Staffordshire Woodturners Club Sets April 2026 Meeting at Penkhull Village Hall

Penkhull Village Hall, a 134-year-old former Church of England school sitting inside one of Stoke-on-Trent's designated conservation areas, will host the next Staffordshire & South Cheshire Woodturners Association meeting on Thursday 9 April, with demonstrations scheduled to begin at 7:30 pm. First-time visitors pay £5 at the door, and that fee is deducted directly from the membership subscription if they choose to join, making the initial commitment as low as an evening out.

The SSCWA was founded in 1988 and has operated continuously for over 35 years as a registered charity (reference XT15157). Its affiliation to the Association of Woodturners of Great Britain carries tangible membership value: every SSCWA subscription includes full AWGB national membership as standard, giving members access to the national body's training programmes, event discounts, and insurance benefits without any additional cost. Club membership runs annually from 1 January to 31 December.

Chairman and Treasurer Adrian Eyres leads a fully structured volunteer committee that includes Vice Chairman John Benn, Secretary Mike Willis, projection officers Fred Johnson and Mike Delicata, Abrasives Sales officer Dave Boardman, and Refreshments officer Dave Lees. That depth of committee organisation reflects a club managing more than a single format: the SSCWA calendar runs both regular demonstration evenings and ad-hoc hands-on training nights, scheduled across every second Monday and alternate Thursdays. A small separate charge applies for the morning and hands-on sessions.

The venue adds its own weight to the evening. Penkhull Village Hall on Trent Valley Road was designed by architect Edward Prioleau Warren and built in 1892, originally serving as a school for the poor. It sits within Penkhull, a conservation area that contains several Grade II listed buildings. Since December 2020, the hall has been managed by the Penkhull Village Hall Community Trust (Charity No. 1176200), a volunteer-run organisation that can accommodate up to 100 people across a range of rooms its own operators describe as "the envy of many purpose-built village halls." The SSCWA itself relocated here from its former base at the Senior Citizens Centre on Hanover Street, Newcastle under Lyme, a move that reflects the practical demands of a club balancing demonstration seating with hands-on workspace.

For anyone in the Staffordshire and South Cheshire area weighing up whether to make the trip, the address is Penkhull Village Hall, Trent Valley Road, Penkhull, Stoke-on-Trent, ST4 5JB. Demonstrations start at 7:30 pm, and the club explicitly welcomes everyone, young and old, with an interest in making wood round. A regional club that has kept its doors open since 1988 and bundled national affiliation into a single subscription is, by any measure, worth a Thursday evening to investigate.