APTGW - Essex Bodgers Next Meet Sat 28th February 2026

Akkam jirtu Essex fi London Bodgers [Oromo] - (Hello Essex and London Bodgers)

News By Wendy of the Wool
We were excited to see both some sunshine and new faces at our last gathering. We welcomed Steve (who already knew all about the garden, having worked here some years ago when it was a nursery) and had a great chat over some tea and biscuits.

Steve makes all kinds of different things (we hope he’ll bring some along next meet) and indicated he’d like to try his hand a needle felting, so I showed him some basics and within a few hours he had made a mouse to take home for his daughter.  I was both delighted and intimidated at first, having not taught anyone before, but it turned out to be quite fun, and Steve was a great pupil.

Rich held a sharpening workshop for Jamie to help him get his carving knives back in good order. Jamila continued to work on her goblet and is in the final stages.  We were also joined by our group mascot, Poppy, who was in her element meeting new friends for strokes and cuddles.

We also welcomed Sarah, Jamie’s girlfriend, who got stuck in doing a painting of a vase of dried allium seed heads in the cabin and who also showed us her beautiful paintings of a blue tit and a woodpecker (fantastically fitting, given both visit the bird feeders here at the garden).

Regular Bits n Bobs:
If you have them, bring your lathe, shave horse, and any other fun equipment. We have a few chopping blocks and one kuksa horse, so if you can bring your own please do. Note for those with Lathes, our floor space is mostly concrete, so treadles may not be able to be pegged down.

Our meets don’t just have to be about making wood chips, we encourage members to bring other crafts to the meets, be that spinning a yarn, weaving a basket, making a tool sheath from leather or bark, and even decorative methods for our wooden items. Feel free to showcase your other craft skills as we are interested in sharing and learning a wider range of skills as we grow as a group. If any members would like to lead a session of various crafts for the group, possibly a paid one day course, please get in contact with me and we will see what we can arrange for the future.

About the venue:
The venue has toilets, kitchen, and is accessible to wheelchairs. I will supply teabags, coffee, sugar and cows milk. Please bring your own non dairy milk if needed. If anyone wants to bring biscuits, cake, snacks to share that would be nice, but bring your own lunch, bowl/plate, drinking vessel, and cutlery please.

Members have suggested a contribution for Tea/Coffee a few times, so I have decided to ask for a contribution of 50p. Obviously if you bring all your own bits, there is no need to chip in.

Free secure parking is available within the walled garden. Follow the main driveway all the way down, past the public car park and the “no unauthorised vehicles” sign, then the Walled Garden’s big gates will be on the left. Toot your horn to let us know you’ve arrived.

See site map, and map links near bottom of page.

Hope to see you there, and please email me at  essexaptgw@gmail.com if you have any questions.

Richard Roberts - Group Coordinator APTGW Essex Bodgers

APTGW Membership:
Our meets are free of charge to members of the Association of Polelathe Turners and Green Woodworkers.

Non members are welcome to join us a few times to see if it’s something they’d like to pursue further. We then ask that folks join the APTGW. It’s only £20 per year and membership runs from January to December each year.

Join the APTGW here: https://www.bodgers.org.uk/joinus
For just £20 a year you get:

• A quarterly Gazette with news views and articles on all aspects of green woodworking.

• Attend the UK Bodger's Ball always held in mid-May (this is chargeable, but a bargain!)

• Win prizes for your creations at the many craft competitions at the ball

• Connect with other Green Woodworkers, tool makers, rural crafters.

• Learn new skills in a variety of length courses.

• Attend and participate in the Annual General Meeting which is held at the Bodgers Ball

• Vote on how the organisation progresses and elect, or even stand for the committee!

Here is a "what 3 words" ink to the location: https://w3w.co/sizes.soup.puddles

Google maps link to location: https://goo.gl/maps/f6rYfb92p6n43Uz99

Members Services (Please ask if you want to be added to this list)

Sharpening Service - R2 Wood
I’ve launched a sharpening service for greenwood carving tools, offering APTGW members a 5% discount. Covering Sloyd and Spoon knives, Axes, Adzes, Gouges and more. Please contact Richard at info@r2wood.co.uk to enquire.

Tonk'peh Essex heh London Bodgers [Vulcan]
(Hello Essex and London Bodgers)

News By Wendy of the Wool
A bit damp to start with, but the sun made a great effort to join us at our most recent meet up, which was much appreciated.

Having just sat down to drink our first cuppa and eat our breakfast croissants, we noticed a Woodpecker on the bird feeder!  He stayed there for a while, so we got a good look at him.

The visitors to the bird feeders were at record levels with many tits, nuthatches and robins flitting about, at times they were crowded out by the much larger Magpies (about 10 at one point), Crows and Parakeets.

Not to be left out, the Pheasant came along a bit later to pick up fallen scraps. All in all, this was much more exciting than my tally of 4 birds when I did the Great British Bird Watch in our back garden last weekend.

We spent the day in the classroom - Rich; (as he remembered his glasses this time) worked on finishing cuts and chip carving in his makers mark onto a batch of spoons.

Jamie worked on a fox carving, and I finished the blue tit I started last time, but didn’t like, so started a new, smaller one, changed colours up a bit and ‘felt’ chuffed with the result.

We were also joined by a new fellow Bodger (Dave) who in classic style, pulled a packet of biscuits out of his bag almost immediately. He found the our Bodgers group through Zed’s video of Rich - Thanks Zed! Dave brought along some spoons he’d made and a good chat about wood and tools was had. We hope to see him again in the future.

Regular Bits n Bobs:
If you have them, bring your lathe, shave horse, and any other fun equipment. We have a few chopping blocks and one kuksa horse, so if you can bring your own please do. Note for those with Lathes, our floor space is mostly concrete, so treadles may not be able to be pegged down.

Our meets don’t just have to be about making wood chips, we encourage members to bring other crafts to the meets, be that spinning a yarn, weaving a basket, making a tool sheath from leather or bark, and even decorative methods for our wooden items. Feel free to showcase your other craft skills as we are interested in sharing and learning a wider range of skills as we grow as a group. If any members would like to lead a session of various crafts for the group, possibly a paid one day course, please get in contact with me and we will see what we can arrange for the future.

About the venue:
The venue has toilets, kitchen, and is accessible to wheelchairs. I will supply teabags, coffee, sugar and cows milk. Please bring your own non dairy milk if needed. If anyone wants to bring biscuits, cake, snacks to share that would be nice, but bring your own lunch, bowl/plate, drinking vessel, and cutlery please.

Members have suggested a contribution for Tea/Coffee a few times, so I have decided to ask for a contribution of 50p. Obviously if you bring all your own bits, there is no need to chip in.

Free secure parking is available within the walled garden. Follow the main driveway all the way down, past the public car park and the “no unauthorised vehicles” sign, then the Walled Garden’s big gates will be on the left. Toot your horn to let us know you’ve arrived.

See site map, and map links near bottom of page.

Hope to see you there, and please email me at  essexaptgw@gmail.com if you have any questions.

Richard Roberts - Group Coordinator APTGW Essex Bodgers

APTGW Membership:
Our meets are free of charge to members of the Association of Polelathe Turners and Green Woodworkers.

Non members are welcome to join us a few times to see if it’s something they’d like to pursue further. We then ask that folks join the APTGW. It’s only £20 per year and membership runs from January to December each year.

Join the APTGW here: https://www.bodgers.org.uk/joinus
For just £20 a year you get:

• A quarterly Gazette with news views and articles on all aspects of green woodworking.

• Attend the UK Bodger's Ball always held in mid-May (this is chargeable, but a bargain!)

• Win prizes for your creations at the many craft competitions at the ball

• Connect with other Green Woodworkers, tool makers, rural crafters.

• Learn new skills in a variety of length courses.

• Attend and participate in the Annual General Meeting which is held at the Bodgers Ball

• Vote on how the organisation progresses and elect, or even stand for the committee!

Here is a "what 3 words" ink to the location: https://w3w.co/sizes.soup.puddles

Google maps link to location: https://goo.gl/maps/f6rYfb92p6n43Uz99

Members Services (Please ask if you want to be added to this list)

Sharpening Service - R2 Wood
I’ve launched a sharpening service for greenwood carving tools, offering APTGW members a 5% discount. Covering Sloyd and Spoon knives, Axes, Adzes, Gouges and more. Please contact Richard at info@r2wood.co.uk to enquire.

APTGW - Essex & London Bodgers Newsletter and Next Meet: Sat 31st January 2026

Halò Essex agus Bodgers Lunnainn [Scots Gaelic] - (Hello Essex and London Bodgers)

News By Wendy of the Wool

It was a chilly winters day for our first meet of 2026, so we camped out in the classroom with trips outside for chopping when needed. I was delighted that ‘The Resident Pheasant’ was strolling around the garden once again, coming to look for snacks on the ground fallen from the bird feeders. Nice to be able to watch from the comfort of the classroom. We also saw blue tits, great tits, robins and nuthatches.

Jamie was raring to go and got stuck in making some bud vases from Cherry, with some lovely gouged texture.

It was also lovely to be joined by Andy, who carved a tea spoon, while we all had a good catch up. Rich brought along some pieces that needed finishing cuts, but was scuppered by leaving his glasses at home! He was on hand to give Andy tips and guidance.

Jamila and little Poppy joined us for some tea and a chat with Poppy having an excited bout of the zoomies on arrival. Carl also joined us for a while, and it was lovely to catch up with everyone after the Christmas break.

Recently I discovered a free museum in London, The Museum of the Home, which Rich and I visited. It was very interesting and we saw some nice old wood pieces including a Windsor chair from 1760. Highly worth a visit. Link: Home - Museum of the Home  

Regular Bits n Bobs:

If you have them, bring your lathe, shave horse, and any other fun equipment. We have a few chopping blocks and one kuksa horse, so if you can bring your own please do. Note for those with Lathes, our floor space is mostly concrete, so treadles may not be able to be pegged down.

