Below is the latest news from the Club. If you have any news that could be included here then please let me know (web@gaw.org.uk)
Workshop Clearance
GAW have been approached to see if members are interested in purchasing items from the workshop of a former carpenter who lived in Cheltenham. The aim would be to make a single visit to minimise the impact on his son who lives a distance away and is co-ordimating the sale. There are pictures of most of the workshop contents available here (members’ password required). If you are interested in being part of the visit then please contact Andrew T (index@gaw.org.uk)
Woodturning Weekender
Chestnut Products will be hosting their sixth ‘Woodturning Weekender’ at Steam in Swindon on the weekend of 9th – 10th August, entitled “The Return Ticket Mystery”.
Leading suspects are :
Saturday Morning: ANDY FORTUNE RPT (9.45-12.45 with a 30 minute break halfway)
Saturday Afternoon: SIMON HOPE RPT (2.00-5.00 with a 30 minute break halfway)
Sunday Morning: KATIE ARMSTRONG RPT (9.30-12.15 with a 20 minute break halfway)
Sunday Afternoon: ANDY MATTHEWS RPT (1.15- 4.00 with a 20 minute break halfway)
More details available from Chestnut’s dedicated page.
2025 Charity
The committee have chosen Linc to be our charity for 2025.
Linc are one of the oldest hospital charities in Gloucestershire, established in 1998 they have supported tens of thousands of blood cancer patients and their families. They always talk about families as well as patients as our services extend to the wider family and the impact of being diagnosed with blood cancer or living with blood cancer, has on them too.
One of the things which makes Linc special is that they sit within the Haematology departments in both Gloucester Royal and Cheltenham General and so they are at the heart of the Haematology care, work alongside clinical teams and are on hand to offer support to patients when they need them. You can find out more at their website.
Our major fund raising activity for the year is the sales table at Frampton Country Fayre, so get turning !
Len Thomas Trophy
Given the increased number of fairly new turners in the club we decided to run the Len Thomas trophy this year. This event is intended for reasonably new turners (up to about 2 years experience) to allow them to have their work assessed by experienced turners and get feedback on how they are progressing.
The competition this year was fierce with some outstanding work being presented and it all came down to the final piece – a pair of matching candlesticks. The end result was the narrowest of victories for Andrew Mills, but hopefully all those who entered over the year benefitted from the feedback they received and have improved their turning as a result.
So, congratulations to Andrew and roll on next year’s event!
Members’ Gallery
If you’d like your work included in the members’ gallery then please send some pictures and a description to Phil – web@gaw.org.uk.
Alternatively, just post it to the WhatsApp group and it is likely to be picked up and copied to the gallery.
WhatsApp Group
The GAW ‘WhatsApp group’ is a way of staying in contact with fellow members during the month. It’s also a useful source of advice on anything to do with woodturning. If you’d like to be added to the group then please contact Mike (whatsapp@gaw.org.uk)
Chestnut Products
The members only page now has Chestnut Finishing School information. It’s not a complete list but pretty comprehensive.
If there’s a Chestnut product mentioned on there that you’d like to try then please contact Dan (shop@gaw.org.uk) and he’ll be able to tell you whether we stock it already or if he’ll need to add it to our next order for you.
Project Plans
There are now over 60 project plans available and you can search to find anything of particular interest or just to get inspiration. They are also free – even to non-members!
For members there are a few additional plans available in the ‘members-only’ section of the website. If you can’t remember the password, you can find it in a copy of the members newsletter.
Beginnings in Turning
An Extract from the February 2020 Woodturning magazine:
“A Turning Journey”
When Mike was still working he asked his daughter for a woodturning lesson as a Christmas present. However he changed his mind, deciding it wasn’t such a good idea while he was still working. So instead she brought him a year’s membership for the Gloucestershire Association of Woodturners (GAW) and he has never looked back.
Want to know more then read the full article, click here: “A Turning Journey“
(Mike is now Vice-Chairman of the GAW)