In charge of competitions for the club is David Hobson, the subject matter for this competition was to make a money box, all 3 categories of members were tasked with the same remit. This was not as easy as it first appears the making of a money box using a lathe requires some considerable consideration, and there were precious few examples on line for you to copy, this was going to be very interesting to see exactly what the members would come up with.
On the night as the members arrived with their entries it became clear to see there was a very good response from the Novice category and a moderate response from the Intermediate and Open categories, and some very innovative designs were appearing, this was better than expected.
I took pictures of the entries just before the judging was to take place. The judges were for the Novice and Open categories were Errol Levings and Barry Cumming and for the Intermediate category Errol Levings and David Hobson.
Here are those pictures,
As you see quite a good range of ideas for a money box using mainly a lathe. Now for the results of the competition.
Starting with the Novice category, (1), first place Graeme Gunn, (2) 2nd place Neil Farnham, (3 & 4) there was a tie for 3rd place for Bob Bull and Nicky Dawson.
Moving on to the Intermediate category, (5) 1st place was Keith Hodgson, (6) 2nd place was Chris Lycett, (7) 3rd place was Barry Cumming.
Now for the Open category, (8) 1st place was Alec Mutch, (9) 2nd place was David Ross, (10) 3rd place was David Hobson.
That concluded the competition part of the meeting, running along side the competition were 4 of the 5 lathes in use, this was arranged by Alan Geddes all tasked with making something to keep the members entertained during the judging, here are a few pictures of that part of the evening.
Lathe 1 was not in use, on Lathe 2 was Chris Lycett making a small natural edged bowl from a piece of spalted Rowan.
Left, the underside almost finished, Right, here is Chris with his finished bowl.
On Lathe 3 was Marco Baglioni working on an Ash bowl.
Here is Marco almost finished the outside, and right, sees Marco with his finished bowl.
On Lathe 4 was John Ruickbie working on a Wych Elm bowl. Right, John is about to remove the faceplate ring he used to do the outside.
Here John can be seen working on the outside of his bowl. Right, the outside sealed and waxed.
Left, the inside of John’s bowl almost complete, sealing and waxing still to do. Right, here is John with his finished bowl.
On Lathe 5 was Alan Geddes who arranged for the 4 turners to work the lathes. Right, Alan can be seen starting to work on an Elm bowl.
Left, Alan is about to start to work the inside of his bowl. Right, here is Alan with his finished bowl.
The meeting was well attended, the entries more than I had expected and the variation on design very interesting, the winners were all given a good round of applause for their efforts and the judges were thanked on behalf of the club.
Next meeting 17th April 2025 starting at 6.45pm, being handled by Keith Brown and Keith’s theme for this meeting is making various shapes and sizes of Platters, there should be all 5 lathes in use.