Author: Alec Mutch

Our meeting scheduled for Thursday 10th December 2020 should have been our Christmas Competition, this could not take place due to the ongoing situation with Covid-19 regulations still in place, instead we made it a virtual meeting and you were all invited to make something with a Christmas theme, it could have been anything at all as long as it was relevant to Christmas. The response was as usual very poor with the same few members putting in all the entries, those were Dave Line, David Ross, Nick Simpson, myself and I included a picture from Bill Henderson from a previous Christmas competition.

Here is just a taste of what’s in the gallery in this post,

I would have normally done this post in the picture gallery, however there are some gremlins in that system at present, so a standard post has been done instead, hopefully we can have the gremlins sorted out before the next post.

Our next meeting should be on the 7th January, it will be a virtual meeting on the subject of jewellery and would have been organised by Douglas Stewart.

I along with the HWC committee would like to wish you all a very merry Christmas and a happy new year.

We can only hope next year will be better than this year and that we can get back to some near normal meetings.

Do remember the clubhouse remains closed.

Our next meeting would have been on Thursday 10th December 2020, however with the Covid-19 restrictions still in force this has had to be changed to a virtual meeting. We are also abandoning the competition part of this meeting. We would like you all to make something with a Christmas theme the choice is up to you then to send me the pictures of what you have made, remembering to give me some information with your pictures, do also remember you can put forward more than one picture.

Here are a few examples of the type of thing you could make, or if you prefer to make something with your own initiative that will be perfectly fine, as long as you do make something.

These are just a small selection of things that can be made for Christmas, you may well, have something of your own in mind, it does not matter what you make there will be no judgement, just finish the year with a flurry of entries.

You will have until Friday 11thDecember 2020 to make and send your entry or entries. Send them to me at,

a.j.mutch4321@btinternet.com

Do remember the clubhouse remains closed.

Our virtual meeting on Thursday 26th November 2020 was about making lamp bases, it was to be organised by Cliff Sim but due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic had to be changed to a virtual meeting. You were all invited to take part in this virtual meeting but as is often the case very few of you took part, nevertheless we are very grateful to those who did take the time to take part. We ended up with 5 people willing and able to show their work, those were Bill Munro, David Ross, Dave Line, Nick Simpson and myself.

I will give you just a taste of what’s in the gallery from some of the entries, including a timeline from myself on how a table lamp was made from 2 bowling balls.

The following gallery will give you some more detail on all of the items shown here, it will also include the timeline of the lamp made from 2 bowling balls made by myself.

For a larger picture of any in the gallery, just click the picture, this will also allow you to read the text with each picture.

Our next meeting is scheduled for the 10th December 2020, it should have been our Christmas competition and raffle draw meeting, as this cannot happen we will do another virtual meeting on that date, the theme will be Christmas ofcourse, so anything to do with Christmas will be acceptable. Lets make this meeting one to remember and have lots and lots of entries.

Do remember the clubhouse remains closed.

Our next meeting should be held on Thursday 26th November 2020, but due to the Covid-19 restrictions still in place this meeting will now be held virtually. The meeting was to be arranged by Cliff Sim and Cliff’s theme for the meeting was making lamp bases, any type of lamp can be made it’s your choice. Remember there are other types of lamps that can be made and from lots of different sources even recycling from something else.

I will give you a couple of examples on what I mean from recycling,

You are all invited to take part in Cliff’s lamp bases, don’t let him down by not entering, we want to see a very good entry from as many of you as possible.

Don’t worry about making just the base without all the electrical bit and bobs, it’s your idea for the base we want to see, we all know what the other bits look like.

Get your entries to me by the end of the day on Friday 27th November and I will post them on our web site, we need a good response.

Pictures and text to;

a.j.mutch4321@btinternet.com

Do remember the clubhouse remains closed.

Our meeting on the 12th November 2020 had to be made into a virtual meeting due to the Covid-19 restrictions still being in operation. The meeting was to be arranged by Cliff Sim his theme was to be making wooden boxes on the lathe. We kept to the theme when we asked you all to make a box or two for the virtual meeting. The response was very poor with only 4 people taking part, those were David Ross, Dave Line , Nick Simpson and myself.

