Forest of Bere Woodturners packs May with 35 events, demos and hands-on sessions

Forest of Bere Woodturners has crammed May with 35 events, and that density says more about the club than any polished brochure could. This is not a one-night-a-month outfit trying to stay visible. It is a club building a full month around turning, with hands-on sessions, demonstrator nights and a competition calendar all running at once.

Two dates do the heavy lifting. On May 9, the club is set to hold SATURDAY CLUB from 8:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., its practical workshop format built around club lathes. On May 19, Club Night runs from 7:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. and features a demonstration by The Gentleman Turner, the sort of named draw that turns a routine meeting into something worth marking on the calendar. For a casual reader, that is the obvious hook: one morning to get hands on the tools, one evening to watch a known demonstrator work.

The club’s own format is clear. Forest of Bere Woodturners meets twice a month, with Club Night on the third Tuesday and Saturday Club on the second Saturday. Club Night normally features a professional turner, guest turner or club member demonstrating projects and techniques, and the club uses a high-definition, multi-camera presentation setup with a large display so members can follow the turning in detail. Saturday Club is the more practical side of the house, with a typical morning starting at 08:00 for setup, notices at 08:45, refreshments at 10:30, and pack-away from 12:30 for a 13:00 finish.

The club also keeps the barrier to entry low. Guest entry is £5 per session for up to three visits, and annual membership is £50. That fee includes the monthly Saturday workshops and Tuesday Club Night meetings, plus free tea and coffee. The club says it has more than 50 members of all abilities, from absolute beginner to advanced and professional, which is exactly the mix that makes a local turning club useful rather than merely social.

May also ties into the club’s wider competition year. The competition page lists May 2026 as the month for a secret opening box challenge, part of a cycle that runs from September to August. That gives the month a second layer of interest: members are not just watching demos, they are making pieces to a shared brief and bringing them back into the club’s judging rhythm. Forest of Bere Woodturners has been doing that sort of thing for years, with a 2019 Portsmouth News profile saying the club was founded in 1978 and publishes an annual programme of items for members to make and judge.