All content © West Suffolk Woodturning Club 2012 - 2024
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:
15th April 2024 Peter Taylor Memorial
competition and Multi-Turn
7 pm for 7:30 start at the Village Hall
Most meetings are almost back to normal following the Covid19 pandemic, however we still have some remaining precautions: view here
Recently displayed
Congratulations to Mick Favager winner of the 2023 Malcolm Fox Memorial Trophy winner, his stylised figure is shown right.
Second place went to Ian Cameron with his Angel and third place Martin Taylor’s nativity.
We encourage all members to bring items to meetings for display. See more in the main Gallery
A-Z Safety
About our club
Covid 19
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 night held annually in November.
Click here to view the 2023 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
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Stuart Clarke |
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Chairman |
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John Woods |
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Secretary |
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Pat Yates |
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Treasurer |
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Ian Cameron |
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Member |
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Martin Taylor |
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Member |
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Neil Robertson |
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Member, news & website |
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Tic Challis |
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Member |
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19th February 2024 demonstration by Darren Breeze
Darren explained the he is on the Register od Professional Turners (RPT) and also an assessor for the RPT.
He has a shop/workshop in Lowestoft, and offers tuition there.
For the demonstration, Darren was going to turn a footed bowl. He had an example he had made previously to show us.
The wood Darren was using for the demo bowl was Kiaat but is sometimes known by other names: Umbila, Mukwa and Muninga. It originates from South Africa. For the foot he will use a contrasting wood, e.g. Sycamore, Maple, Beech.
Read the full report.- click here..
15th April 2024 Peter Taylor Memorial competition and Multi-Turn
Please remember to bring your entries along on the 15th April for this annual competition on this evening. A reminder that the entries should be a footed item with a maximum diameter of approx.200 mm or 8". Qualifying entries could be something like a Tazza, a footed bowl, or anything else with a defined foot, and it's your choice to decorate if you wish.
On the same evening, we will be hosting a Multi-Turn evening where members are encouraged to bring along their own demonstration. We usually have several small lathes operating. We have had many other techniques being demonstrated that have included pyrography, paint decorating, power carving, turning jigs and airbrushing on display. It is usually a really good evening to share ideas, ask questions or just have an interesting chat. Meeting starts at 7pm at the Village Hall.
11th and 12th May 2024
We will be taking our club display to the two-day annual Weird and Wonderful Wood event held at Haughley park near Stowmarket Suffolk.
This year it will be held over the weekend of 11th & 12th May 2024. The club usually has a lathe and demonstrations running on each day together with a tombola and sometimes a display of members woodturning.
The event is a major fund raiser for the club and we would be very pleased to have donations of small items as tombola prizes. These can be any turned object such as pots, boxes, bowls, small vase, toys, and novelties etc. It is vital though that any item such as candle sticks comply with our requirement of being fitted with glass or metal liners to avoid problems with candles or burners. Items may be brought along at any club meeting and will be greatly appreciated.
Weird and Wonderful Wood website.- click here..
Club Calendar 2024
We now have quite a lot of this year's meetings and events on our new calendar which can be viewed on the website. Thanks go to John Woods for all of his hard work in planning, organising and booking the demonstrators. It is a lot of work and made even harder nowadays since Covid as many demonstrators are no longer on the circuit or not keen to travel any distance to demonstrate.
One to pencil into your diary is the all-day demonstration on Saturday October 26th. This will be a repeat all-day demo with Colwin Way as it proved to be a very successful day last year. You will need to book with our secretary (see details on calendar and info page) as there may be limited places, first booking priority will be for club members with any spare places offered to members of other local clubs nearer the date.
Calendar page - click here..
18th March 2024 - Finishing talk with Stewart Clarke
Stuart is our present club chairman and has been turning about nine years and started as a teenager. He explained that the subject of finishing is huge and it would be impossible to cover every technique in a single meeting..
This talk gave much advice and many tips and methods. Stewart began by demonstrating how to get the best results directly from the tool and how to produce a good scraping burr with correct honing.
He then showed how to seal, burnish and finish your work with Oils and waxes, as well as using friction polish for instant results.
Read the full report in the