Our meets don’t just have to be about making wood chips, we encourage members to bring other crafts to the meets, be that spinning a yarn, weaving a basket, making a tool sheath from leather or bark, and even decorative methods for our wooden items. Feel free to showcase your other craft skills as we are interested in sharing and learning a wider range of skills as we grow as a group. If any members would like to lead a session of various crafts for the group, possibly a paid one day course, please get in contact with me and we will see what we can arrange for the future.

About the venue:

The venue has toilets, kitchen, and is accessible to wheelchairs. I will supply teabags, coffee, sugar and cows milk. Please bring your own non dairy milk if needed. If anyone wants to bring biscuits, cake, snacks to share that would be nice, but bring your own lunch, bowl/plate, drinking vessel, and cutlery please.

Members have suggested a contribution for Tea/Coffee a few times, so I have decided to ask for a contribution of 50p. Obviously if you bring all your own bits, there is no need to chip in.

Free secure parking is available within the walled garden. Follow the main driveway all the way down, past the public car park and the “no unauthorised vehicles” sign, then the Walled Garden’s big gates will be on the left. Toot your horn to let us know you’ve arrived.

See site map, and map links near bottom of page.

Hope to see you there, and please email me at  essexaptgw@gmail.com if you have any questions.

Richard Roberts - Group Coordinator APTGW Essex Bodgers

APTGW Membership:

Our meets are free of charge to members of the Association of Polelathe Turners and Green Woodworkers.

Non members are welcome to join us a few times to see if it’s something they’d like to pursue further. We then ask that folks join the APTGW. It’s only £20 per year and membership runs from January to December each year.

Join the APTGW here: https://www.bodgers.org.uk/joinus
For just £20 a year you get:

• A quarterly Gazette with news views and articles on all aspects of green woodworking.

• Attend the UK Bodger's Ball always held in mid-May (this is chargeable, but a bargain!)

• Win prizes for your creations at the many craft competitions at the ball

• Connect with other Green Woodworkers, tool makers, rural crafters.

• Learn new skills in a variety of length courses.

• Attend and participate in the Annual General Meeting which is held at the Bodgers Ball

• Vote on how the organisation progresses and elect, or even stand for the committee!

Here is a "what 3 words" ink to the location: https://w3w.co/sizes.soup.puddles

Google maps link to location: https://goo.gl/maps/f6rYfb92p6n43Uz99

Members Services (Please ask if you want to be added to this list)

Sharpening Service - R2 Wood

I’ve launched a sharpening service for greenwood carving tools, offering APTGW members a 5% discount. Covering Sloyd and Spoon knives, Axes, Adzes, Gouges and more. Please contact Richard at info@r2wood.co.uk to enquire.

APTGW - Essex Bodgers Next Meet Sat 15th November 2025

.... . .-.. .-.. ---     . ... ... . -..-     .- -. -..     .-.. --- -. -.. --- -.     -... --- -.. --. . .-. ... [Morse Code] - (Hello Essex and London Bodgers)

News & Pics By Rich.
Considering how close to London we are, our journey to the Bedfords Park includes some brief and incredible vistas. From high on a hill, the view down towards London was fantastic. In the mid distance below the oranging trees up high, blanketed by a ground hugging peachy mist, were the eastern suburbs, framed from above by a near cloudless sky. Further afield, glinting reflections of the morning sun, hit the faded grey clusters of Canary Wharf, the City, and even the Post Office Tower. Picture shows the view seen from the Park’s Visitors Centre, although doesn’t convey the height drop off seen by eye.

Although it being overly mild for the time of year, we were surprised at the number of bees enjoying the Walled Garden’s blooms, which have also taken advantage of the warmth. We saw a Wagtail flitting around a door handle, whilst we enjoying a Bodgers breakfast of croissants in the sunshine, as you do. Not quite sure if it was the Grey or Yellow variety as it was very quick and difficult to get a good look at. Unfortunately, not a single one of us took any photos of our work. So it’s all plants… apart from a shot of Bob and Wendy’s 9 minutes of Competitive Gazing (at a Buddleja perched upon the Garden’s high wall).

After our early delights we returned to the cabin and got to work. Rich chip carved his makers mark on a few finished pieces, including a large ladle, and then design alterations and finishing cuts on others.
Wendy continued on her current needle felted Robin nest-full, but is considering other small birds like Wrens and Bluetits, maybe even a Wagtail. Rich hopes she doesn’t move on to Crows, as it would look a bit Hitchcockian around the house.

Between dog hugs, Bob did some knife work on a spoon, and told us about the Walled Garden’s orchard of 114 heritage Apple trees, of which he lovingly prunes and monitors the health of. We suspect he sings to them, has named them, and has his favourites, but yet to capture footage.
Jamila worked on her end grain goblet, which is looking really good, and is helping build up those callouses and muscle memory. Poppy kept vigilant to the constant threat from squirrels, and puppy dog eyed us all for strokes and hugs.  

Regular Bits n Bobs:
If you have them, bring your lathe, shave horse, and any other fun equipment. We have a few chopping blocks and one kuksa horse, so if you can bring your own please do. Note for those with Lathes, our floor space is mostly concrete, so treadles may not be able to be pegged down.
Our meets don’t just have to be about making wood chips, we encourage members to bring other crafts to the meets, be that spinning a yarn, weaving a basket, making a tool sheath from leather or bark, and even decorative methods for our wooden items. Feel free to showcase your other craft skills as we are interested in sharing and learning a wider range of skills as we grow as a group. If any members would like to lead a session of various crafts for the group, possibly a paid one day course, please get in contact with me and we will see what we can arrange for the future.

About the venue:
The venue has toilets, kitchen, and is accessible to wheelchairs. I will supply teabags, coffee, sugar and cows milk. Please bring your own non dairy milk if needed. If anyone wants to bring biscuits, cake, snacks to share that would be nice, but bring your own lunch, bowl/plate, drinking vessel, and cutlery please.
Members have suggested a contribution for Tea/Coffee a few times, so I have decided to ask for a contribution of 50p. Obviously if you bring all your own bits, there is no need to chip in.
Free secure parking is available within the walled garden. Follow the main driveway all the way down, past the public car park and the “no unauthorised vehicles” sign, then the Walled Garden’s big gates will be on the left. Toot your horn to let us know you’ve arrived.

See site map, and map links near bottom of page.

Hope to see you there, and please email me at  essexaptgw@gmail.com if you have any questions.

Richard Roberts - Group Coordinator APTGW Essex Bodgers

APTGW Membership:
Our meets are free of charge to members of the Association of Polelathe Turners and Green Woodworkers.
Non members are welcome to join us a few times to see if it’s something they’d like to pursue further. We then ask that folks join the APTGW. It’s only £20 per year and membership runs from January to December each year.

Join the APTGW here: https://www.bodgers.org.uk/joinus
For just £20 a year you get:

• A quarterly Gazette with news views and articles on all aspects of green woodworking.

• Attend the UK Bodger's Ball always held in mid-May (this is chargeable, but a bargain!)

• Win prizes for your creations at the many craft competitions at the ball

• Connect with other Green Woodworkers, tool makers, rural crafters.

• Learn new skills in a variety of length courses.

• Attend and participate in the Annual General Meeting which is held at the Bodgers Ball

• Vote on how the organisation progresses and elect, or even stand for the committee!

Here is a "what 3 words" ink to the location: https://w3w.co/sizes.soup.puddles

Google maps link to location: https://goo.gl/maps/f6rYfb92p6n43Uz99

Members Services (Please ask if you want to be added to this list)

Sharpening Service - R2 Wood
I’ve launched a sharpening service for greenwood carving tools, offering APTGW members a 5% discount. Covering Sloyd and Spoon knives, Axes, Adzes, Gouges and more. Please contact Richard at info@r2wood.co.uk to enquire.

APTGW - Essex Bodgers Next Meet Sat 1st November 2025

Ayup ya suvven softez [Greater Boltonian] - (Hello Essex/London Bodgers)

News by Wendy - Pics By Rich.
Members of the group also recently attended The Walled Garden’s Annual Apple Day Celebration on 5 October.  We put on a bright display with our lovely APTGW gazebo although we were worried it might take off as it was a very windy day! A great time was had by all, with plenty of contact with the public to talk about carving and wood, plenty of apple juice and some pizza as well.  Also in attendance were the Romford Ceilidh Band (who meet on Monday evenings in the Golden Lion Pub) playing some tunes and encouraging people to dance.  Our very own Sue joined them to play the spoons for a few songs.

We were delighted to be greeted by a pheasant when we opened the garden gates at our last meet on 18 October. There he was, strolling around like a visitor admiring all the hard work the volunteers have put in. He stayed for most of the day, allowing us to capture some great footage and get a closer look at his beautiful plumage. Later on, we were lucky enough to see a Great Spotted Woodpecker—first on the bird feeder, then perched in a nearby tree. All in all, a fantastic day for birdwatching!

The weather was mild enough to sit outside, and the sun even tried to make an appearance in the afternoon, which was lovely. The garden is shifting into its autumn shades, and with the occasional breeze, we were surprised by the sound of leaves falling from the trees surrounding the garden—it almost felt like it was raining leaves.

We had a pleasant time chatting and making. Bob joined us and shared stories of the cold in Catterick during his Army training while carving a spoon. Jamie continued working on his goblet, and Ranger Dave was busy with his Santas in the run-up to Christmas. He also showed us a bowl bench he’s been assembling, complete with some rather fetching hinges that allow the legs to collapse for easy transport. Rich worked on a cherry serving spoon.

I had a rare burst of productivity, finishing a needle-felted robin I started on Apple Day, along with a small robin (so I could use some tiny eyes I had!) and a pink robin—a species I recently discovered lives in Tasmania and parts of Australia. It’s a striking neon pink and black! Later, the small robin received a visit from a curious ladybird.

