12 Mar 2023 – General Notices

We have previously mentioned that we are looking at arranging a social evening, something that due to Covid, we have not been able to do for a long time.  One possible venue that has been suggested is the Durham Ox at Horncastle where we went several years ago.  We are currently enquiring as to possible dates, numbers, costs, menus etc.  However, before we get too far into that, we really need to know from you, subject to the date obviously, whether you and your partner would commit and say you would attend, so we can get an idea of numbers.  In the past, at events like this, we ask and everyone is up for the idea, but when it came to actually buying a ticket, the numbers dropped considerably.  We don’t want to waste our and your time, so please let Martin know if you are definitely interested.

We have a brand new Record Power 8″ Bench Grinder, Model RSBG8 and a Sharpening Jig in the Club Shop that we would like to put up for auction as a job lot via a sealed bid.  The winner will be announced at the Club AGM on the 28 Mar 2023.  The Grinder currently retails at £118 and the Sharpening Jig is £90, so you could get yourself a bargain here.

The jig was marketed and designed by Andrew Hall. It bolts/screws to the bench. It has a slider to adjust to set the angle of the grind and a clamp to secure on the chisel to rotate to get a fingernail profile.  As you can appreciate there has to be some rules as follows:

Rules:

• A reserve price of £90 has been set by the Committee.
• Only bids equal to or higher than the reserve price will be accepted.
• Open to Full and PAYG Club members only.
• A valid bid must contain, your name, contact details, date and time of when you write out your bid and the value of the bid you wish to place.  If any information is not provided, the bid will be void.
• The closing date for bids to have been submitted is Mon 27 Mar 2023 at 7pm.  Anything received after this time will be void.
• The winner will be decided at the AGM on 28 Mar 2023, where the bids will be opened/announced.
• A bid can be sent via email to Martin, the Chairman or handed to him in a sealed envelope at the next Hands on Night on the 14 Mar 2023.
• The winner will be the person with the highest bid.
• If more than one person has submitted the same highest bid, the date and then the time the bid was written will be used to decide the winner. Earliest wins.
• The winner, if possible, is to collect the items in person from the Club Shop at the next earliest opportunity (Hands on Night).  The Club will not cover the cost of postage to you, but will arrange for it to be sent at your cost if necessary.

As you will have noticed hopefully, we have previously had some items of clothing, such as, polo shirts, fleeces, sweat shirts, smocks embroidered with members names and our Club logo.  These were originally provided by Lovell’s Workwear Ltd and the Club arranged and collated a couple of large orders several years ago to save on the postage costs.  We were wondering whether you would be interested in repeating this and getting some items embroidered with your name on and the Club Logo.  Whilst we used Lovell’s last time we are also looking at other companies more local to us.  The local companies from what we have found do not necessarily sell the woodturning smocks, but they may be available to purchase from Lovells and then embroidered locally.  Before we go into any more investigations into prices, what is available etc, would you be interested in this?  If so, please get in contact asap.

Last year, we carried out some urgent maintenance on the container to keep the water out before the winter set in.  We had a great team who volunteered to help which was much appreciated as we could not have done it without you, so a big thank you.  To finish off the work to give a good level of protection to the metal container and wooden lean to, we have some painting that needs doing when the weather gets better.  On Sat 17 Jun 2023, we will be holding our second Training Day of the year, so whilst we are at the Club, it would be a good opportunity to get the painting done.  Hopefully, the weather will be a bit better better by then.  If you are able to help on that day, please let us know.

I know its only March 2023 and we already have a full programme for this year, but to arrange a programme, we need to be looking a long way ahead.  Some demonstrators get booked up years in advance so we are looking now at who we might like to see next year and in future years.  We have some online demonstrators in mind, but it’s not who we (the Committee) want to see, it is who you want to see and what you want them to do!  If you have heard of other Demonstrator’s that do Online Interactive Remote Demos (IRD), anywhere in the world (subject to time differences) have seen their demos elsewhere, read about them in the likes of Woodturning magazine, watched their YouTube videos etc and fancy seeing them at our Club, please let us know.  We can then look into what they do, the cost etc and hopefully get them booked.

A lot of our current and old members over many years have been regular customers of Snainton Woodworking Supplies, based in Snainton, North Yorkshire.  They have recently announced that sadly they have made the hard decision to close the family business for good.  The proposed date for closure will be Thurs 6 April 2023.

Once their current stock sells, they will not be replacing it.  They have lowered prices across a range of products to enable them to clear stock. From Mon 30 Jan 2023 they will be discounting their British timber as follows: Spend £100 on British wood and receive 25% discount. This cannot be used in conjunction with any existing wood offers. This offer is only available in-store. Please support them by taking advantage of these savings, and also stock up on your essentials whilst they remain open.

For more details, please check out the announcement on their website which can be found HERE.