August
Our sale at the Kirkcudbright Tollbooth Studio was very successful, despite not being able to do live demonstrations as planned. At least ten members contributed work for sale, and thirteen members did at least one slot looking after the stall. We started the run with 80 items on sale and added a further 52 items during the sale. Out of this total of 132, we sold 79 items with a gross value of £935.50. The Tollbooth takes a 25% + VAT commission amounting to £274.80, £328.50 will be paid to members for items sold on their behalf, leaving £332.20 from commissions and donated items for Club funds.
Any remaining items that were donated to the Club we will keep for a future sale. Items that were to be sold on commission for members will be returned to the makers.
September
On Saturday 5 September we welcomed professional turner Philip Greenwood to the Club for a full day demo; the audience was just 21 members and public. The income for the day was £256 (tickets £210, raffle income £46). The expenses were £396 (demonstrators fee and expenses £280, sandwiches £87.50, desserts £4, tea/coffee etc. £5, raffle prizes £20). Thus the Club lost over £140 on the day. We have three professional demonstrators booked for next year, Richard Kennedy, Mick Hanbury, Dave Lowe. Should we be thinking about cancelling them if members are not interested in attending professional demos ?
Tonight we have a demo from Rolf on Pole lathe turning, the competition item is a bracelet or bangle, and the woods of the Month are Apple (from last month !) and Alder.
All the places on the ‘How to turn a bowl’ refresher course on Saturday 12 September went very quickly so this is fully booked. Those quick off the mark were : Arthur Young, Reg Thirlwall, Iain Fleming, Les Reeves, Jamie Copeland and Geoff Thomas. The course will start at 9.30am until about 5pm, bring your own sharp tools, chuck (if it is ¾”x16, 1”x 8 or M33 x 3.5mm), wood, or you can buy a blank from Club stocks. Oh, and don’t forget your lunch !!!
There is a Waiting List form on the Notice board. Print your name and contact info. on this sheet if you are interested in attending the next running of this course. We need at least three people to run the course, maximum six people.
G&S Specialist Timbers near Penrith are holding a Show on Friday 18 September and Saturday 19 September with turning and carving demos and lots of Show specials.
Hopefully we have some superb pieces from which we can select the Club’s first entry for the inter-club competition at the Border Woodturners Open Day in October. Each club’s entry must consist of five items, no restrictions. Members are asked to score each item as per our regular competition, then the top five pieces will be our entry for the interclub competition, assuming they form a balanced selection.
October
Next month we have a demo of a Simple Colouring Project, the competition item is a rounders bat, and the Wood of the Month is Box. All this is AFTER the AGM which starts at 6.30pm. Oh – and your subscription for 2015/2016 will be due.
And finally . . .
We have been buying supplies from a company called Dave Biven Machinery Sales, and we have ordered items on behalf of individual Club members. In future, we will place a Club order once a month, just after each Club meeting, so if you want to order anything let Peter Fitzgerald know before or during the Club meeting, otherwise you will have to wait up to a month until the next order is placed.
It’s that time of the year again when we need to be thinking about our Programme for next year. There is a Committee meeting scheduled for 6 October, so any ideas or suggestion that you may have for meeting topics would be most welcome before then – speak to any Committee member please.
Phil H is stepping down as Chair and Committee member at the AGM next month. Our Constitution states that the Committee and Officers (Chair, Secretary, Treasurer) shall be elected at the AGM. Any member who would like to stand for an Officer or Committee role please have a chat with Roger or Phil J.