Rich and I rounded off the end of our day by taking a walk round to the Deer enclosure once we’d packed up. We got to see the impressive Stag bellowing in person (rather than hearing him from the Walled Garden)

Regular Bits n Bobs:
If you have them, bring your lathe, shave horse, and any other fun equipment. We have a few chopping blocks and one kuksa horse, so if you can bring your own please do. Note for those with Lathes, our floor space is mostly concrete, so treadles may not be able to be pegged down.
Our meets don’t just have to be about making wood chips, we encourage members to bring other crafts to the meets, be that spinning a yarn, weaving a basket, making a tool sheath from leather or bark, and even decorative methods for our wooden items. Feel free to showcase your other craft skills as we are interested in sharing and learning a wider range of skills as we grow as a group. If any members would like to lead a session of various crafts for the group, possibly a paid one day course, please get in contact with me and we will see what we can arrange for the future.

About the venue:
The venue has toilets, kitchen, and is accessible to wheelchairs. I will supply teabags, coffee, sugar and cows milk. Please bring your own non dairy milk if needed. If anyone wants to bring biscuits, cake, snacks to share that would be nice, but bring your own lunch, bowl/plate, drinking vessel, and cutlery please.
Members have suggested a contribution for Tea/Coffee a few times, so I have decided to ask for a contribution of 50p. Obviously if you bring all your own bits, there is no need to chip in.
Free secure parking is available within the walled garden. Follow the main driveway all the way down, past the public car park and the “no unauthorised vehicles” sign, then the Walled Garden’s big gates will be on the left. Toot your horn to let us know you’ve arrived.

See site map, and map links near bottom of page.

Hope to see you there, and please email me at  essexaptgw@gmail.com if you have any questions.

Richard Roberts - Group Coordinator APTGW Essex Bodgers

APTGW Membership:
Our meets are free of charge to members of the Association of Polelathe Turners and Green Woodworkers.
Non members are welcome to join us a few times to see if it’s something they’d like to pursue further. We then ask that folks join the APTGW. It’s only £20 per year and membership runs from January to December each year.

Join the APTGW here: https://www.bodgers.org.uk/joinus
For just £20 a year you get:

• A quarterly Gazette with news views and articles on all aspects of green woodworking.

• Attend the UK Bodger's Ball always held in mid-May (this is chargeable, but a bargain!)

• Win prizes for your creations at the many craft competitions at the ball

• Connect with other Green Woodworkers, tool makers, rural crafters.

• Learn new skills in a variety of length courses.

• Attend and participate in the Annual General Meeting which is held at the Bodgers Ball

• Vote on how the organisation progresses and elect, or even stand for the committee!

Here is a "what 3 words" ink to the location: https://w3w.co/sizes.soup.puddles

Google maps link to location: https://goo.gl/maps/f6rYfb92p6n43Uz99

Members Services (Please ask if you want to be added to this list)

Sharpening Service - R2 Wood
I’ve launched a sharpening service for greenwood carving tools, offering APTGW members a 5% discount. Covering Sloyd and Spoon knives, Axes, Adzes, Gouges and more. Please contact Richard at info@r2wood.co.uk to enquire.

APTGW - Essex Bodgers Next Meet Sat 18th October 2025

Sveicīņs Kūkgrīzēji [Latgalian] - (Hello Woodcutters)

News by Wendy - Pics By Wendy and Rich.
In a change to our usually timetabled meets, our next will be on Saturday 18 October.  This weekend’s meet is re-scheduled due to Apple Day on Sunday 5 October and the preparation activity going on in the garden on Saturday.

It was an overcast day with a small threat of rain when we gathered for our most recent meet up. We spent some time outside, then went inside due to a few well placed spots of rain, and then, wouldn’t you know it, the sun came out and made it all warm!

Bob worked on a spoon from a blank that Chief Inspector Wilkins brought from his freezer. We also had discussions about frost, the hot summer causing more sugars in leaves and autumn colours (the hot summer is expected to lead to a spectacular autumn display this year!). Bob also bought a walking stick off CI Wilkins and very pleased with it he was too (more than you could shake a stick at).

CI Wilkins chiefly inspected a piece of wood with a knife and by powers unknown (tea, biscuits, banter?) it turned into a spoon before our very eyes. Rich worked on a multitude of things that were already in progress but needed refining, including two spoons, a bird bowl and a kuksa. Jamie joined us and worked on a fox figurine and his goblet which is nicely taking shape. I worked on a felted landscape which is proving difficult and will need a lot of work before I’m happy with it.

Regular Bits n Bobs:
If you have them, bring your lathe, shave horse, and any other fun equipment. We have a few chopping blocks and one kuksa horse, so if you can bring your own please do. Note for those with Lathes, our floor space is mostly concrete, so treadles may not be able to be pegged down.
Our meets don’t just have to be about making wood chips, we encourage members to bring other crafts to the meets, be that spinning a yarn, weaving a basket, making a tool sheath from leather or bark, and even decorative methods for our wooden items. Feel free to showcase your other craft skills as we are interested in sharing and learning a wider range of skills as we grow as a group. If any members would like to lead a session of various crafts for the group, possibly a paid one day course, please get in contact with me and we will see what we can arrange for the future.

About the venue:
The venue has toilets, kitchen, and is accessible to wheelchairs. I will supply teabags, coffee, sugar and cows milk. Please bring your own non dairy milk if needed. If anyone wants to bring biscuits, cake, snacks to share that would be nice, but bring your own lunch, bowl/plate, drinking vessel, and cutlery please.
Members have suggested a contribution for Tea/Coffee a few times, so I have decided to ask for a contribution of 50p. Obviously if you bring all your own bits, there is no need to chip in.
Free secure parking is available within the walled garden. Follow the main driveway all the way down, past the public car park and the “no unauthorised vehicles” sign, then the Walled Garden’s big gates will be on the left. Toot your horn to let us know you’ve arrived.

See site map, and map links near bottom of page.

Hope to see you there, and please email me at  essexaptgw@gmail.com if you have any questions.
Richard Roberts - Group Coordinator APTGW Essex Bodgers

APTGW Membership:
Our meets are free of charge to members of the Association of Polelathe Turners and Green Woodworkers.
Non members are welcome to join us a few times to see if it’s something they’d like to pursue further. We then ask that folks join the APTGW. It’s only £20 per year and membership runs from January to December each year.

Join the APTGW here: https://www.bodgers.org.uk/joinus
For just £20 a year you get:

• A quarterly Gazette with news views and articles on all aspects of green woodworking.

• Attend the UK Bodger's Ball always held in mid-May (this is chargeable, but a bargain!)

• Win prizes for your creations at the many craft competitions at the ball

• Connect with other Green Woodworkers, tool makers, rural crafters.

• Learn new skills in a variety of length courses.

• Attend and participate in the Annual General Meeting which is held at the Bodgers Ball

• Vote on how the organisation progresses and elect, or even stand for the committee!

Here is a "what 3 words" ink to the location: https://w3w.co/sizes.soup.puddles

Google maps link to location: https://goo.gl/maps/f6rYfb92p6n43Uz99

Members Services (Please ask if you want to be added to this list)

Sharpening Service - R2 Wood
I’ve launched a sharpening service for greenwood carving tools, offering APTGW members a 5% discount. Covering Sloyd and Spoon knives, Axes, Adzes, Gouges and more. Please contact Richard at info@r2wood.co.uk to enquire.

APTGW - Essex Bodgers Next Meet Sat 20th September 2025

Mbote Basali Mabaya [Lingala] - (Hello Woodworkers)

News by Wendy and Rich - Pics By Wendy, Jamila, and Rich.
The Garden was starting to show signs of autumn on our last visit, with rosy red apples in abundance in the orchard. A good sign in the run up to Apple Day; the Walled Garden’s open day on the 5th October. The Essex Bodgers will be there; demoing Green Woodworking, with items for sale.

The sun shone despite the cloudy forecast so we settled down to work on creating a pile of wood chips to clear up at the end of the day. Rich worked on a lovely serving spoon from his last remaining piece of Redbud. Jamila started carving the neck of an end grain goblet. She’s aiming to use it for a just a small amount of wine at next year’s Bodgers Ball.

Ranger Dave continued his Santa carvings while Dave Wilkins worked on a spoon, when he wasn’t causing mischief with his comedy companion (Rich). We also welcomed back Kealey who worked on a spoon. I (Wendy) worked on a new wool landscape. Some parts I’m happy with and other parts not, due to my tendency to get impatient and rush ahead instead of taking time to look and consider and look again. A golden rule for crafting, it seems..

We had (as usual) some deep but lighthearted discussions spanning; food, perimenopause, tools, wildlife, food, wood/trees, tools, a little politics, food, and tools. We also enjoyed sharing some pakoras that Jamila brought along and chocolate biscuits brought by Kealey. Poppy kept us entertained by wanting cuddles and keeping her eye out for squirrels, they barely bother the garden when she’s around.

Regular Bits n Bobs:
If you have them, bring your lathe, shave horse, and any other fun equipment. We have a few chopping blocks and one kuksa horse, so if you can bring your own please do. Note for those with Lathes, our floor space is mostly concrete, so treadles may not be able to be pegged down.
Our meets don’t just have to be about making wood chips, we encourage members to bring other crafts to the meets, be that spinning a yarn, weaving a basket, making a tool sheath from leather or bark, and even decorative methods for our wooden items. Feel free to showcase your other craft skills as we are interested in sharing and learning a wider range of skills as we grow as a group. If any members would like to lead a session of various crafts for the group, possibly a paid one day course, please get in contact with me and we will see what we can arrange for the future.

