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About Us
Derwent Woodturning Club has a membership of between 30 and 40.
Our objective is to promote the woodturning craft. We do this primarily through our twice monthly meetings.
Anybody interested in finding out more about the craft and having a taster is encouraged to come along to one of our meetings. If you do pay us a visit please make your self known to one of the committee.
See further down this page for details of the committee.
Membership and Charges
The club is open to new and old woodturners alike, and to those who may be just considering taking up this craft.
Annual membership is £50. New members are welcome at any time.
There is a charge of £5 for each meeting attended payable on entry.
Free tea & coffee during the evening.
Meetings
Derwent Woodturners meetings are held at Sharpes Pottery museum, 23 West Street, Swadlincote, Derbyshire, DE11 9DG. Details of how to find us can be found by clicking here.
Meetings start at 18:30, but the venue is open from 18:00 to deal with registration etc. They finish around 21:00. For full details of meetings please click here.
Free tea and coffee is served part way through the meeting.
Members currently travel to club meetings from far flung parts of South Derbyshire, Staffordshire and the Midlands so those members wishing to reduce costs through car sharing may find other members in their locality.
Woodturning Blanks
Woodturning blanks are usually to be found for sale (curtesy of David Winter) at meetings when there is no guest demonstrator.
Club Committee
Derwent Woodturning Club is run by a committee elected annually at the AGM. The committee currently comprises six people. To contact any committee member please use the contact form.
Paul Ellis - Chairman
Paul's background is in Civil Engineering but has been retired since 2013. He officially became an OAP in 2023. Since retiring Paul and his wife have bought a caravan and spend up to 50 or 60 days away exploring the UK but have also ventured into Europe for the second time in 2022 when they spent 7 weeks travelling through Spain and Portugal.
Paul bought his first lathe in 2017 but soon found he wanted something bigger and better. He purchased a larger Axminster lathe in 2018 and joined the club
in 2019. The timing was unfortunate as COVID struck after
attending only 2 or 3 meetings but he returned as soon as we
were all able to meet again. Paul is mainly self-taught but did
have a 1-day personal tutorial soon after acquiring the
Axminster lathe.
Paul has regularly contributed to the "Challenge Table" and
indeed gained equal first place, with two others, when the
points were totalled at the end of 2022. He also joined the
Committee in 2022 and was elected (with a little persuasion and
un-contested he points out) Chairman at the AGM in September
2023. Turning in 2023 has been quite quiet; a big project in
the garden has kept him out of the workshop but October should
see that project completed and therefore more time spent
turning.
As Chairman he is keen that all members have their say in running the Club and has asked that, in turn, all members should take an active part setting up, running and putting away afterwards on Club nights. It's up to everyong to ensure that the Club is a success.
Tim Glover - Treasurer
Tim has been a member of Derwent Woodturning Club since 2017 and after being approached by Alan, our Chairman, has been a committee member since 2018.
Tim administers the club Facebook page.
He has been woodturning since the age of 14.
He is currently studying Aeronautical Engineering at Loughborough University.
Tim’s other interests include 3D printing and building and flying quadrotor drones.
Peter Hollis - Secretary
Peter first started woodturning in 2010 after clicking the wrong button on ebay.
Peter joined Derwent Woodturning Club in 2018 after taking early retirement. He became club secretary in 2019.
In addition to his work with Derwent Woodturners, Peter founded and is chairman of Men's Shed Lichfield. This is a group following the now, well established, men's shed model.
Nick White
Nick joined Derwent Woodturning Club in 2022 and was elected on to the committee at the 2023 AGM as Technical & Safety Officer.Nick’s working life, after attending agricultural college, was in pig breeding and production, initially managing a number of farms and then in 1991 became self-employed as an independent consultant providing advisory visits, data analysis, staff training, building design, etc., throughout the UK and some occasional overseas work. Wood working and DIY has been a hobby from an early age, initially learnt from his father, and has since progressively developed a well-equipped workshop, to which a small second-hand lathe was added after attending a day of training with a professional wood turner whilst on holiday in Devon, and realising that this was a subject that he would like to add to his portfolio. Progress was slow initially, mainly due to lack of available time, but the interest in turning has continued to grow and joining the club and mixing with other turners was a logical step to take in that development.
David Booth
David is a vintage car enthusiast and ...
Merchandise
The club has an arrangement for the supply of polo shirts and sweat shirts. Follow this link to get to the order form.
Members wishing to place an order should print off and complete a copy of the order form. This should be returned to Tim Glover.
Orders will only be placed with the supplier periodically so there will be a delay on delivery.
Payment will only be required when the club has received the order from the supplier.
Any queries to Tim Glover or via the contact form.