Events

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BCWT –Demonstrator Training Day

On Saturday 27th 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.

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St Pauls Brownie & Guide Demo Evening -Thursday 1st February 2018.

On Thursday 1st February 2018, Black Country Woodturners, in conjunction with 3rd Blackheath St Pauls Brownie & Guide leaders put on a “Woggle” making evening for the girls aged between 7 – 16yrs.

Several weeks of planning and preparation went into event working with the Brownie & Guide leaders in advance to provide a creative evening for the girls to enjoy.

The idea being for each member of the Brownie & Guide pack, including leaders to choose a woggle from a number of  pre made styles then decorate and finish the item, leaving the event with their creative work.

The evening entailed a quick introductory talk to the Brownie’s and Guide’s about woodturning, followed by a live demonstration of a woggle being turned.

All the girls chose their woggle styles then went off to colour and decorate; having finished the decoration, the woggles were then finished off with sanding sealer and wax top coat.

All the Girls had a great time throughout the evening with many unique designs being achieved by all age groups….. here are just a few of the colorful designs below…

Feedback from leaders and the parents of the girls has been very positive with everyone enjoying the evening.

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Ashwood Nursery Open Day

As usual for the club, we had a stall at the open day of the Ashwood Nursery just down the road from Wall Heath. This event usually attracts a good crowd, and this year was no exception. There were a few differences to previous years, though: After some initial heavy rain we had a dry day (hooray) and there were no midgets (hooray) and the club had a much bigger stall, consisting of two conjoined tents.

About half a dozen club members enjoyed a day out, with demonstrations to the public, who in turn showed good interest. The club managed to take about £140, and as usual half of that goes back to the charity chosen by Ashwood, and the other half gets donated to the charity chosen by the club. Here are a few pictures from the day:

Club members Paul and Ron watching the public taking keen interest.

Sometimes there was almost a queue to get to the front!

One of our club members with his display.

And this is the display of another club member.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Two club members manning the charity table.

And here the chairman himself demonstrates woodturning.

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Ashwood: John’s Garden Open Day

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.

Ashwoods-1A 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.

Ashwoods-2On 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.