All content © West Suffolk Woodturning Club 2012 - 2023
We are a small and friendly club with a variety of members with very varied skills. Many of our members travel considerable distances to meet with us and most are very active turners.
We promote our club and woodturning at various events during the year.
Members can offer advice and tips and you can learn a lot from our demonstration evening, which showcase some of the top demonstrators available as well as our own members’ talents. We use a media projector to make sure that the action is viewed from several camera angles.
There is always a table for display of your latest creation at each meeting, also the occasional item turns up for sale. As part of your membership we can offer you a free personal gallery page on this website.
We also have a number of nights where traders may show their wares and demonstrate their products.
We hold a club competition annually where we award the Club’s “Malcolm Fox Memorial Trophy” to the entry voted most popular by the members.
See the calendar page for all this years events.
Quick Links
Upcoming meetings and events:
20th November 2023
Annual AGM and Malcolm Fox Trophy Compertition
7pm at the Village Hall
Most meetings are almost back to normal following the Covid 19
pandemic, however we still have some remaining precautions: view here
Recently displayed
Congratulations to John French the 2022 Malcolm Fox Memorial Trophy winner, Mike Charnley for second Place and Michael Wilkins in third
We encourage all members to bring items to meetings for display. See more in the main Gallery
A-Z Safety
About our club
Congratulations to John French, the overall winner, with MickFavager in 2nd place and Ian Cameron 3rd
The meeting hall and our events are now running fairly much as it was prior to the Covid outbreak. Although the memory of strict Covid 19 rules and precautions are now becoming a fading memory obviously we are very keen to ensure the safety of everyone who attends our meetings.
We have a number of older or vulnerable people who regularly attend our meetings and would ask members to apply the following conditions:
We would ask you not to attend if:
Some of our members still choose to wear a mask and this is perfectly acceptable.
Thank you
Change of meeting day
Please note our meeting day has changed to the third Monday of the month. This is so that our meetings do not coincide with another group that use the same venue.
The committee aims to meet several times a year to discuss new ideas, organise upcoming events and find ways to enhance the club.
We do however require further member help to achieve our events and goals, help is always appreciated at meetings to setup and clear down and at our special events.
If you have fresh ideas, organisational skills or are just enthusiastic about the club and woodturning in general then please feel free to ask any committee member for an informal chat, or better still just volunteer to join on the AGM nigh held in November. Click here to view the 2022 AGM minutes.
The current Committee:
- You or your family members have tested positive for Covid within the last 14 days.
- You have Covid type symptoms
- There is a risk you may have been in contact with anyone showing signs of the illness
Committee news
|
Tic Challis |
: |
Chairman |
|
|
John Woods |
: |
Secretary |
|
|
Pat Yates |
: |
Treasurer |
|
|
Ian Cameron |
: |
Member |
|
|
Stuart Clarke |
: |
Member |
|
|
Martin Taylor |
: |
Member |
|
|
Neil Robertson |
: |
Member, news & website |
|
20th November 2023
Annual AGM and Malcolm Fox Trophy Competition
Bring along your entries for the Malcolm Fox Memorial Trophy competition. This years subject is a ‘stylised figurine’.
See the competition rules click here.
Meeting - 19th June 2023
Pyrography talk and demonstration by Tic Challis
Our chairman Tic Challis gave us a fantastic demonstration about her pyrography.
Her fascinating talk covered the history and basics of pyrography, equipment, techniques, hand posture and the use of colour over, under and within pyrographed items for different effects. The full meeting write up is in the June newsletter.
View the full report - click here to view the June newsletter
Meeting - 15th May 2023
Demonstration with Carlyn Lindsay
Carlyn began her talk with somewhat of a recap of her designer maker background.
She describes herself as a 'maker' who has had an interest in making things since early childhood. Having tried all materials she finally settled on wood as her favourite because it is tactile and has natural warmth.
Carlyn studied three-dimensional art and design, wood, metal and plastics at Wolverhampton School of Art where she developed a love of parallel lines and laminated wood. In 1989 she was awarded a grant from the of The Princes Youth Business Trust and a bursary award from Wickes DIY to start her art business and later in 2004 she received a bursary award from The Worshipful Company of Turners This allowed her to set up a new workshop lathe and to later be entered on the Register of Professional Turners.
This was another great well explained demonstration by Carlyn. The full report and more photographs may be seen in our May newsletter by clicking here:
May 2023 Newsletter and Caylyn Lindsay demonstration.
Previous visits to our club have been in 2012, 2015 and 2018. Meeting reports explaining some of her laminating and turning techniques are available from the newsletters section of our website
Click on the desired newsletter year then select the demonstrator. Click here.
For this demonstration Carlyn showed us how to make a handled spinning top with a hollowed box section and handle in her ‘trade mark’ stripy veneer.
Her demonstration described many skills including thread cutting (chasing), hollowing and reverse chucking techniques.
Meeting - 17th July 2023
Demonstration on Texturing
Our last meeting was the first part of a series of demonstrations and talks we are planning about texturing.
It came about from requests made by several members.
This demonstration was presented by Stewart Clarke and John Woods and covered some techniques for texturing work primarily on a turning lathe. Many tools and techniques were demonstrated including texture and spiraling wheels,electric rotary carving tools and workshop items you may already have.
The presentation was well received and a full illustrated report can be viewed in the newsletter.
