Woodturning and Tea at The Dutch Church
The Master, Mistress and Master Woolman
On Monday 1st April, the Mistress Turner, Mrs Lesley Batchelor welcomed 50 guests, mainly consorts from across the Livery, to a turning demonstration and tea party at the Dutch Church in London. The Master, Mr David Batchelor opened the proceedings with a short talk on the history of turning and to welcome everybody. Les Thorne, a professional woodturner, member of the Register of the Professional Turners, and Liveryman of The Worshipful Company of Turners, then gave an entertaining and informative presentation and demonstration to his delighted audience.
Guests were able to watch woodchips flying and see how a candlestick is turned on a lathe. Samples of wood in various stages of turning were also passed around to enable guests to touch and feel the process.
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- Les Thorne demonstrating
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- Les Thorne demonstrating
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- Les Thorne demonstrating
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- Les Thorne items
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- Les Thorne items
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- Les Thorne items
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- Setting up
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- Setting up
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- Guests enjoying the tea
The subsequent tea was thoroughly enjoyed by all, and encompassed a raffle for one of Les’s pieces, and a lottery for who would take home the flower table decorations! Les had some pieces on show and for sale to further enable guests to get close to his beautiful wood creations.
All proceeds from this event are going towards the Company’s youth training programme.
Army of helpers, past and future mistresses of the Company
The Mistress would like to thank all those involved who helped make this such a successful and enjoyable event.
Photograph from left to right: Anne Somers, Judy Lucas, Di Gibson with granddaughter Ellie Marie, Ann Edwards, Angela Scott
Les Thorne has been on the Register of Professional Turners since 2001 after spending the majority of his life involved with wood in some capacity. From his workshop in Old Alresford in Hampshire, Les is primarily a production turner and works on a huge variety of jobs and with many different clients. Les has an online shop and runs courses for all abilities. He can be contacted via his website, ‘No Turning Back’.
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