1st February – Club Challenge Evening

Another good turnout on a cold February evening  69 members and 3 guests. Following Lynda’s introduction our attention turned the three lathes set up in front of house.

Initial interest was focused upon Alan Sturgess and his demonstration in which he treated us to a wide range of finishing techniques and products; he also expertly answered many questions from the audience.

To his left was Harry Woolhead who had promised a “surprise” turned item. In fact he actually produced several items including a small goblet that then became an egg cup when he made a matching egg to fit. He also made another goblet with a twisted stem which was followed by a more detailed explanation of creating twists on a static lathe.

At the other end of our bank of lathes was Bob Hope, where he challenged members to step up and produce an egg cup against the clock to fit a wooden egg that he had prepared earlier.  Several of our experienced members took the bait and produced a range of egg cups, mainly of standard design with the exception of a cheeky “square edged” time saving version by Brian Hannam. The results were judged by Ian Woodford who awarded the prize to Alan Sturgess.

During the tea break members were asked to vote on the entries into the Club Challenge to produce items under the title of “Fruit and Veg”. There was an excellent array of entries on the table, twelve members producing fourteen varieties, from a single apple to a bowl containing twenty two apples from a variety of woods, a couple of bowls of mixed fruit and some toadstools.

First prize went to John Holden for his bowl of rosy red apples, second came Bob McFarland with a bowl of mixed fruit and Adrian Smith’s clump of toadstools was third.

All in all a very good club evening, only to be tainted the following day when we were informed that  somebody had “scrumped” one of the apples from Mike Haselden’s entry.

Andi Saunders