The Association of Woodturners of Great Britain
Seminar related news
We are launching a new website for the 2018 Seminar. This will contain all the details on where, when, presenters, programme etc. as it becomes available. The new website is at awgbwoodturningseminar.co.uk
Take a look at the impressive lineup of presenters. We are looking forward to seeing you there!
We are delighted to be able to announce this fabulous demonstrator line-up for the AWGB Seminar, 5th to 7th October 2018.
From Canada:
Mike Hosaluk www.michaelhosaluk.com
From France:
Benoit Averly http://benoitaverly.com/home/
Jean-Francois Escoulen http://escoulen.com/en/presentation/les-formateurs/jean-francois-escoulen/
From Ireland:
Glenn Lucas http://glennlucaswoodturning.com/
Max Brosi https://www.facebook.com/maxbrosiwoodturning/
From North America:
Harvey Meyer www.harverymeyer.com
From Norway:
Asmund Vignes www.aasmundvignes.net
And from the UK:
Rod Page www.rodpage-woodturner.co.uk/
Gary Rance www.garyrance.co.uk/
Les Thorne www.noturningback.co.uk/ntbk/
We’ll be releasing more details about the programme, demonstration content and booking details over the next few months. The cost of the full weekend including access to all demonstrations, excellent accommodation and all meals and refreshments during the day will be less than £400 per person.
This Seminar will be held at a new venue, the exemplary, refurbished, Yarnfield Park Training and Conference Centre, near Stone in Staffordshire, where you will never have to walk more than 75 metres – always under cover – for anything. It is near Stone in Staffordshire www.yarnfieldpark.com/ Do take a look.
We look forward to welcoming you to the best Seminar ever – Remember it’s “Your Turn to be Inspired”
On Sunday the 24th of April we held our AGM. It was an excellent day with many positive comments all round. Here is a copy of the Chairman’s address with some important pieces of news.
Firstly, I’d like to welcome you all to the AGM. Thank you for taking the time to support us.
The last 12 months have been a period of significant change for the Association. I managed to get rid of my Treasurer job to Jeff Belcher – thank you Jeff – and settled into the role of Vice Chairman in September. During that time Andy Coates found that the demands of the AWGB on his personal and work time were becoming excessive and he stepped down as Chairman on the 29th February this year. My fellow Trustees voted for me to take over that role and I must thank them for their confidence.
This triggered a shuffle of jobs with Sam Webber passing Secretarial duties to Mike Glover and moving to the Vice Chairman role.
Thank you all for your support and enthusiasm for these new roles.
I would like to record not only my personal thanks but also those of the AWGB to Andy Coates for his efforts over the last 10 years as an active member of the committee, as a Trustee and for the last three years as Chairman.
“2015 has been a year of successes for the Association. At the last AGM we launched the Let’s Teach Turning training course. This has been widely applauded not only in the UK but also from our colleagues in the States and Australia. I’m delighted to let you know that it is being using in development programmes in both these regions.
Within the UK Peter Bradwick developed an assessment module and we have run several assessment days, increasing the pool of assessors and awarding the AWGB Tutor badge to a number of our members.
Last year we had the Seminar, which proved to be a very successful event in terms of content. Sadly, we didn’t get the numbers we needed to break even and we made a loss of £10,000.
The Seminar is the Jewel in our Crown and widely applauded by all those that go but we felt at the time that proceeding with another Seminar in 2017 on the same basis would deliver the same result. Therefore, we took the opportunity to postpone the Seminar until 2018 and set about a programme of research to find out the views of the membership and search for a new venue.
We contacted fifteen venues and after much analysis we have settled upon Yarnfield Park Training and Conference Centre which provides value for money, an improved venue experience, effectively everything is under one roof.
Having reviewed the survey results we have moved the date to October and the seminar will be held between the 5th and 7th October 12018 – get that date in your diaries.
We will have an updated programme, starting with Lunch on Friday the 5th and finishing at lunch on the Sunday. We aim to have two presenters from the USA, three from Ireland, three from mainland Europe and two from Britain. On the Saturday evening we have replaced the banquet with an informal dinner followed by presentations and the auction, which pays for our development activities.
In order to make the seminar affordable we have decided to donate £6,000 from the Charity to contribute towards the cost of presenters. This means that we are anticipating a total cost for the Seminar of £425 inclusive of accommodation and meals. Start saving now!
Next year, the AGM will be held at Yarnfield giving you all the opportunity to see the venue at first hand.
Dave Atkinson, AWGB chairman
Following our Seminar this year the Trustees have reviewed the comments by delegates, the suitability of the venue and the Seminar finances. The Seminar was well received by all who attended but many commented that the site layout at Loughborough meant lots of walking between the accommodation, seminar lecture halls and the lunch facilities. Sadly we were unable to attract sufficient numbers to break even on the costs and this year the Seminar ran at a significant loss.
Therefore we have decided to review the whole Seminar process. Accordingly, the next Seminar will not be held until 2018. We are spending the next few months investigating alternative venues, costs, possible sponsorship, programme options, and publicity. We will be asking for opinions from a selection of the membership. Based on the results of this work we will be in position to start organising the next Seminar around the middle of next year.
If you have any suggestions about how we could improve the Seminar experience, or presenters you would like to see please email Dave Atkinson on vicechair@awgb.co.uk
Here is a preview of the 2015 Loughborough seminar programme. All those attending are in for a packed weekend!
Please contact Dave Atkinson regarding bookings.
If any Seminar delegates would like to pre-order anything from Axminster for collection from the seminar, please email your requirements to jason.breach@axminster.co.uk
As we have done in previous years we are offering four full scholarships to the Seminar (Loughborough 7th-9th August 2015). Applicants must be AWGB members. If you wish to apply, download the application form or apply online.
We assess your application on a number of criteria for example, you may be starting woodturning and want to use it as an opportunity to advance your skills, or perhaps you are thinking of woodturning as a possible career. We also consider your financial status as the scholarship is also designed to help those who would like to attend but may be financially constrained. Any information provided on the form is kept confidentially.
Please provide as much information as possible to help us make our decision. The closing date is 1 June 2015.
The scholarship covers the full cost of the weekend (£375). It is not transferable and we do not make any contribution towards any other associated expenses such as travel.
The details of the presenters for the 2015 AWGB international seminar at Loughborough university can be found here. The event is open to all woodturners so why not come along!