Another good Saturday morning.
The Friday night setting up was special, it’s Christmas, yes I know its only September but that’s junior woodturning. All the usual helpers where there getting the lathes ready, except Kim and Dave who where on holiday, I obtained a lovely Christmas tree and 2 boxes of decorations and Kayleigh and mum soon got sorting it all out, Thomas and Alex used what they wanted around the hall. There was also a wheel barrow; well every Christmas social needs a wheel barrow! Doesn’t it? Any way by the time the lathes where set up the decorations where done, and very nice it was to, I’m proud to say that Thomas and Alex behaved impeccably, they did a brilliant unsupervised job, they where told what they could and couldn’t do and really enjoyed themselves, Kayleigh and mum where very patient as the tree did need a bit of TLC to make it tree looking, plus Aline helped decorate the tree in between making us all a hot drink. The wheel barrow, you’ll just have to read on and find out!
It took the enthusiastic team about one and a half hours to transform the hall, it looked brilliant. The following morning we did the final tweaking and it was time to start. With the usual chat done with they where put into 5 teams, they each chose an envelope with a project in and had a couple of minutes to choose a fun team name. And away they went, each team had 20 mins on the computer to compose and print a picture to go with their finished project for a picture at the end of the morning. The lathes where spread out all round the hall so they had space away from each other. Angy had the craft things there and as usual was over run with enthusiastic busy juniors.
At half time we had the usual Banana cake plus a beautiful Christmas iced sponge, the top was decorated with a woodland scene, Alex’s mum Nicky made this, very professional, even had deer prints in the snow, ahh. Back to the turning and craft work, as you can imagine it was a very busy active morning, it was quite a bit into the morning before young Emily said, “we are all turning the same thing” well spotted, Id put the project for the day into 6 envelopes and each team picked one, she thought that was quite funny, so did I, just adds another twist to the proceedings, that’s what makes it fun, lots of little things put in to make it different.
The morning went in a flash, we had just enough time to try the, sorry I didn’t tell you what the project was did I, design and turn a spinning top, with no design help from the senior leader of the team, we had loads of varying shapes and sizes, some worked, some didn’t, some where beautifully decorated, and some had captive rings. I said there where no prizes, winners or losers but I did have one team leader say quietly, oh yes there is and we are going to win; now that’s what I call commitment. I was very impressed with the turning and design, some of the computer graphics was very creative and done in very little time, I have to say that everybody joined in the fun of having Christmas in September very well, those that didn’t have a fun hat got to pull a cracker to get one and some just pulled a cracker because they where there, and why not.
Back to “we had just enough time to try the” tops up on the hard floor end of the hall, it got quite exciting waiting to see who’s top which was wobbling by now lasted the longest, but as I said, no winners no losers, just good clean fun. With that done sadly it was time to clear away all the lathes and craft things tables and chairs, with lots of willing helpers it didn’t take to long, Helen came early to help put away the Christmas tree and decorations, what she didn’t know was the 2 boxes of decorations came from 2 different people! So now she had to try and remember what belonged to whom? Just another little twist to add a bit of fun, she did very well I have to say, the 2 people who’s decorations we had, my wife’s/ours and her old school friend Carol so many thanks for the loan, the tree was Carols to, could be interesting when it comes to putting them up this Christmas, I think Ill go away this year!
So there you have it, our Christmas social in September done with, so what’s happening in December you ask? Well the theme is Pirates of the Caribbean, Alex drew a design on the board to show how a turner can make the hull of a boat, Eric a senior helper drew a cannon and now the ideas are flooding in, the under 12’s will be invited to my house to watch the film and make note of any other things that can be turned, the top of an old sea dogs treasure chest and the list goes on.
So what about the wheel barrow? It was decorated with Christmas wrapping paper and filled with timber ready for the days project, Kayleigh put a string of pearl type beads in and around the timber and it looked brilliant, in the hall was a stuffed toy of Thumper the rabbit, about 18” tall so Thumper was linked to the barrow so now we have a sleigh being pulled, very festive and very imaginative.
With the hall and kitchen now clean and tidy it was time to say goodbye and lock the doors, and there goes a very festive junior club morning.
Mick Giles Sept 2008