Grey-Bruce Woodturners Guild sets hybrid April meeting, torus demo, busy calendar

Dave Bell will put a torus, the donut-shaped form, at the center of the Grey-Bruce Woodturners Guild’s hybrid meeting on Saturday, April 18, 2026. The session will also feature a sample torus teapot, and members will be able to attend in person at the Old Fire Hall Craft Centre in Kincardine or join by Zoom, with doors opening at 9 a.m., the virtual room at 9:15 a.m. and the meeting starting at 9:30 a.m.

The April program keeps the guild’s familiar mix of instruction and show-and-tell. Turners can bring current work for the display table and entries for the peppermill challenge announced earlier in the season, giving the meeting a hands-on focus before the rest of the spring schedule kicks in.

That schedule is already stacked. The guild lists the William Wood-Write Invitation for April 25, a Basket-weave Illusion class for May 9-10, a GBWG exhibit at Southampton Art Centre from August 17 through September 12, and the Intersections Wood Collaborative Wood Symposium 2026 from October 16-18. The home page also flags TurnFest on Friday, April 17, tying the local club’s calendar into the wider Ontario turning network.

GBWG’s practical meeting details remain just as clear as its event lineup. The guild says regular meetings are held on the third Saturday of each month, except December, when they are typically held on the first Saturday. The FAQ places those meetings at the Old Fire Hall Craft Centre, 707 Queen St. in Kincardine, at the corner of Queen and Durham Market streets, and lists annual membership at $40.

The calendar sits on top of a club with deep local roots. GBWG says it had been organized by November 1992, when Ken Goldspink, with help from Steve Krauss at Welbeck’s Saw Mill, gathered the names of turners in Grey and Bruce counties who wanted to form a guild. The inaugural group met at Clive Taylor’s home near Kemble, and founding members included Clive and Margy Taylor, Bob Hastings, Steve Smith, Dan Braniff, the late Jim O’Dell, Michael Armstrong and the late Dave Saker.

That same volunteer spirit runs through Bravery Bead Bowls, which GBWG launched in late 2016. The first bowls were delivered to Toronto SickKids Hospital in June 2017, other Ontario guilds later joined in, and the Women’s Auxiliary Volunteers presented a Certificate of Appreciation in January 2022. Each bowl carries a laser-engraved medallion, and a typical segmented version can use around 70 pieces of wood, a detail that says as much about the guild’s craftsmanship as its community reach.