For many years Blackcountry Woodturners have supported and raised funds for the Mary Stevens Hospice foundation.

For the past few months, in the background Melvin, club secretary, has been working hard with the hospice event organisers to secure the clubs attendance in support of several forthcoming charity events, the first being the “Easter Egg Hunt” This was the first time that the club had displayed and demonstrated within the grounds of the hospice in support of one of their own events.

On a really sunny Saturday morning we arrived at the Hospice in Stourbridge at around 8:45am to be met by Louise, event organiser, who showed us to our allotted area on the main events field.

Within a few minutes Melvin, Roger C and Ian were joined by Rob, Steve, Roger S and Arthur, our set up was to include a charity table, lathe demonstration area and member’s sales table.

We all got to work and by just after 10am we had everything set up and ready to go…having consumed several cups of tea along the way.

The event opened at 10:30 with a mass influx of very excited children and adults, the Easter egg hunt began in earnest and we all enjoyed the fun watching the children and adults making their way around the field seeking out all the clues for those elusive Easter eggs

Throughout the morning and early afternoon we had a steady stream of visitors to the stall with many visitors interested in what the club did, where we were located and how products on display were made.

Visitors enjoyed watching Rob and Roger C giving demonstrations on the lathe.

Steve, Roger S and Arthur did a sterling job on the charity table selling many items made and donated by club members for the event, a number of sales were also made from the members display table, combined sales all helping to raise much needed funds for the Hospice.

The Easter event came to an end just after 1:30pm, a good time having been had by all.

Having eventually packed everything away, we were all proud to have raised £50.40 for the Hospice which was handed over to the event organiser Louise on leaving.

Blackcountry Woodturners look forward to raising more funds for the Hospice at the summer and winter events later in the year.

On Saturday 27^th January 2018, Black Country Woodturners completed its first AWGB Demonstrator training event held at the home and workshop of club member Wolfgang…..,

Four club members in total on the day being Wolfgang…….Roger Cheshire, Bob Mercer & Ian Brown

The event is all part of the facilities provided by the Association of Woodturners of Great Britain (A.W.G.B) and is open to all associated clubs and members around the country

We were honoured with our hosts Peter Bradwick, AWGB Development and Training officer, and Paul Hannaby professional turner and AWGB Web Master & Data manager. Together they provided a very full, information packed, and fun day.

The morning consisted of the educational training inputs detailing the methodology, planning, thought processes and preparation surrounding the delivery of a demonstrator presentation based at club level.

One of the morning exercises was for all the students to give a five minute talk on any subject of their choosing, topics ranged from Mad cows disease, Retirement, Workshops  & Wolfgang’s adventures around the world.

After lunch the afternoon session was taken up with Roger, Bob, Ian & Wolfgang presenting their 20 minute woodturning demonstration, carefully watched over by Peter & Paul.

Bob made a Honey Dipper, Ian showed the process of “Woggle” making, Roger made “The Magic Gene Bottle” and Wolfgang made a “Garden Dibber” using a “Skew” chisel.  All went down well with good constructive feedback and encouraging comments from our mentors Peter & Paul.

The whole day was rounded off with a good debrief and social chat before all setting off for home,  a good day was had by all with plenty of learning, fun, and tea drinking.

Black Country Woodturners would like to express our thanks to Peter and Paul for putting on a very enjoyable and informative day, and to Wolfgang allowing us into his home and workshop for the event to take place.

John is the owner of Ashwood Nurseries, and has his private, landscaped garden right next to it. He holds open days 3 or 4 times a year, and usually with a good attendance from the general public. The Black Country Woodturners generally participate with a stall on the summer open day, and so we did again this year.

A large open tent was erected, with various stalls inside, including a small lathe for demonstrations, and a charity table right next to it. We had about 10 club members in attendance, so there was plenty of variety.

The weather threatened with rain all day long, but it never did actually rain, so were quite lucky in this regard. However, the garden is right on the banks of the river Stour, and in consequence there were plenty of tiny little midges around, not enough to drive people away, but certainly enough to be a nuisance for us at the stalls.

John’s garden has a huge variety of plant species that you would otherwise only find in a botanical garden, but let me tell you, we could almost match it with the variety of work on show!

Unfortunately, sales were quite low, only the charity table produced some good results. The author of this article didn’t sell anything, and it was very similar for most other club members.

On the other hand, our demonstrations on the little lathe gathered quite a bit of interest, and we may even see some new club members coming from this event.

Here you can see Melvin putting the finishing touches on a 8″ cherry bowl, and yours truly proceeded to make a yo-yo and a bud vase, which promptly sold from the charity table for £5.

All in all, a nice day out for the club, and well received by the attending public.