CHRISTMAS  MEETING

The entries
Before the judging of the competition, Roger handed over to Alan Frampton who entertained us with a game of “Pointless”. He had to explain the rules to those of us who don’t watch the TV show and it took a while to sink in for some but eventually we got the hang of it and had a great time trying to think of the most obscure answer to a number of very different categories. We started with an individual round which was won by Paul and then we paired up for the second part in which Steph and Kath took the prizes. The third section was a battle between those two with Kath coming out as the eventual winner.

Dorothy’s bicycle
Then we started on the grub and picked up voting slips to mark our preference for the best carving under the title; “I had one of those as a kid”. After much deliberation, Roger announced the winner and recipient of the Fountain Cup as Dorothy Lockyer with her bicycle followed by Allan Mechen’s fort and Pippa Smith’s doll in a crib. Congratulations to those three and thanks to all who took part. Dorothy receives the trophy from Roger and his jumper.

 

ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
The formal part of the AGM took the usual form with reports from Chairman Roger, Secretary Joyce and new Treasurer Kathy and it was all very positive with tales of successful events from 2015, votes of thanks to all who had helped during the year and a healthy bank balance to boot. We look forward to 2016 with plenty of enthusiasm. We then went through the procedural ritual of handing the meeting over from the outgoing committee into the temporary custody of Paul Humphriss representing the rank and file who took the opportunity to extend thanks to our hardworking committee. There were eight volunteers for the new committee so it was considered unnecessary to hold a vote and a motion to allow all eight members to form the new committee was put forward. This was proposed and seconded and so your new committee for 2016 looks like this:-

Joyce Andrew      Pete Osborne      Kathy Hammond        Trish Sayers
Roger Elliott        Don Andrew        Pippa Smith                 Di Smith

Thanks go to Alan Frampton who has stood down this year.

Afterwards, believe it or not, we had eighteen holes of golf in the church hall. Not strictly true, but three goes at knocking six golf balls into Roger’s mini nineteenth hole situated at the end of the room. Just to add to the excitement, we all had badges with the names of famous golfers on them. At the end it was Tony Jacklin (Pippa) who triumphed and walked off with the £250,000 first prize (or was it a box of chocolates?).
Just time for tea, cake and a raffle and that was the end of another AGM.

HYTHE LIBRARY
Below can be seen a couple of pictures of what has become a regular mini-exhibition for us in the library. Between January 30th  and February 27th  we filled the two glass cabinets with examples of our work including the Christmas competition entries at bottom right. It’s good that members of our local community get to see our work close up for an extended period of time and hopefully some of them will be inspired to come along and join us.

 

FEBRUARY MEETING

An attentive audience
The hall was transformed in February as we welcomed woodturner Mike Haselden to our meeting to give us an introduction to and demonstration of turning. All the furniture was placed back to front in order that we could see Mike who had set up his portable lathe near the door with plenty of sheets on the floor and a Perspex safety guard in front of the machine.

There was a very good turnout of people in the hall as Mike began by explaining a bit about the tools used and demonstrated a few simple roughing-out techniques on a square bit of pine followed by some simple shaping. He then moved on to turning a delightful apple shape which he finished off with a piece of contrasting wood for a stalk. This was handed around for us to feel and admire while he asked for suggestions for another piece. A couple of people asked about a goblet which he duly began.

Alongside the demonstration there was a small exhibition of Mike’s work together with a fascinating collection of wooden puzzles and brain teasers all expertly carved or turned. Some of them really had us scratching our heads as to how they could be solved. Altogether it was a very entertaining and amusing afternoon and it is highly likely that we will get Mike to come back some time in the future for more of the same.

 

Satnav – by Pam Ayres



I have a little Satnav, it sits there in my car. A Satnav is a driver’s friend it tells you where you are.

I have a little Satnav, i’ve had it all my life. It’s better than the normal ones, my Satnav is my wife.

It gives me full instructions, especially how to drive “It’s sixty miles an hour”, it says, “You’re doing sixty five”.

It tells me when to stop and start, and when to use the brake and tells me that it’s never ever, safe to overtake.

It tells me when a light is red, and when it goes to green It seems to know instinctively, just when to intervene.

It lists the vehicles just in front, and all those to the rear. And taking this into account, it specifies my gear.

I’m sure no other driver, has so helpful a device. For when we leave and lock the car, it still gives its advice. It fills me up with counselling, each journey’s pretty fraught. 

So why don’t I exchange it, and get a quieter sort?

Ah well, you see, it cleans the house, makes sure I’m properly fed. It washes all my shirts and things, and keeps me warm in bed!

Despite all these advantages, and my tendency to scoff, I only wish that now and then, I could turn the bugger off.

 

RAFFLE
My name is Trish, and I am the wife of Peter Sayers and as some of you are aware I have taken over the raffle. I am hoping I can do as well as Hazel, Sylvia and Elsie have done in the past. There is usually a bottle of wine and some smaller prizes that the club buys, plus prizes that you, the club members bring along. This year the club is going to buy a few garden vouchers, ( the vouchers will have validity up to 12 months ),  and use one of them instead of a bottle occasionally.

FORTHCOMING EVENTS – check out the ‘Events’ section of the website for all upcoming events.