We are a Woodturning Club, incorporated in Queensland and situated in the Franklin Craft Center, 238 Mudgeeraba Rd, Mudgeeraba. Mudgeeraba is part of the Gold Coast, situated in South East Queensland, Australia.
Our Club currently has 84 members, most of who live in the Gold Coast area and northern New South Wales but some live as far afield as Sydney and Melbourne. Our common bond is, of course, a passion for Woodturning, in all its forms.
Members range in age from 16 to 86, both men and women and bring with them diverse skills from their varied backgrounds, ranging from farmers, just about any trade you can think of, emergency services, solicitors and accountants, teachers business people and the list goes on. Think of a skill and we will most likely have a member to fill the bill.
What do we do?
Above all other expectations, we are in the business of enjoying ourselves, our craft, and participating in the fellowship to be found within our Club. We are a Woodturning Club and as such leave other aspects of woodcraft to other Clubs. Many of our members belong to other Clubs to follow their passion in furniture making, intarsia, carving, pyrography and so on but incorporate all of their skills in their work.
We meet 4 times a week and on the third Saturday of each month. Monday evening is devoted to beginners where we hold classes in basic woodturning, care of tools, safety and all of the things we need to know to get started in Woodturning. On Tuesday and Thursday mornings and Wednesday evenings the Club is open to all members for “hands on” sessions. On the third Saturday of each month, excluding December, we hold out General meeting, followed by a Club activity such as a demonstration by a visitor or Club member, a talk on any subject, not necessarily Woodturning, group sessions and so on. The day generally includes a BBQ.
We manage the woodturning sections of both the Mudgeeraba and Gold Coast Shows, on behalf of their respective Show Committees. This enables us to run competitions, entry open to anybody, display our work to the public and run demonstrations of woodturning to show the public what we do and how we do it.
We are involved in the Gold Coast community, demonstrating at Schools, Respite Centres and Art Shows. We combine with other Community organizations to add a bit of variety to their activities and to give us a chance to show our skills to people who would not normally come in contact with woodturning.
