Burcot Woodturners welcome Simon Hope for packed pewter box demo

Burcot Woodturners turned a late change of plans into a strong night at Burcot Village Hall on Thursday, June 4, 2026, when Simon Hope stepped in for Mick Hanbury and drew a packed room at 7:15 pm. Members, visitors and friends filled the hall at 340 Alcester Road in Burcot, Bromsgrove, and the club also welcomed guests from Tudor Rose Woodturners for the first time.

The replacement mattered because Simon arrived with the sort of background that promises more than a routine club-night talk. He has been woodturning since he was 11, was born in 1974 and became the youngest person on the Register of Professional Turners at 26. He is known for artistic turnings and boxes using silver and pewter, and his demo pedigree stretches across the UK and Europe, with appearances in Ireland, France, Germany and Austria.

Simon’s subject matched that experience. He showed how to turn a beaded box with a pewter insert and a finial, beginning by melting pewter to cast the insert before moving on to the timber work. That opening move set the tone immediately, because it took the evening beyond standard spindle-and-bowl territory and into a material mix many in the room had not seen handled on the lathe.

From there, Simon worked through the box in clear stages, taking the audience from the outer form to the beading, then hollowing, lid turning and the final finial. Burcot highlighted the way he used ordinary woodturning chisels on the cooled pewter, showing that the metal could be shaped and textured much like wood once it had set. The club also singled out his explanation of the beading sequence, including the correct use of the beading tool and why the tool has to be presented a particular way to get a clean result.

For a club that says it was founded in 1997 and affiliated to the Association of Woodturners of Great Britain in 1998, the night fitted its long-running pattern of welcoming turners of all abilities and opening its doors to visitors from other clubs. The June meeting delivered a finished object, several usable techniques and enough technical detail to keep the conversation going after the lathe had stopped, which is exactly what a good rescue booking is supposed to do.