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News - October 2018

By John Pegram (Secretary) Christchurch Men's Shed

Monday, 1 October 2018

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Christchurch Men's Shed Contributor

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Warm September brings the fruit

Huntsmen then begin to shoot!

Hope everyone has been making the most of the fantastic weather.

What I really want to know is, where did September go?

Social Meeting

There was a great turn out at Mudeford Club last week - 19 in total including some new faces. After lunch, a number of the group went on to take another look inside the Somerford shed. Once we get the lease in place, it looks like the first job will probably be to sweep the floor!

The next Mudeford Club lunch will be on Friday 19th October at the usual time of 12.00 noon

General Meeting

Our next general meeting will be this coming Tuesday 2nd October at Greystone's House starting at the usual time of 2.00 pm. Note that we have moved to Room #1 which is on the ground floor behind reception.

AGM

We are planning to hold our 2018 AGM at the November Room #1 meeting on Tuesday 6th November. Formal notifications for the AGM will be issued shortly.

Greystones Safety Briefing

I attended a safety briefing at Greystone's last week - mostly to do with the new lift. As we are now really only using the ground floor and the basement at Greystone's, the workings of the lift are probably not of great concern to us however if you do use the lift to access the upper floor rooms and library, please be aware that it is a platform lift and the shaft walls do not move with the lift. To operate the lift, it is necessary to keep the button pressed until the lift arrives at it's destination. Also note that there is a safety "cut-out" bar around the perimeter of the platform, and if you step on or otherwise depress this bar, the lift will not move. And finally, remember that Greystone's House is basically just that, a house with (2) wooden stair cases and no separate fire escape from the upper floor. Here endeth the lesson!

Snakes Alive

Jerry Russell has offered to head up the "Snakes in the Heather" project on behalf of Men's Shed assisted by Mike Morris and Leonard Stone. If anyone else would like to get involved, please let Jerry know.

Greystone's Workshop

There was lots going on in the workshop in September and Lenny has been extra busy having made a gun stock extension, an experimental hanging basket and has started carving a love spoon. In fact there are two love spoons on the go - hope they are not for the same lady and she has to choose between them.

The blue wood turning lathe has been re-assembled and can be used for basic spindle work.

We are short of some tooling and especially need a chuck (3/4-inch 16 tpi) if anyone knows where we can get a second hand item or has a spare lying around.

The small "Clarke" metal work lathe is available to use. I did some facing and boring (first time since my apprenticeship) and Nick Mowll is currently turning some spare parts for his boat.

There was one moment of horror when our bestest, sharpest cabinet making chisel was about to be used to reclaim some old glued and nailed wood. We will refrain from mentioning any names and causing the person concerned undue embarrassment, but that man Nick Mowll is probably blushing when he reads this.

We received a very nice donation of tools from a lady in Highcliffe including an Elu router, Elu jigsaw, Bosch power drill and a Bosch sander and a Bosch palm sander plus some useful smaller items. All in very good condition - someone looked after their tools! Many thanks to Sheila Bromley!

We have dismantled the two remaining machines at Wildown Road ready for removal to the Somerford Shed along with a traditional style wood work bench and some Dexion racking

Workshop Availability

For the benefit of our new members, our basement workshop at Greystone's House in Highcliffe is open Monday to Friday inclusive from 10.00 am to 4.00 pm. Popular times are Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday mornings between 10.00 and 12.00.when typically between 2 and 6 members are present. We usually take a tea break around 11.00 am.

The workshop is equipped with work benches, a good selection of hand and small power tools (lathes, band saws, drill press, scroll saw etc), reference books and lots of enthusiasm. Members can work on their own projects, community projects that we take on from time to time or just drop in for a chat. Note that for safety reasons, we need to have a minimum of (2) members present in order to use the power tools. As with all our meetings at Greystone's House, an attendance fee of £1 per person is charged by the Highcliffe Community Association to cover their running costs.

Calling all gardeners:

If you (or your friends and neighbours) are doing any autumn pruning, can you let us have some of your logs for our turners and carvers so we can make some more chippings. Fruit wood, spalted wood, holly, silver birch, beech, yew, sycamore chestnut etc are all good to work with - basically anything you have 3-inch and upwards would be most welcome.

And finally, best wishes for a speedy recovery to John Blakeman who has been in hospital this week.

See you all soon!

John Pegram

Christchurch Men's Shed

Contact Information

Robin Heels (Secretary)

  • 07547922246
Registered charity number 1175104

Find Christchurch Men's Shed

Greystones House, Waterford Road, Christchurch, Dorset, BH23 5JL

DIRECTIONS

Additional Information

Located in the Lower Hall of The Old School. The Old School is near Highcliffe Medical Centre and opposite Highcliffe Play Park by the pedestrian light controlled crossing.