Ye Olde Kentish Bash ** 6th March 2010 **

[StevieB]

I echo the thanks already offered - a very enjoyable day all round First one of these I have been to, and discovered another member lives 500m from me :shock: Won a saw in the raffle, fell in love with the Veritas dovetail saw and had a play with some planes I definately couldn't afford! When's the next one :lol:

Steve

 

[Nigel]

What a great day so well organised with lovely food,

A big thankyou to Sarah Simon Tom and Mark for the organization and to all the others who brought along the toys to play with,
not to mention the donations to the raffle,

It was great to meet old friends and new
a very enjoyable day thankyou.

Nigel

 

[Dalboy]

I also would like to thank Sarah, Simon, Tom and Mark for a great day the food was fantastic and plenty for all =D> =D> =D> ccasion5: .

Also some great demo's thanks guys

Like many others it was nice to meet and put faces to names.

Hope there is another next year

 

[Harbo]

Really excellent day - many thanks to our hosts and demonstrators and to Bob for doing the driving.

Rod

 

[wizer]

Oh god I look dead in that picture!!

I managed to forget my memory card, so no pics from me.

Been home about 30mins. Not managed to shake off the herd of elephants that are running up and down my back yet. But being horizontal helps.

I just can't thank everyone enough for coming. We had a fantastic turn out! The whole day went swimmingly. I even managed to do the raffle without c*cking it up!

On that matter. I want to say a massive thanks to the people who donated raffle prizes. Especially Mike Hancock and the Classic Hand Tools team who donated a lovely Pfiel Draw knife (I really wanted to win that!!), it was really kind of them to donate even though they could not make it. Matthew from Workshop Heaven donated a Japanese Saw and one of the new QS Brass Mallets, Axminster donated a £50 gift voucher. Steve Maskery donated one of his fine DVDs, Rob (woodbloke) donated a BlokeBlade, Waka popped in to Axminster 'on his way' and donated a pair of LV trammel heads and an LV saddle square, Dalboy donated a lovely turned pen and PaulC donated some beautiful turned mushrooms and keyrings. Finally someone donated a bottle of wine but I have forgotten who (Paul?).

From the raffle we raised £152 (good guess Sarah) and I have rounded it up to £200. The proceeds will go to Blean Wood, which is the largest ancient woodland in the country.

Most of all I enjoyed having a bit of a chinwag and catch up. Chris put it better than I could. There's something about the bashes that just can't be achieved on the forum.

I hope you enjoyed the talks from Peter and Colin. It was very kind of them to come along. I'm sure a lot of us brought something valuable away from their advice. It was great to play with all the toys er tools from Workshop Heaven and Axi.

It's always good to see the tools and creations of fellow members. Steve's Jigs were great to see (I meant to ask for the RT box joint jig to be brought along). MWT's turnings were impeccable, glad I didn't bring any of mine It was good to see Jimi's planes and kiln in the flesh. I'm sure I'm forgetting lots. Basically, if you wasn't there, you really missed out!!

On a personal note I want to thank various people for the gifts, advice and 'favours'. You know who you are.

Finally I want to express my thanks to Sarah and Simon for being such excellent hosts. Hands up who was jealous of Simon's wife? Brilliant cook, well organised, good announcer (who'd of thought I was shy??) and not at all bored being the only woman amongst a bunch of wood geeks, for the entire day! :lol: Well done guys.

Same time next year?

 

[Dan-K]

Great to meet a few of the guys today, although i wasn't around too much due to my once-in-a-lifetime acquisition of a Startrite 24-S-5 bandsaw taking a big chunk of my day....

MASSIVE thanks to those who helped move 'the beast' into my shop (I think I can start calling it a shop now it has a 'proper' tool in it )

It was especially good to meet Matt, who lives real close to me, and Bob, who is going to get fed up of my questions in the coming months as I fettle my new toy... :lol:

And of course thanks to Mr and Mrs Oryx for hosting the event, wizer for helping with organising, and the chaps who brought shiney things to admire. I've now been inspired to try to cadge some old planes from a neglected corner of my fathers shed to see if I can learn how to use one... could be the start of something...expensive

 

[chingerspy]

Big thanks Sarah, Simon, Tom and Mark for organising the event!

It was nice to see the different planes and understand a little more about this "slope" people find themselves on

Colin gave a great talk on "Good Practise" very trade based but I think we could all think about how best to use the points he made in our sheds/garages/workshops.

Good to put names to faces and chat with a few people who share similar interests.

Looking forward to the next one

 

[johnf]

Thanks to Simon and Sarah for being excellent host and also to everyone else for being so friendly see you all next year

 

[promhandicam]

Just to add my thanks to the organising committee and to Simon and Sarah for being such generous hosts. As others have said these occasions are a good opportunity to actually put some faces to names and to renew old acquaintances.

Just one correction to Jim's post - the man you identified as Roy Sutton demonstrating the correct use of safety glasses :wink: is in fact Colin Searle.

Steve

 

[jimi43]

Just one correction to Jim's post - the man you identified as Roy Sutton demonstrating the correct use of safety glasses is in fact Colin Searle.

I think your eyes are going Steve!! I am SURE I said Colin :wink:

(oh the edit function...what a WONDERFUL function...)

Sorry Colin....I was going by your wonderfully clean lab coat...(I know you were just trying to blame everything on Roy!!!!!)

Actually....this correction or two gives me the opportunity to thank Tom himself again....not only did he co-organise this event but he brought with him a fine collection of socket chisels :wink: and some shaves that made me drool....and the guys who brought the superb collection of turnings and other treasures with them for display and prizes.....

