So you have thought about starting a woodturning club! Why? Well it is probably because you are turning away alone somewhere and would like to meet someone else who is a woodturner. Maybe you know a few other turners and you think it would be a good idea to get together on a regular basis. Well good, the knowledge that can be gained from meeting other turners is tremendous. If only we knew how to go about it. Sit down and have a good think, and let’s see what we can come up with.

The first choice is to spread the word around to these friends you have and let them know your thoughts on the matter. Maybe one or two of them will come up with a few ideas that you haven’t thought about. Perhaps you are that one lonely turner who doesn’t know any others, and if so, how are you going to go about starting a club? Why not take out an ad in the local paper. This way you will be targeting people in the same locality and who knows, maybe there will be a few out there who are thinking the same as you. Look up the yellow pages under woodturners, there may be a semi or fully professional turner in your vicinity and you could make an appointment to go and talk to them. Whatever you do, don’t just turn up on someone's doorstep and expect them to stop everything and chat with you. If this other person makes his or her living, or part thereof, from woodturning, then any interruption will cost them money.

OK, now your advertisement, or whatever means of contact that you have tried, has paid off. Some people have gotten back to you and you have made a date when you are going to meet at your little workshop. Now what? Don’t just let every body turn up and expect instant harmony. Make a list before hand of everything you want to talk about. This might include things like venue, meeting frequency, day of the month, meeting time (after dinner is best), length of meetings, and the projected size of club. You might also want to discuss if it is to be a formal or informal club. Have some seats and a pot of tea and/or coffee, and some soft drinks ready. Everyone knows this woodturning talk is thirsty work.

Many pitfalls will ensue from this first discussion, i.e.:

Venue: You will want the club to meet at your place. After all it was your idea to start a club, wasn’t it? Now this will be OK for the first couple of meetings, but soon you will find that the club will out grow your workshop/garage and everyone will be crammed in like sardines. The condensation that 10 – 15 and upward people will create, and the steam from the kettle/coffee pot will soon start to rust up even the best-kept tools in your shop. Just wait till the winter sets in and you will really know what I am talking about. Let’s leave that one for now though.

Meeting frequency: You want to meet once a month, but Tom wants every second month. Dick wants once a fortnight, but Harry wants to meet every week ‘cause he hates sitting in front of the telly with the wife. So you take a vote on it and guess what, once a month seems to be the favorite. If only it hadn’t taken over an hour for every one to realize that.

Day of the month: How’s about the first Monday of every month? Seems like a good idea doesn’t it? Tom thinks so too and Fred says that’s OK for most of the time, but three Mondays in the year and bank holidays don’t suit him. Jim says the second Tuesday would suit him to the ground because he is away on business most Mondays and the first Tuesday of the month clashes with his fishing meetings. And golf, you know that he plays golf on the third Tuesday and the discussions go on and on and you are beginning to wonder what kind of a monster you have unleashed on yourself.

Time of meetings and Duration are easy and soon up comes the matter of Formal or Informal. "What do you mean?" says dim Tim, and you explain about committees, sub committees, and Presidents etc. Tom says, "I hate formality and if we are going to have all of that, then this ain’t for me." So you eventually take a vote after a few other comments and small arguments and informal wins. You look at your watch and its nearly midnight, how time flies when you are enjoying yourself.

Now you have to be Chairman because we are in your workshop/garage and you are the secretary, treasurer (because you need to take some sort of membership fee even though its informal, it’s still a club). You also need to take money every meeting to cover light, heat, tea, coffee and biscuits. This is not a charity and even though you feel obliged because the club was your idea, soon (Her Indoors) is going to complain about the missing goodies from the larder. You are also the tea lady, waiter and general janitor, tidying up and washing out the cups after every one has gone home.

Some months down the road, you are now 15 strong and rising. Every one has told their friends all about this great wee club at your place, and now you are 20 strong and you need some space and a lot of WD40 to get rid of the rust (remember?). The local school hall sounds like a good idea. So does Jacks idea about the community center hall because they have a kitchen you can use, and it’s cheaper than the rent on the school hall. If you have set the Yearly subscriptions at the proper level and are taking a couple of dollars ($1 - $2) per meeting, then you can afford the hall easily and still save for your first lathe for the club. By the way, it’s time now to make the club a little bit more formal because all these new members don’t have the same ideas that you initially took your votes on when you were 6 or so strong. And the money has to go into a bank account so that you get that huge interest that Mr. Bush or whoever gives you on your savings. You naturally get voted in as Chairman and some of the original members are voted on to the committee and all goes well for a few months.

You buy your first lathe and all of a sudden, the powers that be want to see your public liability insurance. Panic!!!!! How much will this cost? What will we need to be covered for and whom do we see? Some of the big wood turning clubs like The Association of Wood Turners of Great Britain or The American Wood Turning Association has negotiated great policies with some of the major insurance companies and they can be contacted regarding this matter. You will find that the secretaries will be only too happy to pass on some really good advise on these and other matters.

It is some times a good idea to become affiliated to one of the large woodturning clubs and be part of a big circle of woodturners, either within a club scenario, or as individual members. You will be given the chance to save money on symposiums and meetings of all sorts and meet some of the well known names of woodturning. I hope this article is of some help and encouragement to some of you. And if you do start up a club, I wish you all the very best of luck.

Oskar

Read a success story of forming a club in South Africa