I’m going to get my posts a little out of order. Over the last few days I’ve been quite busy including a number of shows and events which I have yet to post on. But today was the Surrey County show and Merrist Wood invited me to demonstrate polelathe turning on their stand and to represent the countryside management courses on one of which I teach polelathe turning.
I know the award winning team, Derek and Spanner, are expecting me to put up a post this evening and I’d hate to disappoint.
I’ve not attended the Surrey County show before, and to be honest I’ve steered clear of it as its a bit big, commercial and a lot of hassle for a one day show. But Derek talked me into it, and so today was something of an experiment.
Despite dark skies and an early rain shower the weather brightened up and it was a hot day, ending the run of bad weather for the show in recent years.
I prefer not to hog the limelight, so I hadn’t been expecting the pleasure of a ‘star’ turn with a radio mike, working against the clock to do a solo log-to-leg race. But one good turn deserves another as they say and in the end things went very well.
A log to leg race is where we start with a round log, split out a blank and then make a chair leg on the lathe as quickly as we can. Normally we make 2 legs together, but on this occasion I made one leg for each session.
There were several of us with short slots, including Keith, shearing some of the college flock of black sheep and Zak with chainsaw carving.
My favourite tractor at Merrist Wood, where it’s known as Number 6, was used to make a giant crane game for the kids. Just like the old arcade games but a tonka toy version. There was a queue for this game most of the day. Here Joe is helping the children from the safety of the cab pick up and move the brightly painted pieces of wood.
The Merrist Wood College stand won a first place at the show and well deserved congratulations to Derek, Spanner and the whole team who put on a great show for the crowds. It was great fun to be a part of the team.
Looks like you had a good time. The SCS only one day long!!! down our way they are at least 3 days long, and Surrey being such a rich county too.
Wondered if you must have been away, as there where no posts for such a long time, I seem to have come to expect one a day.
Yes I agree, all that effort for 1 day is barmy and very wasteful. I am back down to the weald and downland museum for a few days now which will be an entirely different experience. I have a lot of trouble being organised enough to post regularly.