Lincolnshire Wolds Woodturning Association training day fills to capacity, draws new guests

Lincolnshire Wolds Woodturning Association kept its April training day full to the last lathe, and even a last-minute cancellation did not leave an empty seat. Three new guests joined the session, and the club said students left happy with the pieces they had made, a sign that the club’s appetite for hands-on tuition is still strong.

The association thanked Darren Brown, Chris Fisher, John Mitchell and Rob Collin for giving up their Saturday, and also credited Louise for bringing refreshments. One Louise, who turned a tea light holder from a random piece of ash, said she learned a lot about drilling, turning and decorating, including how to add gold leaf or foil. That is the kind of practical result the club is built around, with beginners getting actual time on the lathe rather than just watching from the side.

The wider April programme backed up that demand. The hands-on night drew 24 attendees, a little down on a fuller room but still enough to keep the exhibition table busy and the show-and-tell lively. The club said the variety of work continued to impress and that the standard remained high, which points to a group that is teaching the basics without flattening out creativity. Members are not just making practice cuts and spindle scraps; they are coming back with finished work worth putting on the table.

The following workshop night shifted the emphasis from making to design. Raleigh took the club to his Colorado workshop and walked through six iterations of a box with a base, lid and finial, showing how the proportions changed as colour, patterns and adornments were added. He also explored setting objects into the finial, with antique buttons singled out as a feature worth playing with. For a club calendar, that mix matters. It gives a new turner somewhere to start, and it gives an experienced one a reason to stay engaged.

That structure sits at the heart of the association. Lincolnshire Wolds Woodturning Association became a Registered Charitable Incorporated Organisation in November 2020, charity number 1192167, and says its aims include promoting woodturning for the public benefit and advancing public education in the craft. It holds hands-on nights on the second Tuesday of each month from 7 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. in the village hall, with four lathes and resident turners on hand, and workshop nights on the third Tuesday online via Zoom.

The club said it planned at least five training days in 2026, set for 14 February, 11 April, 13 June, 12 September and 14 November. Those days are open to everyone, including non-members, and have been used to encourage complete beginners to have a go. That approach has already paid off: the association said its 2024 training days were all fully booked, and April showed the model still works when the calendar offers regular making time, design support and a clear route in for new turners.