west suffolk woodturning club logo Welcome to our club

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.


We take the privacy of our members data seriously and have a Privacy and Cookies Policy which can be viewed here.


   

  See the calendar page for all this years events.




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technical Club info

Upcoming  meetings and events:


20th January 2025


Demonstration by Eric Harvey

7:30pm 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

We encourage all members to bring items to meetings for display. See more in the main Gallery

A-Z Safety Calendar 2024

Covid 19


The meeting hall and our events are now running as they were 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 2024 AGM minutes.


The current Committee:

Stuart Clarke

:

Chairman


John Woods

:

Secretary


Pat Yates

:

Treasurer


Ian Cameron

:

Member


Martin Taylor

:

Member


Neil Robertson

:

Member, news & website


Tic Challis

:

Member


Meeting - Monday 16th December 2024

As I am sure you are aware, the December meeting was something a little different.


We celebrated the clubs 25th anniversary and enjoyed a fantastic social evening, with refreshments and a lavish buffet.


We had a well supported raffle with some very exciting prizes, including gift vouchers, tools, finishes, wine and of course wood. All kindly donated from a number of retailers. Other prizes where kindly donated from our own members. It raised £280 and proceeds will go to East Anglian Children’s Hospice and St Elizabeth’s Hospice.


The catering was expertly planned and prepared by our chairman's mum, Steff who kindly helped throughout the and provided a delicious and very varied range of finger food. Tic was on the 'bar' and was very proficient opening bottles of alcohol free but very nice fizzy wine amongst a range of other soft drinks.

Chairman Stuart Clarke presenting Mike Charnley, winner of the Malcolm Fox Memorial Trophy competition 2024.



Stuart introduced an illustrated presentation slide show that covered some of the founding members, demonstrators and supporting members who have unfortunately passed away over the years. He included examples of members work and it was well-received by all.


Our Treasurer, Pat Yates, received a standing ovation and applause in honour for holding the office since the first meeting in 1999 and a presentation was made.


Recognition and thanks were made to our volunteer tea and coffee makers, Malcolm Keer and Christine Bugg, who have provided us with refreshment during our meetings. They were presented with some Christmas goodies.


Rapturous applause was also made when Stuart’s mum, Steff, was thanks and presented with a flowering plant as a gesture for her hard work volunteering to supply and prepare the evenings buffet and drinks

Annual General Meeting 2024 minutes

The minutes of the West Suffolk Woodturning Club Annual General Meeting, held on Monday the 16th of December 2024 are now available and can be downloaded by clicking here

The generous raffle prizes donated for the evening are listed below

in no particular order


Ashley Iles - All Rounder Gouge

Simon Hope - Medium Grub Screw Handle

Emma Cook - Chameleon Powder, Size and Brush

Lynn @ Jo Sonja - Paints and brush cleaner

Martin Pidgon Timber- Various Timber Blanks

Odies Oil UK - Jar of Odies oil and finishing pads

SK Krafts - £25 Voucher

Classic Hand Tools - £150 Voucher

Woodart Products - Handy Light

Nash Timbers - Various Timber Blanks

Chestnut Finishes - 6 Cans of Aerosol Finishes

GMC Publications - Mark Baker Weekend Projects Book

Hampshire Sheen - 2 Cans of Hampshire Sheen Finishing Products

Crown Hand Tools UK - Set of 5 micro turning tools

Adrian From Axminster Tools - 2 pieces of turned fruit, made at the Harrogate Woodworking Show  

Ian Cameron - Bottle of Wine

John French - Crown Hollowing Tool

Nigel & Christine Bugg - 2 Bottles of wine & 2 Mystery prizes

John Woods - 2 bottles of wine

This will be a demonstration by our own club member Eric Harvey.  


Eric creates some very precise quality and innovative turning using many different techniques. Here are some examples of his work and I will let them speak for themselves:

New  year meeting - Monday 20th January 2025

All day demonstration - Saturday October 26th 2024

This was a  repeat all-day demo with Colwin Way and it proved to be very bit as successful as last years event.


It was be held at the village hall on Saturday September the 26th October.


We hope to bring a report and pictures shortly.


See more of Eric’s work - click here

It was a fabulous evening and the club is very pleased to extend a big thank you to all those woodturning and craft suppliers and members who donated the lovely prizes.  


We give a big thank you to all those who helped and organised the evening, especially our Chairman, Stuart, who made this a very successful and fitting celebration - here's to the next 25 years!

Read more in the december newsletter  - click here