About the venue:
The venue has toilets, kitchen, and is accessible to wheelchairs. I will supply teabags, coffee, sugar and cows milk. Please bring your own non dairy milk if needed. If anyone wants to bring biscuits, cake, snacks to share that would be nice, but bring your own lunch, bowl/plate, drinking vessel, and cutlery please.
Members have suggested a contribution for Tea/Coffee a few times, so I have decided to ask for a contribution of 50p. Obviously if you bring all your own bits, there is no need to chip in.
Free secure parking is available within the walled garden. Follow the main driveway all the way down, past the public car park and the “no unauthorised vehicles” sign, then the Walled Garden’s big gates will be on the left. Toot your horn to let us know you’ve arrived.
See site map, and map links near bottom of page.

Hope to see you there, and please email me at  essexaptgw@gmail.com if you have any questions.
Richard Roberts - Group Coordinator APTGW Essex Bodgers

APTGW Membership:
Our meets are free of charge to members of the Association of Polelathe Turners and Green Woodworkers.
Non members are welcome to join us a few times to see if it’s something they’d like to pursue further. We then ask that folks join the APTGW. It’s only £20 per year and membership runs from January to December each year.

Join the APTGW here: https://www.bodgers.org.uk/joinus
For just £20 a year you get:

• A quarterly Gazette with news views and articles on all aspects of green woodworking.

• Attend the UK Bodger's Ball always held in mid-May (this is chargeable, but a bargain!)

• Win prizes for your creations at the many craft competitions at the ball

• Connect with other Green Woodworkers, tool makers, rural crafters.

• Learn new skills in a variety of length courses.

• Attend and participate in the Annual General Meeting which is held at the Bodgers Ball

• Vote on how the organisation progresses and elect, or even stand for the committee!

Here is a "what 3 words" ink to the location: https://w3w.co/sizes.soup.puddles

Google maps link to location: https://goo.gl/maps/f6rYfb92p6n43Uz99

Members Services (Please ask if you want to be added to this list)

Sharpening Service - R2 Wood
I’ve launched a sharpening service for greenwood carving tools, offering APTGW members a 5% discount. Covering Sloyd and Spoon knives, Axes, Adzes, Gouges and more. Please contact Richard at info@r2wood.co.uk to enquire.

APTGW - Essex Bodgers Next Meet Sat 6th September 2025

Chamando a todos os artesáns [Galician] - (Calling all artisans)
News by Wendy of the Wool, Pics -  by Rich (r2wood)

Our last meet of the summer months gave us a mainly cloudy but dry day which is kinder to wood carving than the baking heat when the crack danger is real and you’d better be soaking your work in some water.

The Garden looked its spectacular self, and it was nice to be back as I wasn’t present for the last meet up and was getting Garden Withdrawal Symptoms. We did, however, see a lot of Hornets (European variety, I checked!) particularly around the Sedums bordering the beds. Sedums are a sun loving plant valued for their drought tolerance and minimal water requirements and provide some of the last food for pollinators as they bloom in late summer and autumn. Hence it is normal to see Hornets patrolling these areas as they hunt flies, wasps and honeybees (they do eat the nectar from flowers too and sap from trees like Dogwood and Birch).

Rich had a commission of a Tai Chi Fighting Staff to hand over to it’s new owner Jackie, who gave a demo of it in use, he later carved a serving spoon from Cherry. Chief Inspector of Cheek and Gifts, Wilkins worked on what we think are ‘pokey sticks/rib ticklers’ a tool for tomfoolery, whilst bestowing us with tales from his time in the Police Force.

Bob worked on carving a serving spoon, in between tree watering and cuddles with Poppy. Jamila worked on a spoon, and brought a new tool she’d recently purchased from blacksmith/toolmaker Dave Budd, and told us about her recent trip to the Wilderness Gathering. Bowl Mike (you guessed it!) worked on a large bowl. Jamie worked on a goblet (in between chats and cuddles with Poppy). I worked on nothing because I had left some tools at home couldn’t decide on what to do until it was home time (better luck next time, but I did drink a lot of tea and chuckle a plenty).

Looking forward to our next meet up and realising that it is not long now until the main event of the year in the Garden’s calendar – Apple Day (Sunday 5 October).

Regular Bits n Bobs:
If you have them, bring your lathe, shave horse, and any other fun equipment. We have a few chopping blocks and one kuksa horse, so if you can bring your own please do. Note for those with Lathes, our floor space is mostly concrete, so treadles may not be able to be pegged down.

Our meets don’t just have to be about making wood chips, we encourage members to bring other crafts to the meets, be that spinning a yarn, weaving a basket, making a tool sheath from leather or bark, and even decorative methods for our wooden items. Feel free to showcase your other craft skills as we are interested in sharing and learning a wider range of skills as we grow as a group. If any members would like to lead a session of various crafts for the group, possibly a paid one day course, please get in contact with me and we will see what we can arrange for the future.

About the venue:
The venue has toilets, kitchen, and is accessible to wheelchairs. I will supply teabags, coffee, sugar and cows milk. Please bring your own non dairy milk if needed. If anyone wants to bring biscuits, cake, snacks to share that would be nice, but bring your own lunch, bowl/plate, drinking vessel, and cutlery please.

Members have suggested a contribution for Tea/Coffee a few times, so I have decided to ask for a contribution of 50p. Obviously if you bring all your own bits, there is no need to chip in.

Free secure parking is available within the walled garden. Follow the main driveway all the way down, past the public car park and the “no unauthorised vehicles” sign, then the Walled Garden’s big gates will be on the left. Toot your horn to let us know you’ve arrived.

See site map, and map links near bottom of page.

Hope to see you there, and please email me at  essexaptgw@gmail.com if you have any questions.

Richard Roberts - Group Coordinator APTGW Essex Bodgers

APTGW Membership:
Our meets are free of charge to members of the Association of Polelathe Turners and Green Woodworkers.

Non members are welcome to join us a few times to see if it’s something they’d like to pursue further. We then ask that folks join the APTGW. It’s only £20 per year and membership runs from January to December each year.

Join the APTGW here: https://www.bodgers.org.uk/joinus
For just £20 a year you get:

• A quarterly Gazette with news views and articles on all aspects of green woodworking.

• Attend the UK Bodger's Ball always held in mid-May (this is chargeable, but a bargain!)

• Win prizes for your creations at the many craft competitions at the ball

• Connect with other Green Woodworkers, tool makers, rural crafters.

• Learn new skills in a variety of length courses.

• Attend and participate in the Annual General Meeting which is held at the Bodgers Ball

• Vote on how the organisation progresses and elect, or even stand for the committee!

Here is a "what 3 words" ink to the location: https://w3w.co/sizes.soup.puddles

Google maps link to location: https://goo.gl/maps/f6rYfb92p6n43Uz99

Members Services (Please ask if you want to be added to this list)

Sharpening Service - R2 Wood
I’ve launched a sharpening service for greenwood carving tools, offering APTGW members a 5% discount. Covering Sloyd and Spoon knives, Axes, Adzes, Gouges and more. Please contact Richard at info@r2wood.co.uk to enquire.

APTGW - Essex Bodgers Next Meet Sat 23rd August 2025

Hallo tau kayu [Makassar] - (Hello wood people)
News & Pics -  by Rich

The Weather was perfect for our last meet, and we had a new face Kealy, a weaver, who successfully carved her first spoon. Ranger Dave returned from the wild, and worked on some Christmas Gnomes for presents… starting early, as he has a lot to make.

Darren the Bodger King himself came along to keep an eye on things, and work on some fanbirds. Jamie arrived with a heavy car, full of freshly cut Cherry. They were trimmings from a huge tree in his garden. He made a few bud vases, and we are saving the large logs for a 1on1 Bowl carving course at the coming meet.

Our insect attractor Bob made us all wince telling us of his recent wasp(s) encounter. David Wilkins was on top form, stepping up the cheek (as Wendy wasn’t present) along with stories from his Dickensian youth which had us all in stitches. Other than inspecting our ageing wood stash (which needs clearing), I carved a spoon and laughed a lot.

Regular Bits n Bobs:
If you have them, bring your lathe, shave horse, and any other fun equipment. We have a few chopping blocks and one kuksa horse, so if you can bring your own please do. Note for those with Lathes, our floor space is mostly concrete, so treadles may not be able to be pegged down.

Our meets don’t just have to be about making wood chips, we encourage members to bring other crafts to the meets, be that spinning a yarn, weaving a basket, making a tool sheath from leather or bark, and even decorative methods for our wooden items. Feel free to showcase your other craft skills as we are interested in sharing and learning a wider range of skills as we grow as a group. If any members would like to lead a session of various crafts for the group, possibly a paid one day course, please get in contact with me and we will see what we can arrange for the future.

About the venue:
The venue has toilets, kitchen, and is accessible to wheelchairs. I will supply teabags, coffee, sugar and cows milk. Please bring your own non dairy milk if needed. If anyone wants to bring biscuits, cake, snacks to share that would be nice, but bring your own lunch, bowl/plate, drinking vessel, and cutlery please.
Members have suggested a contribution for Tea/Coffee a few times, so I have decided to ask for a contribution of 50p. Obviously if you bring all your own bits, there is no need to chip in.
Free secure parking is available within the walled garden. Follow the main driveway all the way down, past the public car park and the “no unauthorised vehicles” sign, then the Walled Garden’s big gates will be on the left. Toot your horn to let us know you’ve arrived.

See site map, and map links near bottom of page.

Hope to see you there, and please email me at  essexaptgw@gmail.com if you have any questions.

Richard Roberts - Group Coordinator APTGW Essex Bodgers

APTGW Membership:
Our meets are free of charge to members of the Association of Polelathe Turners and Green Woodworkers.
Non members are welcome to join us a few times to see if it’s something they’d like to pursue further. We then ask that folks join the APTGW. It’s only £20 per year and membership runs from January to December each year.

Join the APTGW here: https://www.bodgers.org.uk/joinus
For just £20 a year you get:

• A quarterly Gazette with news views and articles on all aspects of green woodworking.

