News - July 2019

Gentlemen,

We have arrived at the silly season when even respected journals resort to printing any old rubbish to fill their pages. Of course, Shed News would never stoop so low...

Dates for your diary

Friday 16th August Mudeford Club Lunch

Saturday 24th August Men's Shed Barbecue

Monday 26th August Christchurch Lions fun Day https://www.christchurchlions.org.uk/familyfunday.html

Tuesday 3rd September Workshop re-opens / Room #1 Meeting

Friday 6th / Saturday 7th September Yandles Show https://www.yandles.co.uk/theshow

[Note that our Greystone's Workshop is now closed until September.]

(Work) Shop Talk

Conversations overheard in the workshop:

"went for my first swim in the sea this year"

"oh, was it good?"

"no, I'd just capsized!"

And....

Allen Hennah on a cure for night cramps: "You need to drink more beer!"

At least I think that is what he said, so I've been trying to force down a few extra bottles each evening.......

Has anyone got a good remedy for hangovers.....?

Workshop News

John MacBean claims to have finally sorted the Triton band saw - the band stays on and the table tilt bolt has been replaced so the table is now rock solid! Just needs someone to give it a proper work out to see if he is telling the truth.....

Jerry installed a set of drawers into the table for the bench drill so we will not have to waste so much of our retirement searching for drills. He also finished carving his Rooster Fish - nice work!

My contribution was a 3-legged table for garden essentials

Jeff Perkins has been busy up-cycling chopping boards into clocks and we have acquired a couple more high stools for the workshop

New Tools for the workshop

We have gratefully accepted a fantastic donation of tools and equipment from Gerald Scanlon.

Collection of the tools is on-going but so far we have:

• Arc welding set
• Electra Beckum w/w lathe and tooling
• Portable planer-thicknesser
• Morticer
• 2-way machine vice
• 110v transformer and drill
• Hardwood off-cuts, bowl blanks and a slab of oak
• Dust extraction system (which we will be able to install in the Greystone's workshop)

Still to come is a load of wood, a bench for the w/w lathe and best of all a Little John m/w lathe.

Little John will take some shifting so we will be calling for a volunteer work party in the next week or so.

Lime Logs

I picked up a few lime logs from an estate near Privett off the A272 (has to be a joke there somewhere)

Once they are fully seasoned, they should be great for our carvers and whittlers but unfortunately for me, they turned out to be rather expensive bits of wood as on the way home I picked up my first speeding fine in 50 years, at a somewhat underwhelming 36 mph. Now if I had still had my Ducati.....

Community Projects

Brian Vaughn with help from John Fisher restored a set of planters formerly outside the Indian restaurant in Highcliffe and now re-installed on the sea front close to the Cliffhanger

Christchurch Lions Funding / Fun Day on the Quomps

Many thanks to Christchurch Lions for funding our insurance costs for 2019 - 2020.

Having third party liability insurance will enable Men's Shed to participate in events that would otherwise be closed to us.

In return for their generous support, the Lions have asked us to help out at their fun day on the Quomps on August bank holiday Monday.

Bank holiday weekends are never a good time to travel far, so why not do something useful instead and lend a hand to the Lions

Room 1 Meetings at Greystone's House

We are looking for ideas for our social meetings at Greystone's

In October, we are planning to have a presentation by Prostate Cancer UK as a follow up to the recent screening (organised by the Lions) and I expect we have to think about arranging our 2019 AGM in the not too distant future.

Does anyone have any projects or hobbies they would like to bring to "show and tell"

What about other guest speakers / short video clips on subjects of interest / practical demonstrations by members?

Any suggestions.......let me know what you would be interested in.

Highcliffe Charity Players

We were contacted by our local amateur dramatics group to see if any of our members might be interested in getting involved in backstage work on stage sets etc. I will forward their email separately.

Men's Shed Barbecue

So far, we have sold 33 tickets. Let's hope the weather is better than today!

If you can donate a raffle prize, please bring it along on the day or to our next Mudeford Club lunch.

Mudeford Club Lunch

We will also be holding a raffle at our next Mudeford Club lunch to raise funds for our workshop and specifically to purchase a chuck for the Record w/w lathe. Our last meeting was again well attended with (I think) 16 members present and the mystery tools brought in did not disappoint. Now I know wha t an optical centre punch is I found myself wanting one.

It's time for that poem again - starting to look a bit more accurate:

August cold and dank and wet

Brings more rain than any yet

Finally, I note that i before e except after c has been disproved by science!

See you all at the Mudeford Club

John Pegram

Christchurch Men's Shed