Club Night Report
Wednesday 13th November 2013
Club Night Report for 13th November 2013
The November meeting is the Annual General Meeting - there were 33 Members in attendance so, everything was in order for the AGM to proceed.
Mike Crawshaw opened the meeting and welcomed everyone.
The minutes from the AGM 2012 were taken as read - as they had been previously distributed to the Membership.
Chairman's Report: Mike Crawshaw reported a busy year for a predominately new Committee. There had been various additions to the Club equipment, to include a new lathe, chuck and tools - along with a new projector and camera. A new role of Equipment Manager will be created to oversee the maintenance and hire of all equipment owned by the Club.
As a result of the Club Survey - two special interest groups have been formed - a Jigs and Tooling Group and an Ornamental Turning Group.
Mike concluded by thanking those Members who were not on the Committee, but who regularly helped at Club Events.
Secretary's Report: Arthur Kingdon reported that his role was busy and varied! His predecessor, Ian Hooker, had already booked the 2014 demonstrators prior to handover, so that had made his job somewhat easier. Thank you Ian!
Arthur stressed that more volunteers from amongst the Membership in giving demonstrations would help in keeping costs down - professional demonstrators (although generally excellent) are not getting any cheaper! He would be co-ordinating several training/ tuition all-day-events during 2014.
He was currently looking at a suitable project for the Club for 2014 and one had been identified that would involve several members, and would raise the profile of the Club. Further details would follow.
Attendance at the two all-day-events in 2013 had been a little disappointing - he would welcome suggestions from Members on ways of improving on the turnout.
Treasurer's Report: Ellie Thompson reported that the Club had made a small loss in its day-to-day running costs for the year. Reserves had been used in the purchase of the new equipment - but we were still healthily in the black at the bank.
The Library had not made much at all during 2013 - so, it has been decided to make the Library free of charge to Members - to encourage its use and as a benefit to new Members.
Annual Membership Fees: With our costs continuing to rise, the Treasurer proposed that the subscription should increase by £1 to £20. She also proposed that there should be an initial Joining Fee of £4 to cover administration costs and a Club badge. This was carried unanimously.
Election of Committee: Two members of the Committee were standing down (Ian Murray West and Allen Cook) - with Ian standing for re-election - carried unanimously. Dave Newman was elected. Chris Frankum will take the role as Librarian. Allen was thanked for all of his work as Librarian.
Constitutional Changes: The Secretary outlined extensive changes to the Club Constitution, which had been previously circulated to all Members. After a short discussion, it was agreed that providing Any Other Business remained on future agendas, all changes were acceptable - carried unanimously.
The revised Constitution may be downloaded from HERE
Any Other Business: Steve Boone suggested that the £20 fee for hiring the Club marquee was too cheap. It was agreed that in future, the fee would be a minimum of £20 - but supplemented with a voluntary donation to reflect that the marquee may be hired for charitable events.
Brian Oram proposed a vote of thanks for the Committee and this was applauded.
There being no further business the AGM concluded at 2000hrs.
Guest Presenter for the Evening
John Boyne-Aitken (www.thebowlerhattedturner.co.uk) - Regional Representative, South West of the Association of Woodturners of Great Britain (AWGB) was our guest presenter for the evening. See AWGB website: www.awgb.co.uk
John gave an interesting and very informative presentation on the structure, activities, benefits and advantages on being a Member of the AWGB. The Club Committee will discuss some of the information provided with a view as to whether it would be beneficial for the NWWA to join the AWGB.
John then gave a presentation on a project the Kennet and Avon Woodturning Club had undertaken. The objective was to raise the visibility of the Club and possibly to secure a grant/ funding.
The chosen project was a Ceremonial Mace - turned by four members of the KAWC - and presented to Trowbridge Town Council.
The mace has a handle made with segmented rings of African black wood and English Oak - while its head has been hollowed out (to reduce the weight) and a laminated top. The Trowbridge town crest was copied/ enlarged and traced onto the mace head - then pyrographed and hand coloured with acrylic paint. A display stand with engraved brass plate was also made and presented.
Thank you John for an interesting and thought provoking session.
Diary Note: John will be our guest demonstrator for the Wednesday 11th June 2014 meeting.
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Trowbridge Town Mayor Cllr Nick Blakemore
with the mace made by the Kennet and AvonWoodturning Club |
The Show 'n Tell Theme for the evening was A Gavel and Anvil - the standard of the entries was high - with one entry showing an interesting interpretation of the subject, a very nice 'palm' gavel and a gavel on a segmented anvil...
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 This months winning entry is from Harry R - the timber is Yew with an off-centre turned anvil |
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Wood Swap...
The final activity of the evening was the Annual Wood Swap. A dozen or so of the Members 'circled the chairs' and got down to business.
A nice piece of Bubinga was swapped for a large block of Oak. Some Ash and Eucalyptus was handed over for a couple of chunks of Yew, and some Holly saw half an Apple tree in exchange. From what I could see - everyone went away with something a little bit different to what they arrived with. Success!
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