• Attend the UK Bodger's Ball always held in mid-May (this is chargeable, but a bargain!)

• Win prizes for your creations at the many craft competitions at the ball

• Connect with other Green Woodworkers, tool makers, rural crafters.

• Learn new skills in a variety of length courses.

• Attend and participate in the Annual General Meeting which is held at the Bodgers Ball

• Vote on how the organisation progresses and elect, or even stand for the committee!

Here is a "what 3 words" ink to the location: https://w3w.co/sizes.soup.puddles
Google maps link to location: https://goo.gl/maps/f6rYfb92p6n43Uz99

Members Services (Please ask if you want to be added to this list)

Sharpening Service - R2 Wood
I’ve launched a sharpening service for greenwood carving tools, offering APTGW members a 5% discount. Covering Sloyd and Spoon knives, Axes, Adzes, Gouges and more. Please contact Richard at info@r2wood.co.uk to enquire.

APTGW - Essex Bodgers Next Meet Sat 9th August 2025

ಮರತ ತೊಂದರೆಗ್ ನಮಸ್ಕಾರ [Tulu] - (Hello tree troublers)

News -  by Wendy of the Wool - Pics by Rich
Our last meet had cooler temperatures, and the garden looked much revived – it was looking a little parched during the last heatwave (as were we all!). Less heat equalled more bird activity. While eating our breakfast, we spotted a Buzzard being bothered by a couple of crows who appeared to be trying to escort it off the premises! There were crowds of blue, great, coal and long-tailed tits, flittering between the feeders and the vine that is creeping over the pergola in front of the classroom.

We were joined by Fay, one of the garden volunteers, who had come to finish harvesting some lavender for drying, having been rained off on her attempts earlier in the week. It was Fay who noticed the Raven’s bird call and later I managed to catch it on my Merlin app. Ravens are larger than their crow cousins, with a wingspan comparable to a buzzard. Raven’s also have a metallic blue sheen to their feathers a ruffle around their throat that is beard like. If you see them in flight, the Raven has a wedge shape, whereas the Crow has a fan. Apparently, the Raven is also more aerobatic and will often be seen doing barrel rolls, or flying upside down, especially during the courtship season when he’s trying to impress a lady. The Crow prefers to take a direct route (hence the phrase “as the crow flies”).

My birdy highlight of the day was seeing a Greater Spotted Woodpecker on the feeder! Rich managed to get a photo too! This was the first time I’d seen one for more than a fleeting moment, so this was exciting, especially as I’ve been wanting to see one for a long time and we often hear them drumming on trees in the earlier part of the year.

In woody matters, we were few on the ground, it being the middle of summer and with various woody festivals taking place. Mr Wilkins also couldn’t make it until just after lunch which meant that Bob had to step up and take care of cheeky sparing with Richard and anyone else around!  He did a good job. I continued to work on the felted teddy bear, which is taking a bit longer than it should, but I forgot my sharp needles to help with the threading this week. Rich and David Wilkins continued with making bud vases and Bob picked up his tools again to make a cooking spoon.

Regular Bits n Bobs:
If you have them, bring your lathe, shave horse, and any other fun equipment. We have a few chopping blocks and one kuksa horse, so if you can bring your own please do. Note for those with Lathes, our floor space is mostly concrete, so treadles may not be able to be pegged down.

Our meets don’t just have to be about making wood chips, we encourage members to bring other crafts to the meets, be that spinning a yarn, weaving a basket, making a tool sheath from leather or bark, and even decorative methods for our wooden items. Feel free to showcase your other craft skills as we are interested in sharing and learning a wider range of skills as we grow as a group. If any members would like to lead a session of various crafts for the group, possibly a paid one day course, please get in contact with me and we will see what we can arrange for the future.

About the venue:
The venue has toilets, kitchen, and is accessible to wheelchairs. I will supply teabags, coffee, sugar and cows milk. Please bring your own non dairy milk if needed. If anyone wants to bring biscuits, cake, snacks to share that would be nice, but bring your own lunch, bowl/plate, drinking vessel, and cutlery please.

Members have suggested a contribution for Tea/Coffee a few times, so I have decided to ask for a contribution of 50p. Obviously if you bring all your own bits, there is no need to chip in.

Free secure parking is available within the walled garden. Follow the main driveway all the way down, past the public car park and the “no unauthorised vehicles” sign, then the Walled Garden’s big gates will be on the left. Toot your horn to let us know you’ve arrived.

See site map, and map links near bottom of page.

Hope to see you there, and please email me at  essexaptgw@gmail.com if you have any questions.

Richard Roberts - Group Coordinator APTGW Essex Bodgers

APTGW Membership:
Our meets are free of charge to members of the Association of Polelathe Turners and Green Woodworkers.

Non members are welcome to join us a few times to see if it’s something they’d like to pursue further. We then ask that folks join the APTGW. It’s only £20 per year and membership runs from January to December each year.

Join the APTGW here: https://www.bodgers.org.uk/joinus
For just £20 a year you get:

• A quarterly Gazette with news views and articles on all aspects of green woodworking.

• Attend the UK Bodger's Ball always held in mid-May (this is chargeable, but a bargain!)

• Win prizes for your creations at the many craft competitions at the ball

• Connect with other Green Woodworkers, tool makers, rural crafters.

• Learn new skills in a variety of length courses.

• Attend and participate in the Annual General Meeting which is held at the Bodgers Ball

• Vote on how the organisation progresses and elect, or even stand for the committee!

Here is a "what 3 words" ink to the location: https://w3w.co/sizes.soup.puddles

Google maps link to location: https://goo.gl/maps/f6rYfb92p6n43Uz99

Members Services (Please ask if you want to be added to this list)

Sharpening Service - R2 Wood
I’ve launched a sharpening service for greenwood carving tools, offering APTGW members a 5% discount. Covering Sloyd and Spoon knives, Axes, Adzes, Gouges and more. Please contact Richard at info@r2wood.co.uk to enquire.

APTGW - Essex Bodgers Next Meet Sat 26th July 2025

Sawubona basebenti betigodvo [Swati] - (Hello Woodworkers)

News -  by Wendy of the Wool - Pics by Rich
Another Scorchio Saturday brought an early finish to our last meet. There were bees and butterflies galore around the plentiful flowers of the Walled Garden, but the squirrels and birds stayed away once the day had heated up, but perhaps for the squirrels it was the fact that we moved the bird bath they were using to jump past the squirrel guard to get to the bird feeders, coupled with the presence of our four legged Squirrel Security Guard, Poppy.

Special Catering Measures were required to get us through the day (biscuit eating and tea drinking was suspended in favour of cooling ice pops) and we endeavoured to hydrate regularly and take breaks… lots of breaks.. lots and lots of breaks!  Of course the heat didn’t stop the usual rapid firing of jokes and cheekery.

Bud vases were the order of the day as they were something that could be made without so much risk of splitting in the hot weather and so Rich guided David and Jamie through the process and they all had some great results.

I returned to wool and continued with making my first jointed teddy bear (limbs sewn together with thread in a way that enables the head, arms and legs to move) but it’s not yet complete. Jamila worked on a cooking spoon.

Bob returned this week so it was good to catch up and hear that he will soon be able to pick up his carving tools again and play with some wood, so we look forward to that.

Regular Bits n Bobs:
If you have them, bring your lathe, shave horse, and any other fun equipment. We have a few chopping blocks and one kuksa horse, so if you can bring your own please do. Note for those with Lathes, our floor space is mostly concrete, so treadles may not be able to be pegged down.

Our meets don’t just have to be about making wood chips, we encourage members to bring other crafts to the meets, be that spinning a yarn, weaving a basket, making a tool sheath from leather or bark, and even decorative methods for our wooden items. Feel free to showcase your other craft skills as we are interested in sharing and learning a wider range of skills as we grow as a group. If any members would like to lead a session of various crafts for the group, possibly a paid one day course, please get in contact with me and we will see what we can arrange for the future.

About the venue:
The venue has toilets, kitchen, and is accessible to wheelchairs. I will supply teabags, coffee, sugar and cows milk. Please bring your own non dairy milk if needed. If anyone wants to bring biscuits, cake, snacks to share that would be nice, but bring your own lunch, bowl/plate, drinking vessel, and cutlery please.

Members have suggested a contribution for Tea/Coffee a few times, so I have decided to ask for a contribution of 50p. Obviously if you bring all your own bits, there is no need to chip in.

Free secure parking is available within the walled garden. Follow the main driveway all the way down, past the public car park and the “no unauthorised vehicles” sign, then the Walled Garden’s big gates will be on the left. Toot your horn to let us know you’ve arrived.

See site map, and map links near bottom of page.

Hope to see you there, and please email me at  essexaptgw@gmail.com if you have any questions.

Richard Roberts - Group Coordinator APTGW Essex Bodgers

APTGW Membership:

Our meets are free of charge to members of the Association of Polelathe Turners and Green Woodworkers.

Non members are welcome to join us a few times to see if it’s something they’d like to pursue further. We then ask that folks join the APTGW. It’s only £20 per year and membership runs from January to December each year.

Join the APTGW here: https://www.bodgers.org.uk/joinus
For just £20 a year you get:

• A quarterly Gazette with news views and articles on all aspects of green woodworking.

• Attend the UK Bodger's Ball always held in mid-May (this is chargeable, but a bargain!)

• Win prizes for your creations at the many craft competitions at the ball

• Connect with other Green Woodworkers, tool makers, rural crafters.

• Learn new skills in a variety of length courses.

• Attend and participate in the Annual General Meeting which is held at the Bodgers Ball

• Vote on how the organisation progresses and elect, or even stand for the committee!

