Quickly following on from our monthly meeting, we once again pitched up at the Coombeswood Canal Trusts Open Weekend at the Hawne Basin in Halesowen. It is a lovely little venue and we were made very welcome by the organisers . Despite being in June, it appeared that no one had told the weather and we had a few showers over the weekend, but they were light and did not stop the public coming along.
Once everything was set up it did not take members of the public long to be drawn to our stand to view the lathe being used and to look at the items available in the craft shop.
When we attend these events, first and foremost our aim is to promote woodturning to a wider audience and to talk to people about our heritage craft. Over the weekend, the team had plenty of conversations with members of the public about woodturning and the things you can make. We also spoke to a number of people who were interested in taking woodturning up as a hobby, hopefully they will come along to a club night in the near future.
The Craft Shop area of our stand is always important as it allows members to display and sell their items over the course of the weekend. There were some beautifully turned pieces on display and quite a variety from bowls to apples and pears, birthday cakes to peppermills! Club members did make some sales over the weekend and will no doubt use the proceeds to fund new pieces of equipment or materials. At the end of the day, visitors have gone home with something that has been handmade by one of the team who were present.
I know that I say this every time, but we could not do these events without members volunteering to help run our club stand. This weekend was no exception and we must give a massive thank you to the following for giving up their time to come along:
Bruce, Trevor, Jeff, Roger, Tim, Matt, Richard, the three Mikes – Crockett, Delves and Floody, Peter, Joy and Peter, Ray as well as everyone who popped down to say hello and have a look round the event.
Here are a few more pictures from the weekend:
The weekend was soon over and we look forward to the Canal Trusts next event which will be their Christmas Fair.