Brazos Valley Woodturners Monthly Newsletter

NOTES FROM THE PRESIDENT

I hope that all of you have survived the holidays without putting on too many pounds. I had a wonderful time with family and friends, but I’m looking forward to getting back to doing a little turning. Just wish the temperature would rise above 45 degrees with drizzle.

Our congratulations to James Norton for being given the Bill Meador Award for excellence in sharing his woodturning talents with the club and the community. For those of you who wanted to contribute a segment to the ceremonial walking stick that we will give James, please go ahead and bring your segments to the January meeting. The pieces must have a ¾” diameter hole in the center and be 2 ½” in diameter. They may range from 2-4” in length.

We are also very excited about our January meeting. Our guest demonstrator will be the nationally known Matthew Hill. Matthew will do a short demo during our meeting (a teaser, if you will), then following lunch, we will gather back together for a three hour demonstration. The cost for the afternoon session will be $10.00. For those of you who will be unable to attend one of the hands-on sessions, I strongly urge you to attend this afternoon demonstration. Not only will you be supporting our club, you will also be picking up some valuable information.

On Sunday and Monday, Matthew will be teaching our hands-on classes. If you did not get to sign up, we do have an “alternate” list going. Let Johnny Farmer know that you are interested. The cost of that class will be $100.00 for the day, and we’re asking that you bring your money on Saturday so that we will have all the funds needed to pay Matthew.

Remember that our January meeting will be our first Shop Crawl of the year. Please go to our website for directions to the shop of James Norton (See, he’s continuing to earn that Bill Meador Award!). We will be having lunch at James’ for those who plan to stay for the afternoon demonstration.

If you have not paid your BVW dues, please bring your checkbook or $20 in cold hard cash so that you will be a properly counted member.

We are looking forward to an outstanding year of growth and turning. Our guest demonstration Saturday is a great way for us to get started. See you there.

Janice

BILL MEADOR AWARD (2009)

James Norton is the 2009 recipient of the BVW Bill Meador Award for his outstanding contribution to the club by sharing his knowledge of woodturning with the club and the community.

James is a member of AAW and a charter member of the Brazos Valley Woodturners. He has been turning for about 6-7 years and has been a real go-to kind of guy for the club. Any time there is a demonstration in the community, you can expect to find James there. This year, he was present for both days of the Apple Tree demonstration and show at the Heart of Texas Coliseum in Waco.

He also attended SWAT this year, as he has for most years since he has been a BVW member. In addition to enjoying the demonstrations, James served as a host for one of the demonstration rooms. And, one of his Instant Gallery turning was selected by a national turner for discussion.

Last year, James served on a committee to help find a caterer for SWAT when it was held in Waco. Next to the demonstrations themselves, food is the most important component, and all agreed that the food was excellent.

Closer to home, whenever there is a hands-on beginner’s class to be taught, James is always present to help in any way possible. He willingly taught hands-on classes and performed demonstrations at our annual Retreat. He even agreed to serve as the BVW president, and under his guidance, we began to see the club start a growth spurt that we hope will continue.

We are all pleased to have James Norton as a member of our organization, and besides being this year’s Bill Meador Award recipient, we all know him as an all-around nice guy.

Congratulations, James.