Here is a "what 3 words" ink to the location: https://w3w.co/sizes.soup.puddles

Google maps link to location: https://goo.gl/maps/f6rYfb92p6n43Uz99

Members Services (Please ask if you want to be added to this list)

Sharpening Service - R2 Wood
I’ve launched a sharpening service for greenwood carving tools, offering APTGW members a 5% discount. Covering Sloyd and Spoon knives, Axes, Adzes, Gouges and more. Please contact Richard at info@r2wood.co.uk to enquire.

G’day ya woody buggers [Bogan] - (Good day to you people who like to bother wood)

News -  by Wendy of the Wool - Pics by Wendy, Rich, & Jamila
Hot, hot, hot is the only way to describe the temperature at our recent meet up. With the walled garden creating its own microclimate we made sure to stay hydrated and take plenty of breaks.

We were joined by Merlin this week, who was buying a vice from our resident wheeler dealer, Dave Wilkins. Merlin also brought some lovely home made N’duja sausage rolls to share and set about making some rustic pegs.

Jamila continued to work on her end grain cup, while making sure Poppy was kept cool. David Wilkins worked on a spoon and giving cheek and cheer to all and sundry!

I oiled my end grain cup and left it in the sun, while Rich oiled his end grain goblet after he’d completed the finishing cuts. Much of the afternoon was spent chatting as we had got tired in the heat, and we ended up leaving a bit earlier than usual.

Regular Bits n Bobs:
If you have them, bring your lathe, shave horse, and any other fun equipment. We have a few chopping blocks and one kuksa horse, so if you can bring your own please do. Note for those with Lathes, our floor space is mostly concrete, so treadles may not be able to be pegged down.

Our meets don’t just have to be about making wood chips, we encourage members to bring other crafts to the meets, be that spinning a yarn, weaving a basket, making a tool sheath from leather or bark, and even decorative methods for our wooden items. Feel free to showcase your other craft skills as we are interested in sharing and learning a wider range of skills as we grow as a group. If any members would like to lead a session of various crafts for the group, possibly a paid one day course, please get in contact with me and we will see what we can arrange for the future.

About the venue:
The venue has toilets, kitchen, and is accessible to wheelchairs. I will supply teabags, coffee, sugar and cows milk. Please bring your own non dairy milk if needed. If anyone wants to bring biscuits, cake, snacks to share that would be nice, but bring your own lunch, bowl/plate, drinking vessel, and cutlery please.

Members have suggested a contribution for Tea/Coffee a few times, so I have decided to ask for a contribution of 50p. Obviously if you bring all your own bits, there is no need to chip in.

Free secure parking is available within the walled garden. Follow the main driveway all the way down, past the public car park and the “no unauthorised vehicles” sign, then the Walled Garden’s big gates will be on the left. Toot your horn to let us know you’ve arrived.

See site map, and map links near bottom of page.

Hope to see you there, and please email me at  essexaptgw@gmail.com if you have any questions.

Richard Roberts - Group Coordinator APTGW Essex Bodgers

APTGW Membership:
Our meets are free of charge to members of the Association of Polelathe Turners and Green Woodworkers.

Non members are welcome to join us a few times to see if it’s something they’d like to pursue further. We then ask that folks join the APTGW. It’s only £20 per year and membership runs from January to December each year.

Join the APTGW here: https://www.bodgers.org.uk/joinus
For just £20 a year you get:

• A quarterly Gazette with news views and articles on all aspects of green woodworking.

• Attend the UK Bodger's Ball always held in mid-May (this is chargeable, but a bargain!)

• Win prizes for your creations at the many craft competitions at the ball

• Connect with other Green Woodworkers, tool makers, rural crafters.

• Learn new skills in a variety of length courses.

• Attend and participate in the Annual General Meeting which is held at the Bodgers Ball

• Vote on how the organisation progresses and elect, or even stand for the committee!

Here is a "what 3 words" ink to the location: https://w3w.co/sizes.soup.puddles

Google maps link to location: https://goo.gl/maps/f6rYfb92p6n43Uz99

Members Services (Please ask if you want to be added to this list)

Sharpening Service - R2 Wood
I’ve launched a sharpening service for greenwood carving tools, offering APTGW members a 5% discount. Covering Sloyd and Spoon knives, Axes, Adzes, Gouges and more. Please contact Richard at info@r2wood.co.uk to enquire.

APTGW - Essex Bodgers Next Meet Sat 28th June 2025

Tonk'peh lapan sutra [Vulcan] - (Hello wood people)

News -  by Wendy of the Wool - Pics by Wendy & Rich:

A lovely summers day greeted us at the Garden for our recent meet up, with a nice breeze too. As ever the flowers and plants looked fabulous with a large patch of poppies in flower in the bed next to the pathway to the classroom. The bees seemed to adore them with several spotted running around in a single flower. Sadly, the nice cooling breeze also blew the petals off the poppies and there wasn’t a single one left later in the day (although there were more in bud).

We once again continued with our end grain cups – Jamie and Ranger Dave’s had been drying since last time, so they were able to oil them with linseed oil and put them in the sun. Dave Wilkins, Wendy and Jamila had more carving and refining to be getting on with. Jamila headed off to spend the later part of the day with a friend who has recently started a wood carving group at Orchard Meadow in Crouch End, maybe we will have a group visit there in the future. In between giving directions, tips and tomfoolery, Rich worked on an end grain goblet. With their cups oiled and sunbathing, Jamie moved on to carving a fox figurine, while Christmas planning started early for Ranger Dave who was carving the first of many Santas he’ll be making between now and December.

We were also joined by Sue in the afternoon who worked on some spoons and brought along the lovely end grain cup she made on a course with Wooden Tom.

With it being a nice warm day, a few of us stayed at the garden until around 7pm, to make the most of the weather and company.

Members Services (See Listings at bottom of page)
Where local members can offer charged services to other local members: Craft Courses, Tool Repairs, Lathe building, Lathe for sale etc. Have a service to offer? Please reply to this email.

Listings will be approved at our discretion and are limited to local sole traders. There are no listing fees. We do not take responsibility over any transactions, so please be mindful of where your money is going.

Regular Bits n Bobs:
If you have them, bring your lathe, shave horse, and any other fun equipment. We have a few chopping blocks and one kuksa horse, so if you can bring your own please do. Note for those with Lathes, our floor space is mostly concrete, so treadles may not be able to be pegged down.

Our meets don’t just have to be about making wood chips, we encourage members to bring other crafts to the meets, be that spinning a yarn, weaving a basket, making a tool sheath from leather or bark, and even decorative methods for our wooden items. Feel free to showcase your other craft skills as we are interested in sharing and learning a wider range of skills as we grow as a group. If any members would like to lead a session of various crafts for the group, possibly a paid one day course, please get in contact with me and we will see what we can arrange for the future.

About the venue:
The venue has toilets, kitchen, and is accessible to wheelchairs. I will supply teabags, coffee, sugar and cows milk. Please bring your own non dairy milk if needed. If anyone wants to bring biscuits, cake, snacks to share that would be nice, but bring your own lunch, bowl/plate, drinking vessel, and cutlery please.

Members have suggested a contribution for Tea/Coffee a few times, so I have decided to ask for a contribution of 50p. Obviously if you bring all your own bits, there is no need to chip in.

Free secure parking is available within the walled garden. Follow the main driveway all the way down, past the public car park and the “no unauthorised vehicles” sign, then the Walled Garden’s big gates will be on the left. Toot your horn to let us know you’ve arrived.

See site map, and map links near bottom of page.

Hope to see you there, and please email me at  essexaptgw@gmail.com if you have any questions.

Richard Roberts - Group Coordinator APTGW Essex Bodgers

APTGW Membership:
Our meets are free of charge to members of the Association of Polelathe Turners and Green Woodworkers.

Non members are welcome to join us a few times to see if it’s something they’d like to pursue further. We then ask that folks join the APTGW. It’s only £20 per year and membership runs from January to December each year.

Join the APTGW here: https://www.bodgers.org.uk/joinus
For just £20 a year you get:

• A quarterly Gazette with news views and articles on all aspects of green woodworking.

• Attend the UK Bodger's Ball always held in mid-May (this is chargeable, but a bargain!)

• Win prizes for your creations at the many craft competitions at the ball

• Connect with other Green Woodworkers, tool makers, rural crafters.

• Learn new skills in a variety of length courses.

• Attend and participate in the Annual General Meeting which is held at the Bodgers Ball

• Vote on how the organisation progresses and elect, or even stand for the committee!

Here is a "what 3 words" ink to the location: https://w3w.co/sizes.soup.puddles

Google maps link to location: https://goo.gl/maps/f6rYfb92p6n43Uz99

Members Services

Sharpening Service - R2 Wood
I’ve launched a sharpening service for greenwood carving tools, offering APTGW members a 5% discount. Covering Sloyd and Spoon knives, Axes, Adzes, Gouges and more. Please contact Richard at info@r2wood.co.uk to enquire.

APTGW - Essex Bodgers Next Meet Sat 14th June 2025

Ciao travaggiatoî de legno verdi [Ligurian] - (Hello green woodworkers)

News -  by Wendy of the Wool - Pics by Wendy & Rich:

At our last meet up we had our second session led by Rich making end grain cups. After the usual tea drinking and chat, we carried on from where we left off last time, all at different stages. David Wilkins was playing catch up as he didn’t get to start one at the last meet, and Rich had kindly prepped one in advance for him.

Rich, Carl, Jamie and Ranger Dave all finished carving their cups and celebrated with a ceremonial drink and photo. Rich then moved on to carving a spoon and the others decided to start a second cup. I carried on with my cup at a slower rate, being much less experienced and spent quite a bit of time trying to get myself more familiar with different tools and techniques. Jamila joined us in the afternoon and continued with hers – hopefully we’ll both get ours finished next time.

We also had the pleasure of seeing a Nuthatch visiting the bird feeder, which is one I’ve not seen before at the garden. And talking of birds, I brought along my needle felted Long-Tailed Tit (aka Bum Barrel / Mumruffin / Fuffit if you remember from our first update of 2025) which I made at a workshop in Cambridge on the Bank Holiday weekend. The workshop was with The Lady Moth, who I follow on Instagram, it was really enjoyable and I was very pleased with what I made.

