safety matters

October 2024 – Chairman’s Challenge

This month’s submissions for the Chairman’s Challenge and other items that our club members made during the last month. The challenge was “Goblet with Captive Ring / Hand Bell with or without ringer”.

Next month’s Chinwag Zoom meeting is on Tuesday 5th of November 2024. The Chairman’s Challenge theme will be “Christmas Ornament / Christmas Gonk / Nutcracker/ Snowman”

Event Report – August 2024 – Mary Stevens Summer Fayre

As a group, we started to set up at 8.30 with four gazebos being erected by the club members, who supported the event by giving their time and donating turned items to the charity table.

There was a chance for club members to sell their turnings, also Steve’s wife was selling her felting pictures. We had a steady number of members who came along and helped out during the day with the charity table.

Steve and Angus turned spinning tops for the kids throughout the day as a demonstration for people to see and ask questions. They made over 25 spinning tops and all the spinning tops were given to the kids free of charge during the event.

The event itself was set out all around the bottom field with various stalls offering different items for sale, tombola stalls, food stalls, and many others making money for the charity. The Theme for the event was Beside the Seaside. And the whole event raised £18122.42 for the hospice.


Many members turned up and gave us their time during the day, and from what I saw everyone enjoyed the event and thankfully the rain kept off for the duration of the event.
During the day the charity table made a good amount of sales for Mary Stevens with the details to follow on how we did during the day.
Thanks to all members who added items to the charity table and this is greatly appreciated that you put your time and effort into making these items.

The raffle also did well selling a good amount of tickets with it being drawn out at the end of the day.

During the day we had a steady flow of people looking at various items, with some buying. But the event went quiet for sales at about 14.30 for us

This year we have raised the following:-
Summer Fayre Charity Table £332.15
Summer Fayre Skittles £152.00
Sedgley Flower Show £203.40
Botanical Garden Reps Donation £20.00
The total paid to Mary Stevens this week was £707.55
A very large thank you to all who took part in these events in any way.

In total for this year. Blackcountry Woodturners have donated £1221.28 to Mary Stevens Hospice.

The committee would like to thank all those who turned up to help including the wives of some of the members it was a big help in the packing up process, it made it a lot easier.

The Club is now looking forward to the December Xmas event for Mary Stevens Hospice.

Report by Barrie Fisher & edited by Steve Hackett

Event Report – August 2024 – Sedgley Garden Club Flower Show

We had a good day at the Sedgley Flower and Gardening Show on Saturday 17th of August.

We were a bit concerned when the day started quite slowly, but once the flower judging in the main hall was over, there was a good flow of visitors through the community centre.

There was a lot of interest in our work that was for sale on the Charity tables and on the club member’s personnel sales table containing work from Steve, Rob and Andy.

Ian spent the day selling tickets for this year’s club charity raffle, which will be drawn at the Mary Stevens Summer Fayre at the end of August 2024.

Both areas sold many items and we made £203.40 for the Mary Stevens Hospice.

The charity table was manned by Andy & Greg throughout the day, with help from Roger Sherwood.

Many thanks to those members who came along to set up, man the stands and clear up afterwards – it all makes the day pass well and makes it a jolly time for all.

Report by Steve Hackett

The Club Exhibits our work at the “Come As You Really Are”, The Hobby Cave exhibition in Croydon

The Black Country Woodturners were invited earlier this year to Exhibit their work at the “Come As You Really Are, The Hobby Cave Exhibition by Hetain Patel” at the former Grants department in Croydon.

“Come As You Really Are” by Hetain Patel features thousands of objects created, modified or collected by hobbyists across the UK, shown alongside a new artist film. Each hobby represents a decision to commit valuable time to live life on one’s own terms in a society dominated by consumerism.

Here are pictures of the 76 pieces of club member’s work on display at the exhibition. The display also includes a few pieces from other turners from around the country.

They are:- Kevin and Cameron McAlister, Sandra Nesbit, John R Kellam, Hunter Chaus & Allan Sharp.

The exhibition runs until October 2024

These are individual pictures of the club’s display pieces.

June 2024 – Saturday All-Day Members Workshop

The idea of the day was to get as many club members involved in the process of turning two sets of mini Skittles for 2 games that will be raffled off at events that the club has coming up later this year, with all of the proceeds going towards the Mary Stevens hospice charity.

In total, there were 28 mini Skittles to make for the two games.


We had all three of the club lathes out for the turners to use, in addition to having various sharpening systems available. Some of our more novice turners took their turn on the lathes, with experienced members helping them to develop their skills.


Whilst the turning was taking place Ian Brown took the opportunity to carry out an electrical PAT testing process on all of the electrical equipment that we use regularly, thankfully all items were passed as being safe.
During the day there was a tools sale along with other items, this went down well with a good amount being sold off.
There was plenty of tea and coffee on tap during the day, with biscuits, cake and pork pies available for everyone.
It was a great day for the social side of the club, with lots of chats between members.

The committee would like to thank all of the members who took part in the event and are pleased to say that the turning project was a great success with the many different members taking part and producing the Skittles.

We would especially like to thank Robert Hackett for adapting the game design and making the templates used during the day, and also Ian Brown for making the game-playing boxes and carrying out the PAT testing.

Thanks to all who set up and took down the equipment for the day.