July

We had a good couple of days at the Kirkcudbright Country Fair, many thanks to everyone who donated work for sale and to Reg and John who helped out on Saturday. We made over £120 profit for Club funds.

We don’t usually have a Club meeting in July but this evening we are pleased to welcome Joe Laird, an accomplished turner from Ireland. As this is an extra meeting there is no competition item and no Wood of the Month. Joe is also offering to teach a Masterclass for members TOMORROW from 10am. The master class will concentrate on making a Celtic Bowl. The cost for the day will be £160 shared between up to 4 people. If you are interested in attending the Master Class please speak to Roger tonight – first come, first served. Joe will also be demonstrating all day at Border Woodturners on Sunday 19th and as usual you would be welcome to go along.

The Better Bowls workshop is on Saturday 25 July with Rolf as the Moderator. We have run lots of courses for new turners but this is our first attempt at doing something for intermediate turners. This means that this is NOT A COURSE ON HOW TO TURN A BOWL – but it IS an opportunity for members who have turned a fair number of bowls to get together and share their knowledge and experience. There is room for five members and we believe there are still places available. The workshop outline is on the Notice Board for you to read at your leisure. Speak to Rolf if you are interested in taking part. If lots of people are interested we could run another workshop at a later date.

The next ‘Introduction to Woodturning’ course will start on Thursday 30 July, So far we have 4 ‘students’ on the list with room for a couple more. The syllabus is on the Notice Board, speak to Phil H if you are interested.

August

We probably will NOT be at the Dumfries Show on Saturday 1 August, but Judith and David will be ‘waving the flag’ at the Wigtown Show on Wednesday 5 August. If you stay down that end of the world, or fancy a wee trip West, they would appreciate your support.

At the Club meeting on 11 August, Roger will talk about and demonstrate ‘Workholding ideas and gadgets’. The competition item is a vase with a high gloss finish and the Wood of the Month is Apple.

The next day the Club starts an exhibition and sale at the Kirkcudbright Tollbooth until 30 August. That’s over two weeks !!!!. Some of the Committee were there this morning to have a look at the space and consider how to arrange things.

We will need people to look after our area every day during that period. You do NOT have to sell or handle money, just be available to talk to visitors and demonstrate if you want to. If you want to demonstrate you should take your own tools, wood, finishes etc. Roger is going to lend us his small Jet lathe on its own bench and we will have a Club chuck available. You were asked last month to consult your diaries, he/she who must be obeyed etc. and come to this meeting ready to put your name down on the schedule. We will circulate the schedule on a clipboard. In any case we need LOTS of work to sell, either donated to the Club, or on commission. Please bring work to the Workshop any Tuesday or Wednesday before the exhibition as we have to give the Tollbooth a complete listing of all items for sale.

September

There seems to be some interest in a ‘How to turn a bowl’ refresher course so we have arranged one on Saturday 12 September. It maybe that you learned your woodturning years ago and would like an update on current practise. We would encourage you to bring your own tools, chuck and wood, or you could buy a blank from Club stocks. The course will be FREE to members, yet another benefit of being part of Galloway Woodturners. Put your name down on the clipboard if you are interested. We need at least three people to run the course, maximum six people.

A further reminder that the Committee would like to see the Club take part in the inter-club competition at the Border Woodturners Open Day in October. Each club’s entry must consist of five items, no restrictions. We are asking you all to bring your best work, which needn’t be new, to our September meeting. Members will mark each item as per our regular competition, then the top five pieces will form our entry for the interclub competition. So get your thinking caps on and get turning your very finest pieces.

 And finally . . . 

There has been some talk about the Club running a ‘ladies only’ turning day. So, ladies if the idea appeals to you, talk to Judith !   This is the second month this idea has been in the Notices.

 

We have been given another lathe – a Tyme Cub. Phil H had one of these for many years and it’s an excellent small lathe. We will buy chuck inserts to allow us to use our Patriot and Supernova chucks on this lathe. We have returned the small Record lathe that we had on loan to the owner so that all the lathes in the Workshop now belong to the Club.