As usual, the garden was looking blooming brilliant with rows of lovely orange Marigolds/Calendula lining the pathway to the classroom and various different bees and butterflies enjoying the many flowers on offer. In other exciting news, Lois and the Walled Garden featured in this week’s episode of Gardener’s World – available on BBC iPlayer if you’d like to see it (the segment starts around 11 mins in).

Members Services (See Listings at bottom of page)
Where local members can offer charged services to other local members: Craft Courses, Tool Repairs, Lathe building, Lathe for sale etc. Have a service to offer? Please reply to this email.

Listings will be approved at our discretion and are limited to local sole traders. There are no listing fees. We do not take responsibility over any transactions, so please be mindful of where your money is going.

Regular Bits n Bobs:
If you have them, bring your lathe, shave horse, and any other fun equipment. We have a few chopping blocks and one kuksa horse, so if you can bring your own please do. Note for those with Lathes, our floor space is mostly concrete, so treadles may not be able to be pegged down.

Our meets don’t just have to be about making wood chips, we encourage members to bring other crafts to the meets, be that spinning a yarn, weaving a basket, making a tool sheath from leather or bark, and even decorative methods for our wooden items. Feel free to showcase your other craft skills as we are interested in sharing and learning a wider range of skills as we grow as a group. If any members would like to lead a session of various crafts for the group, possibly a paid one day course, please get in contact with me and we will see what we can arrange for the future.

About the venue:
The venue has toilets, kitchen, and is accessible to wheelchairs. I will supply teabags, coffee, sugar and cows milk. Please bring your own non dairy milk if needed. If anyone wants to bring biscuits, cake, snacks to share that would be nice, but bring your own lunch, bowl/plate, drinking vessel, and cutlery please.

Members have suggested a contribution for Tea/Coffee a few times, so I have decided to ask for a contribution of 50p. Obviously if you bring all your own bits, there is no need to chip in.

Free secure parking is available within the walled garden. Follow the main driveway all the way down, past the public car park and the “no unauthorised vehicles” sign, then the Walled Garden’s big gates will be on the left. Toot your horn to let us know you’ve arrived.

See site map, and map links near bottom of page.

Hope to see you there, and please email me at  essexaptgw@gmail.com if you have any questions.

Richard Roberts - Group Coordinator APTGW Essex Bodgers

APTGW Membership:
Our meets are free of charge to members of the Association of Polelathe Turners and Green Woodworkers.

Non members are welcome to join us a few times to see if it’s something they’d like to pursue further. We then ask that folks join the APTGW. It’s only £20 per year and membership runs from January to December each year.

Join the APTGW here: https://www.bodgers.org.uk/joinus
For just £20 a year you get:

• A quarterly Gazette with news views and articles on all aspects of green woodworking.

• Attend the UK Bodger's Ball always held in mid-May (this is chargeable, but a bargain!)

• Win prizes for your creations at the many craft competitions at the ball

• Connect with other Green Woodworkers, tool makers, rural crafters.

• Learn new skills in a variety of length courses.

• Attend and participate in the Annual General Meeting which is held at the Bodgers Ball

• Vote on how the organisation progresses and elect, or even stand for the committee!

  
  

Here is a "what 3 words" ink to the location: https://w3w.co/sizes.soup.puddles

Google maps link to location: https://goo.gl/maps/f6rYfb92p6n43Uz99

Members Services

Sharpening Service - R2 Wood
I’ve launched a sharpening service for greenwood carving tools, offering APTGW members a 5% discount. Covering Sloyd and Spoon knives, Axes, Adzes, Gouges and more. Please contact Richard at info@r2wood.co.uk to enquire.

Tonk'peh lapan sular [Vulcan] - (Hello wood folk)

News -  by Wendy of the Wool - Pics by Wendy & Rich:

Freshly honed from the fantastic Bodgers Ball last weekend, it was only a few days until we picked up our tools again and headed to the next Essex Group Meeting. The Garden was looking exceptionally delightful this week, with beautiful purple alliums and Irises in bloom. The Nepeta (aka catmint) once again lines the large beds creating glorious purple avenues filled with the humming of busy bees. And a pheasant was heard and seen on the back wall.

Thanks to Ranger Dave we had a large willow log in the container which Rich decided was the perfect opportunity to give a skill share session on making end grain cups.

So I decided to leave the wool behind on this occasion and had my first go at using a spoon knife. I enjoyed the whole process and was told I did pretty well! I even managed to create a small blister on my hand and enjoyed contributing to the pile of wood shavings.

With no chain saw available, a considerable amount of wrangling and sawing was needed to cut off a good section to use.

After that, more sections were cut off and holes were bored. Then we all got to work with spoon knives to hollow the insides. There’s still more work to be done so we’ll carry on with them next time.

Bowl Mike went about his usual bowl business and we enjoyed a cuppa and a chat with Dave Wilkins, who popped in for a short while. Furry friends Ridley and Poppy joined us too.

Members Services (See Listings at bottom of page)
Where local members can offer charged services to other local members: Craft Courses, Tool Repairs, Lathe building, Lathe for sale etc. Have a service to offer? Please reply to this email.

Listings will be approved at our discretion and are limited to local sole traders. There are no listing fees. We do not take responsibility over any transactions, so please be mindful of where your money is going.

Regular Bits n Bobs:
If you have them, bring your lathe, shave horse, and any other fun equipment. We have a few chopping blocks and one kuksa horse, so if you can bring your own please do. Note for those with Lathes, our floor space is mostly concrete, so treadles may not be able to be pegged down.

Our meets don’t just have to be about making wood chips, we encourage members to bring other crafts to the meets, be that spinning a yarn, weaving a basket, making a tool sheath from leather or bark, and even decorative methods for our wooden items. Feel free to showcase your other craft skills as we are interested in sharing and learning a wider range of skills as we grow as a group. If any members would like to lead a session of various crafts for the group, possibly a paid one day course, please get in contact with me and we will see what we can arrange for the future.

About the venue:
The venue has toilets, kitchen, and is accessible to wheelchairs. I will supply teabags, coffee, sugar and cows milk. Please bring your own non dairy milk if needed. If anyone wants to bring biscuits, cake, snacks to share that would be nice, but bring your own lunch, bowl/plate, drinking vessel, and cutlery please.

Members have suggested a contribution for Tea/Coffee a few times, so I have decided to ask for a contribution of 50p. Obviously if you bring all your own bits, there is no need to chip in.

Free secure parking is available within the walled garden. Follow the main driveway all the way down, past the public car park and the “no unauthorised vehicles” sign, then the Walled Garden’s big gates will be on the left. Toot your horn to let us know you’ve arrived.

See site map, and map links near bottom of page.

Hope to see you there, and please email me at  essexaptgw@gmail.com if you have any questions.

Richard Roberts - Group Coordinator APTGW Essex Bodgers

APTGW Membership:
Our meets are free of charge to members of the Association of Polelathe Turners and Green Woodworkers.

Non members are welcome to join us a few times to see if it’s something they’d like to pursue further. We then ask that folks join the APTGW. It’s only £20 per year and membership runs from January to December each year.

Join the APTGW here: https://www.bodgers.org.uk/joinus
For just £20 a year you get:

• A quarterly Gazette with news views and articles on all aspects of green woodworking.

• Attend the UK Bodger's Ball always held in mid-May (this is chargeable, but a bargain!)

• Win prizes for your creations at the many craft competitions at the ball

• Connect with other Green Woodworkers, tool makers, rural crafters.

• Learn new skills in a variety of length courses.

• Attend and participate in the Annual General Meeting which is held at the Bodgers Ball

• Vote on how the organisation progresses and elect, or even stand for the committee!

Here is a "what 3 words" ink to the location: https://w3w.co/sizes.soup.puddles

Google maps link to location: https://goo.gl/maps/f6rYfb92p6n43Uz99

Members Services

Sharpening Service - R2 Wood
I’ve launched a sharpening service for greenwood carving tools, offering APTGW members a 5% discount. Covering Sloyd and Spoon knives, Axes, Adzes, Gouges and more. Please contact Richard at info@r2wood.co.uk to enquire.

APTGW - Essex Bodgers Next Meet - Sat 26h April 2025

Hola Flor [Papiamento] - (Hello Blossom)

News -  by Wendy of the Wool - Pics by Wendy & Rich:
Our recent meet up brought us sunshine and blue skies, although a little chilly from time to time. The birds were in full activity mode and my Merlin Bird App picked up 10 different bird songs in a few minutes!  We were also lucky enough to see a woodpecker in a nearby tree. There was also a lone homing pigeon in the garden who had not made it home. We'll see if he's still there next time.

But let's get back to the important woody and tool related stuff. Resident David (Mr Wilkins) joined us and as usual, we gathered around his car boot to see what goodies he'd brought with him. He had Rasps and Rifflers for Rich to try on his cauldron, showed us a wooden box with some carvings he done on the outside as decoration. He had also brought along a Tomte style carving of Richard and a Hag-stone for Wendy. Please note this is not his opinion of me (at least I think so, lol!) but a naturally occurring stone with a hole through it, believed to have magical properties, such as warding off witchcraft or seeing through the disguise of a witch.

We also brought a hot off the press copy of the latest Bodgers Gazette with us, with its newly revamped design and layout by our very own Richard! He was very excited when it landed on the doormat the day before, several days after many others received their copies, but it was worth the wait. It was so exciting to see all his hard work in print and he has received many lovely comments from readers who have appreciated the redesign, more photos and clearer font. It's been nice to hear that it's enticed people to sit down and read the whole thing. If you've read your copy of the Gazette you may remember a story about Goose called Duck and some strife he caused for a Buckinghamshire Bodger called William Osler. Rich received an email from a local newspaper in Buckinghamshire who asked if they could be put in contact with William to do an interview with him as they'd read the story in the Gazette and enjoyed it's quirkiness. There was a bit of a problem with that though, as William Osler and his story were a piece of fiction written by Rich as an April Fool's joke! So unfortunately, he had to let the newspaper know, otherwise we'd have had to hire some Geese and a disguise for Rich.