Someone please explain each item for me...I simply love some of those woods and my wife, Annie...was demanding what they were...silly me...could I tell her...nah! As I said...if you conversed with each and every fine craftsman today there would be enough material for three whole days!

Apologies for either forgetting or getting names entirely wrong...I am sure I will get to know all of them in the end.

Jim

 

[wizer]

There is never enough time at these do's to get to talk to everyone on. Which is why Mark and I are normally last out the door, often being shoved :lol:

I had to get petrol on the way back which I wasn't happy about. But even more unfortunate was going the wrong way down the M20 Silly Boy.

Jim I'll be dreaming about those brownies tonight. Please thank Annie, they were delicious.

The final stragglers went for a ruby tonight. Wish I could have made it but apart from my friend pain, the missus is flying over to Ireland tonight so I am on Dad duty. Apparently we're going swimming tomorrow 8-[

 

[Steve Maskery]

Just got in. Knackered and I wasn't driving! (Thanks Doug).

Absolutely excellent day. I can't remember the last time I enjoyed a day so much. Lots to see and people to meet, followed by a few beers and right good curry.

Thank you very much all, very much appreciated.
BED!

S

 

[paulm]

Excellent day, great crowd as usual.

Many, many thanks to Sarah, Simon, Tom and Mark for organising and hosting and for providing a lovely lunch as well, much appreciated.

And thanks to Waka for the magical mystery tour around the south of England :lol: The return journey was less eventful after we figured out how to turn the sound back on again on the sat nav :lol: :lol: :lol:

We also made a detour to the Axi' shop in Sittingbourne on the way over in the morning and managed to fill Waka's boot with assorted goodies between us

Glad a decent sum was raised by the raffle too, and thanks to the various people for the demo's which were appreciated also.

Looking forwards to the next one

Cheers, Paul

 

[Waka]

My thanks go to Sarah, Simon, Tom & mark. It was a super day, wonderful food and excellent company, it's always good to meet up with other like minded people. For me it was well worth the 180 mile journey.

As has been said before these bash's are what the forum is all about, I certainly learnt a lot and saw some new toys that could make their way into my workshop.

Who's having the next one?

 

[paulm]

Forgot to say a very big thank you also to the firms that donated prizes for the raffle, including Axminster, Classic Handtools and of course Workshop Heaven, thanks guys.

Cheers, Paul

 

[woodbloke]

My thanks for the day to our hosts Simon and Sarah and to Tom (plus whoever else had a hand in the organization) It was a long way to drive, so my thanks as well the the 'drive', Bob9Fingers...much appreciated :wink:
I really enjoyed the day, 'specially meeting old friends and some newer members of the forum.
Big thanks to Sarah and Simon as well for the truly superb spread laid on at lunchtime.
Both demonstrations were excellent and I particularly liked Colin's talk about router tables and safety in general...something I could personally improve on so much food for thought there.
Once I've had a decent brew, I'll sort out some pics - Rob

 

[Oryxdesign]

Thank you all for coming yesterday, it was great to see my workshop full of people! Normally it's empty

I really enjoyed meeting everybody face to face, it strange how I felt that I already knew so many, even though we'd never met. Thank you to everybody who contributed cakes and things to show. Keep the pictures rolling in I didn't really get chance to take any decent shots.

Thanks to Tom and Mark who did so much to make sure we had a good day, it was great that Tom managed to survive the whole day, even though he did look a bit grey by the end. A couple of weeks ago that he wasn't sure if he'd make it at all. The raffle was a good idea and we raised some money for Bean which is a good cause, well done Tom for bumping it up.

I think I managed to speak to most but if I missed you sorry about that, there was a lot going on all very interesting. Looking forward to seeing you again through the year.

Matthew from Workshop Heaven and Mike from Axi have shown interest in coming again and Mike said that with a bit more notice (I only mentioned it to Axi when I was sorting out another issue in passing) he could do a better display. I am happy to host again so if you're all up for it we'll do it again next year. It has been suggested we do it a little later so that it's warmer. Let us know if you have any other ideas.

So what do you think , see you next year?

Simon

 

[woodbloke]

So what do you think , see you next year?

Simon

Absolutely - Rob

 

[9fingers]

These Bashes are getting so good they will be a hard act to improve upon.

Yet another post thanking everyone for yesterday. One of the snags for not posting yesterday evening is that nearly everything has been said already.
It is always good to put faces to screen names and have more detailed discussions than emails allow.
I particularly valued Colin's presentation which provided much food for thought. I have still to make my router table and I picked up a few ideas and an important potential snag to avoid when I build mine.

Excellent catering - thanks Sarah and to those who brought along cakes & goodies. Top of the list for me was Steve Maskery's fruit cake - very good indeed and the only jig involved in the manufacture was a cake tin.

I look forward to Steve's new DVD Kitchen Essentials :lol:

Bob

 

[wizer]

I think the only reason we was able to offer such an elaborate event was the access to such an ideal venue. Which was perfect for doing demos and having some retailers show off their wares. I don't want people to think they have to match or top this to have a bash. Ultimately it's about getting together.

That said, Sarah and Simon are up for it again next year and I'd certainly like to get involved again. We will start putting feelers out towards the end of this year and look to having it maybe at the end of March, beginning of May 2011?

If you guys have any comments about the way things were organised or ideas for the next one then please say. I have some ideas that I want to look at.