George Rennie: Gavin Innes - Woodturning

At last week's meeting of the Rotary Club President Sandy Bannerman welcomed Gavin Innes of Morebattle who, in his debut at public speaking, treated the members to a master-class in wood-turning.  His interest started 10 years ago when he enrolled at a class at the Borders College and his enthusiasm was whetted from that point on.  Along with others the Scottish Borders Wood-turning Club was formed and meets on the last Thursday of each month at Crailing Village Hall where new members are always welcome.  The club is now 50 strong and the ethos is on helping each other.  They have guest turners giving demonstrations and last week Nick Arnold gave a demonstration of his prowess which is near-perfect.  Gavin had many examples of his work on display and the members were enthralled at the quality of his work.  Members display and sell their pieces at craft fairs and the like locally but it is mainly treated as a hobby.  He explained how pieces were made and the different types of wood used and many questions were generated after which President Sandy gave the club's vote of thanks.