Our venue upgraded.

I thought you might like to see what we have done with our club premises as a result of the Covid pandemic. Our club premises needed some upgrading to reduce the possibility of Covid being transmitted to or by our club members. This included having to improve the ventilation, install a full dust extraction system to all 5 lathes, set up a sanitising station, keep very accurate records of attendees for track and trace if it were ever needed, we also managed to increase the space between each lathe by repositioning the machines, this allows us more space for the members who are observing the turners. We also did some general housekeeping by giving all the floors a fresh coat of paint.

We have removed the office from the main work room and replaced it with a much smaller enclosure that now houses the new dust extractor, it was this change that allowed us to improve the space for each lathe, the library used to be in the office along with some of the club documents, these are now in the kitchen area on a new set of shelves, some changes have also been done to the viewing screens and the camera positions.

Here are a few pictures of the improvements we have done.

Two views of the main room, top, looking away from the door you will see the office has been replaced by the extractor enclosure, the TV’s have been re-arranged and the floor has a fresh coat of paint. The bottom picture is looking the opposite way towards the kitchen area.
Left, the new extractor unit in situ in it’s new enclosure as it was being lined with thick carpet to reduce the noise level, we also introduce a baffle box to allow for the air to circulate. Right, 2 pictures of the dust extractor equipment being installed. The enclosure was built by Bill Munro and the extraction equipment was installed by John Ruickbie and Dave Line.
Here are the extractor and the control panel that works all 5 lathes independent of one another, the box was supplied by Errol Levings and the panel was built by John Ruickbie.
Left, one of our 2 new ventilation fans, installed by John Ruickbie, John fitted control boxes to both fans allowing for forward or back rotation and for variable speeds. Also in the picture our sanitising station. Right, the external grill over the fan.
Top, a closer view of the extraction system, including the electrical switching that John Ruickbie installed and the flexible pipe that goes direct to the lathe. Bottom, a view of our new library and documentation shelves that Bill Munro and John Cheadle built. This area is also used for our committee meetings, tables and chairs laid out for the next meeting.
2 views of our library and documentation shelves that Bill Munro and John Cheadle built now put to good use.
Top, mainly books on all aspects of woodwork and woodturning. Bottom, these are mainly videos, DVD’s or CD’s again all relating to woodwork or woodturning. It is our intention to re-start the lending of the books and viewing media to our members.

The club extends it’s thanks to all of those who took part in the alterations especially John Ruickbie, Bill Munro, Dave Line, Errol Levings, Peter Lawrence, John Cheadle and a little direction from me, Cliff Sim was involved with all the payments. All these members did the work on a voluntary basis with no payments being sought, we paid for the equipment and materials only.

We did have a few member who did not subscribe to the club this year, we hope after seeing what we have done with the premises that those who were members in the past come back again next year 2022, the fee will be the same as this year (£40) but the conditions have greatly improved and we would be very pleased to see you all return.

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