15 Apr 2023 – Training Day

This weekend, we were pleased to put on the first of four training days planned for this year.  These are open to everyone and not just our paid members to hopefully encourage new people to try the craft and get hooked and want to learn more.

With some help from our Humpers ‘n’ Dumpers, Chris Chance and John Cox who very kindly offered to help, we had the hall set up with the four lathes and ready to welcome the first 4 students plus time for a brew.  Thanks John Cox for bringing us the milk and biscuits to keep us going through the day. Our Instructors for the day were Darren Brown, Chris Fisher, John Liles and Mike Close in the morning and John Mitchell in the afternoon.  Thank you to all of them for their continued support to enable the Club to be in a position to offer this type of event.

The idea of the training days is to offer one to one tuition without the crowds that end up watching on the Hands on Nights.  This training day proved to be another great success and rather than me telling you how good it was, here are some of the reviews and feedback we have had from some of our students:

Had a great morning training day with Chris Fisher, a great teacher with a wealth of knowledge and advice, would recommend to anyone new or old to book a session on one of the training days, thanks Chris really enjoyed it and look forward to more training days.  KS

Yesterday was very good I learnt a lot and Darren was brilliant and very patient with me.  The club members are very friendly and encouraging you even if you’re not being trained by them. I would like more training and more one to one training and as a total novice. Really friendly club and members cannot recommend the club and the trainers highly enough for their efforts and expertise.  SM

I have to say my training day session on Saturday was an absolute joy, I was a bit apprehensive as I have not done any turning since I was 14 at school and like most new things you do not want to make a fool of yourself.  The session started with Martin giving me a thorough run through of the Robert Sorby Pro sharp system so that I am able now to sharpen my chisels safely and keep them in good condition. Mick arrived to start my session on the lathe and we chose a piece of Oak for me to practice turning a bowl, after going through the operation of the lathe and how to keep safe while using it, he showed me different methods of mounting the work and how to start removing wood.  There are too many things Mick was teaching me for me to list, but at all times I was made to feel that I was doing ok and not “put down” in anyway when I made one of the my many mistakes, all in all everyone in the session were keen to impart their years of knowledge and it was a very friendly and relaxed atmosphere to learn in.  I will certainly be booking further sessions in the future. KB

I had tried doing spindle work in my workshop with very little success. John was an excellent tutor during this mornings training. He quickly put meat ease with his superb knowledge of spindle working. I quickly realised that I wasn’t doing that much wrong but without John’s patience and understanding I would still be making the same mistakes. John’s use of the Skew Chisel for planning is amazing something I hope to improve on with time.  DE

What a great introduction to woodturning. As an absolute beginner I had no idea what I needed to know, but fortunately Darren did. He explained and demonstrated everything with total clarity and went at the perfect pace to allow me plenty of time to master new skills before moving on. We then consolidated the learning by producing a bud vase – an unexpected bonus!  I would recommend this training to anyone –  whether you’re a novice like me, or a more experienced turner looking to enhance your skills. I grouped 3 sessions together making for a very enjoyable and informative 3 hours in an easy and relaxed learning environment. Top quality stuff.  SC

Our next training day is on the 17 Jun 23, which I am pleased to say is now fully booked, but if you want to get on to the following one on 16 Sept 23, please get in contact with me as slots are already getting filled.

Please check out the Gallery HERE of some more of the photos taken during the day.

Whilst all that was going on in the Hall, Paul was busy out in the shop which we opened up from 10 am to midday.  Although we only had a few customers, it was still an opportunity to make a start on going high tech and getting all the stock we have onto computer to be able see exactly what we have and what we may be getting low on.

Sadly, John Radford who has been our resident shop keeper with Mick for the last 14 years, has decided to stand down from the role and actually get into the hall to see what is going on during the meetings.  After that amount of time doing the job, he well deserves a rest.  On behalf of all the members past and present, I would like to thank him for all the time and effort he has devoted to the Club and for making the shop what it is today.  Thank you John.

We now have Paul, Dave and Mel who are taking on the running of the Shop with Mick’s expert guidance.  If anyone else is interested in helping out please let us know as this will then enable the shop keepers to swap around and actually get to see what is going on in the hall and not be stuck out in the shop all night.