Chairman’s Newsletter
Our monthly meetings take place at the Queen Alexandra College every second Wednesday of the month. They commence at 7pm and finish at 9.30pm. Refreshments need to be brought but our Vice Chairman, Reg Bennett, always has a good selection of sweets and chocolates which can be purchased before the meeting starts.
2010 started well, with a cancelled meeting due to adverse weather conditions, so our AGM was held at the start of our February meeting. The calendar of events is nearly complete and can be viewed on our web-page. We still have a blank for our August meeting. One of our members Richard Grudzinski, was our guest speaker in March and he brought a wide range of his work for us to see and discuss.
Our May meeting will feature another of our members, Ron Burn, who, together with a couple of his carving friends from the Warwickshire Carvers, will be bringing along a variety of their work for us to view. David Hope from Sutton Coldfield will be our guest speaker in July and will spend the evening showing us his skills as a walking stick maker. This will be followed up in September when members have a chance to try their skills at making their own walking stick. In October another of our members will be giving us an up-date on his latest project – the restoration of “ Esmerelda “, a gypsy caravan that he has been working on at the Worcestershire County Museumat Hartlebury Castle. A number of our members saw the early Stages of Ced’s work at our summer outing last July. This year will close with a return visit of Derek Clarke, the architect who was in charge of the restoration of the Birmingham Back-to-Backs, our final illustrated talk last year. He will be returning to give another of his illustrated talks of his involvement in the restoration of the Perseus and Andromeda fountain at Witley Court.
Members evenings will again be part of the programme for the year when our members bring along items for both viewing and discussion. May I stress the importance of as many of our members as possible to submit items to make the evening of interest to everyone. New members are welcome, so if you know anyone who may be interested in the many facets of woodworking, tell them of the guild and of the warm welcome they will receive.
Colin Spencer, Chairman.