Woodturn 2002

Sydney Woodturners Guild
Woodturn 2002

WoodTurn 2002 was held at Meadowbank College of TAFE on the weekend of 20^th and 21^st April 2002 and was designed as a showcase of Australian woodturning talent. Over the event, 125 attendees saw demonstration from;

More of Neils work can be seen at Gidgee Gallery

The event was planned as a break even event with ticket cost being $70.00 which included;

Entry to 4 demonstrations over two days
Early morning coffee
Morning Tea/biscuits
Light Lunch
Afternoon tea
Coffee and biscuits - Saturday evening informal session
Souvenir coffee mug
Lucky door prize

To help fund the event, a Triton Work Centre complete with Triton circular saw with a value of around $800 was raffled. The Work Centre was donated by Triton with the saw purchased by the Guild and was won by Guild member Peter Johnson.

Each attendee received a "Show Bag" with catalogues, brochures etc. and promotional give-ways. Additionally, all ticket holders won a door prize. 76 of the prizes were donations from sponsors with the balance of the prizes provided from the Triton Raffle procedes. The retail value of the door prizes was a little over $4200.

There was a gallery of members work. Attendees were requested to bring one or two items for display and around 120 items were on display.

It is not possible to hold an event like Woodturn 2002 without help from commercial organisations. Companies involved in woodcraft were approached for help with donation of goods and equipment for use as door prizes, showbag inclusions etc. and the response was tremendous.

Organisations which provided prizes or equipment for loan were;

Triton Australia
Crawford Investments
Trend Timbers
Mother of Pearl and Sons
McJing Tools
Hare and Forbes
Carbatec
Georgi Armen
Woodfast Machinery
State Forests NSW
Howard Products
Arbortech
Timbermate
Bruce Leadbeatter
Organoil
Penetrol Wood Oil
Abrasive Industrial Supplies
Alsafe Safety Products

Our thanks to all of these people.

The event was 10 months in the planning. A sub-committee was formed to undertake the project comprising Doug Midgley, keith Jeeves, Adrian Barendregt, Peter Constantine and Ian Irwin who thank everyone who helped;

To load and unload equipment
Set up and pull down at Meadowbank
Operate the cameras (Alan Pentecost, Warren Rankin, Peter james and George Hatfield)
Prepare the food and drink (Robyn, Pauline, Edna, Hennie and Christine)

Without these people, the event would not have been the success it was.

Setting Up

Fives lathes were provided for the event, 3 loaned by John Crawford, 1 from Southern Region and 1 loaned by Trend Timbers. The Southern Region and John Crawford lathes along with grinder, video camera and countless other bits and pieces were transported by trailers (one loaned at no cost by Coates Hire, Kirrawee) by Keith Jeeves and Alan Pentecost. Other equipment was transported from Regions in cars. Once at Meadowbank, the equipment needed to be moved up 3 floors (using the building lift!) and set up in the demonstration rooms.

Setting Up (Click on an image for a larger view)

Attendees and Gallery

125 people attended the event and during breaks in the demonstrations assembled in the foyer for refreshments and to inspect the gallery of work. Pieces in the gallery were provided by attendees and the visiting turners.

The final business was a wrap-up by Peter Herbert, Guild President and the drawing of the Triton raffle.