I will give you a feel for what sent in and a following gallery of all the entries along with some comments from each turner.

Here is the picture gallery of all the entries, just click any picture for a larger view and also for the text attached to each picture.

We do hope this gallery of some of the members work will encourage you to also take part in future posts. It’s not difficult, don’t get too hung up on being perfect with everything, we would just like to see you taking part, I’ll doctor the pictures if needed and also deal with the text that you give me, so please do take part.

The next meeting will also be a virtual meeting again being organised by Cliff Sim and for this meeting Cliff would like to see you making lamp bases, any type, any size. This meeting is scheduled for the 26th November 2020.

Once you have made your lamp base send the pictures to me along with some information on what you have made, don’t worry if you do not have all the electrical parts needed, we all know what they look like, what we want to see is the lamp base you produce.

Our next meeting should be on the 12th November 2020, it was to be organised by Cliff Sim but due to the ongoing Covid-19 restrictions this meeting will now be a virtual meeting. Cliff had wanted the meeting to feature making boxes, we can still make some boxes for Cliff, all you have to do is make a box or 2, any shape any size, once made photograph them and send the pictures to me for publication, give me some info on your box or boxes, things like the size and the wood it’s made from.

I will give you some pictures of the type of thing you could make, the first picture has quite a few boxes you could use for ideas, the second lot of pictures will be in a picture gallery of individual boxes with some instructions on how they were made. Pick a box or 2 from any of the pictures and see if you can make one or 2 similar.

The picture Gallery follows, here you will see 10 different boxes with some instruction on how they were made. Just click any of the pictures to get a bigger picture and to be able to read the text.

Come on everyone make a box or 2 and make Cliff happy, you have no excuse if it’s ideas you need you have them here.

Once you make your box or boxes, send your pictures to me at;

a.j.mutch4321@btintenet.com

You have until Friday the 13th November 2020 to get your entries to me for publication on our club web site. I look forward to seeing them.

Do remember the clubhouse remains closed.

Our meeting on the 29th October was to be a demonstration by Andy Walter of Black Isle Woodturning, it was being organised by Jim Kelman but this had to be changed into a virtual meeting due to the ongoing Covid-19 restrictions.

As there was no theme to work from we asked you all to make something of your own choosing and send the pictures to me for publication on our web site. There were only 2 people responded to this request other than myself, they are Dave Line and Nick Simpson, so thank you Dave and Nick for taking the time to make and send your work to me.

I will give you just a little taste of what’s in the gallery this week,

The rest of the entries are in the gallery that follows along with some information on all of them.

To see a larger picture of any of the gallery images just click the picture.

Our next meeting on the 12th November 2020 will also be a virtual meeting, it was to be organised by Cliff Sim on the subject of boxes. Lets see if we can all do better for the next meeting, we need you to make a box or boxes and send the pictures of them to me, you have 11 days to do this, don’t disappoint me.

Do remember the clubhouse remains closed.

This weeks meeting on Thursday 29th October 2020 was to be a demonstration by Andy Walters of Black Isle Woodturning, this was being organised by Jim Kelman however with the Covid-19 restrictions still in place this has been changed to a virtual meeting now. Andy will not be demonstrating but we invite you all to send in some pictures of your latest turnings along with a bit of information about each article.

We are not going to put any particular criteria on what to make as long as you make something and then send them to me for publication.

We have a few very dedicated people in the club that send in articles on a very regular basis and we very much appreciate these people, however I would like to see the number of these increase, do remember that you do not have to be an expert on anything you are making, we would like to see them anyway, come on some of you novices to the club and woodturning show us what you have been doing.

We are not asking you to make anything like the Quaich, but we are asking you to make something, anything at all and do send me the pictures.

You will have up to Friday 30th October to send me your pictures, send them to me at,

a.j.mutch4321@btinternet.com

Good luck with your turning and do remember the clubhouse remains closed.