Members Services (See Listings at bottom of page)
Where local members can offer charged services to other local members: Craft Courses, Tool Repairs, Lathe building, Lathe for sale etc. Have a service to offer? Please reply to this email.

Listings will be approved at our discretion and are limited to local sole traders. There are no listing fees. We do not take responsibility over any transactions, so please be mindful of where your money is going.

Regular Bits n Bobs:
If you have them, bring your lathe, shave horse, and any other fun equipment. We have a few chopping blocks and one kuksa horse, so if you can bring your own please do. Note for those with Lathes, our floor space is mostly concrete, so treadles may not be able to be pegged down.

Our meets don’t just have to be about making wood chips, we encourage members to bring other crafts to the meets, be that spinning a yarn, weaving a basket, making a tool sheath from leather or bark, and even decorative methods for our wooden items. Feel free to showcase your other craft skills as we are interested in sharing and learning a wider range of skills as we grow as a group. If any members would like to lead a session of various crafts for the group, possibly a paid one day course, please get in contact with me and we will see what we can arrange for the future.

About the venue:
The venue has toilets, kitchen, and is accessible to wheelchairs. I will supply teabags, coffee, sugar and cows milk. Please bring your own non dairy milk if needed. If anyone wants to bring biscuits, cake, snacks to share that would be nice, but bring your own lunch, bowl/plate, drinking vessel, and cutlery please.

Members have suggested a contribution for Tea/Coffee a few times, so I have decided to ask for a contribution of 50p. Obviously if you bring all your own bits, there is no need to chip in.

Free secure parking is available within the walled garden. Follow the main driveway all the way down, past the public car park and the “no unauthorised vehicles” sign, then the Walled Garden’s big gates will be on the left. Toot your horn to let us know you’ve arrived.

See site map, and map links near bottom of page.

Hope to see you there, and please email me at  essexaptgw@gmail.com if you have any questions.

Richard Roberts - Group Coordinator APTGW Essex Bodgers

APTGW Membership:
Our meets are free of charge to members of the Association of Polelathe Turners and Green Woodworkers.

Non members are welcome to join us a few times to see if it’s something they’d like to pursue further. We then ask that folks join the APTGW. It’s only £20 per year and membership runs from January to December each year.

Join the APTGW here: https://www.bodgers.org.uk/joinus
For just £20 a year you get:

• A quarterly Gazette with news views and articles on all aspects of green woodworking.

• Attend the UK Bodger's Ball always held in mid-May (this is chargeable, but a bargain!)

• Win prizes for your creations at the many craft competitions at the ball

• Connect with other Green Woodworkers, tool makers, rural crafters.

• Learn new skills in a variety of length courses.

• Attend and participate in the Annual General Meeting which is held at the Bodgers Ball

• Vote on how the organisation progresses and elect, or even stand for the committee!

Here is a "what 3 words" ink to the location: https://w3w.co/sizes.soup.puddles

Google maps link to location: https://goo.gl/maps/f6rYfb92p6n43Uz99

Members Services

Sharpening Service - R2 Wood
I’ve launched a sharpening service for greenwood carving tools, offering APTGW members a 5% discount. Covering Sloyd and Spoon knives, Axes, Adzes, Gouges and more. Please contact Richard at info@r2wood.co.uk to enquire.

APTGW - Essex Bodgers Next Meet Sat 5th April 2025

Spring ej itok! [Marshallese] - (Spring is here)

News -  by Wendy of the Wool - Pics by R2 Wood:

We were few in number at our last meet but full of enthusiasm to be back at the lovely walled garden, which is springing forth and waking up from winter. The weather was kind enough that we could be outside where we were surrounded by the glorious trumpets of spring we call Daffodils. We had sightings of Woodpeckers and Red Kites and a startled cat scarpered after being discovered in the poly-tunnel when Rich went to get a trolley.

A decent amount of wood chips were produced - Rich worked on a lovely Kuksa, which has burl in the handle, Jamie worked on some frolicking foxes, Insp. Wilkins worked on a spoon (when he wasn’t causing mischief). Mike of the Bowl, well you know ……

I worked on felting grassy tuffet for the little dog I’ve been making to be curled up on.

We ended the day doing something we’ve not done at the group before - taking some group photos. This was not without comedic protest and allegations of mischief. (Wilkins vs Roberts (again).

Members Services (See Listings at bottom of page)
Where local members can offer charged services to other local members: Craft Courses, Tool Repairs, Lathe building, Lathe for sale etc. Have a service to offer? Please reply to this email.

Listings will be approved at our discretion and are limited to local sole traders. There are no listing fees. We do not take responsibility over any transactions, so please be mindful of where your money is going.

Regular Bits n Bobs:
If you have them, bring your lathe, shave horse, and any other fun equipment. We have a few chopping blocks and one kuksa horse, so if you can bring your own please do. Note for those with Lathes, our floor space is mostly concrete, so treadles may not be able to be pegged down.

Our meets don’t just have to be about making wood chips, we encourage members to bring other crafts to the meets, be that spinning a yarn, weaving a basket, making a tool sheath from leather or bark, and even decorative methods for our wooden items. Feel free to showcase your other craft skills as we are interested in sharing and learning a wider range of skills as we grow as a group. If any members would like to lead a session of various crafts for the group, possibly a paid one day course, please get in contact with me and we will see what we can arrange for the future.

About the venue:
The venue has toilets, kitchen, and is accessible to wheelchairs. I will supply teabags, coffee, sugar and cows milk. Please bring your own non dairy milk if needed. If anyone wants to bring biscuits, cake, snacks to share that would be nice, but bring your own lunch, bowl/plate, drinking vessel, and cutlery please.

Members have suggested a contribution for Tea/Coffee a few times, so I have decided to ask for a contribution of 50p. Obviously if you bring all your own bits, there is no need to chip in.

Free secure parking is available within the walled garden. Follow the main driveway all the way down, past the public car park and the “no unauthorised vehicles” sign, then the Walled Garden’s big gates will be on the left. Toot your horn to let us know you’ve arrived.

See site map, and map links near bottom of page.

Hope to see you there, and please email me at  essexaptgw@gmail.com if you have any questions.

Richard Roberts - Group Coordinator APTGW Essex Bodgers

APTGW Membership:
Our meets are free of charge to members of the Association of Polelathe Turners and Green Woodworkers.

Non members are welcome to join us a few times to see if it’s something they’d like to pursue further. We then ask that folks join the APTGW. It’s only £20 per year and membership runs from January to December each year.

Join the APTGW here: https://www.bodgers.org.uk/joinus
For just £20 a year you get:

• A quarterly Gazette with news views and articles on all aspects of green woodworking.

• Attend the UK Bodger's Ball always held in mid-May (this is chargeable, but a bargain!)

• Win prizes for your creations at the many craft competitions at the ball

• Connect with other Green Woodworkers, tool makers, rural crafters.

• Learn new skills in a variety of length courses.

• Attend and participate in the Annual General Meeting which is held at the Bodgers Ball

• Vote on how the organisation progresses and elect, or even stand for the committee!

Here is a "what 3 words" ink to the location: https://w3w.co/sizes.soup.puddles

Google maps link to location: https://goo.gl/maps/f6rYfb92p6n43Uz99

Members Services

Sharpening Service - R2 Wood
I’ve launched a sharpening service for greenwood carving tools, offering APTGW members a 5% discount. Covering Sloyd and Spoon knives, Axes, Adzes, Gouges and more. Please contact Richard at info@r2wood.co.uk to enquire.

APTGW - Essex Bodgers Next Meet Sat 22nd March 2025

b´a´n q´ij kye xjal tze [Mam] - (Good morning tree people!)

News -  by Wendy of the Wool - Pics by R2 Wood:

We enjoyed being outside in the sunny spring weather at our recent meet up. Bowl Mike serenaded us with a performance of his song, Froe, and demonstrated yoga poses. We hope for a repeat of both in the future. He also worked on one of his large bowls and a bird fish bowl.

Jamilla brought her adorable tiny dog and continued her kolrosing lesson with the master of cheek, Dave Wilkins.

Rich was looking forward to carving a spoon from a piece of Blackthorn, but unfortunately the Blackthorn had other ideas and had rotted inside. Dave Wilkins came to the rescue with a lovely piece of Judas Tree; as pictured below.

Rich and I went for a walk in the park at lunchtime and in scenes reminiscent of the Bodgers Ball 2023 - aka the muddy one - I managed to get one of my boots covered in mud crossing a particularly sludgy area. We also saw a Brimstone Butterfly which was striking in its lime green colour, and some interesting trees - one had grown a large, weird branch very low down on the trunk as you can see in the photo below.

Later in the day we were joined by Monique and Chloe who came to collect some Carving Gouges Rich had sharpened. We had some great conversations about making things and tools and lots of laughs along the way too.

Members Services (See Listings at bottom of page)
Where local members can offer charged services to other local members: Craft Courses, Tool Repairs, Lathe building, Lathe for sale etc. Have a service to offer? Please reply to this email.

Listings will be approved at our discretion and are limited to local sole traders. There are no listing fees. We do not take responsibility over any transactions, so please be mindful of where your money is going.

Regular Bits n Bobs:
If you have them, bring your lathe, shave horse, and any other fun equipment. We have a few chopping blocks and one kuksa horse, so if you can bring your own please do. Note for those with Lathes, our floor space is mostly concrete, so treadles may not be able to be pegged down.

Our meets don’t just have to be about making wood chips, we encourage members to bring other crafts to the meets, be that spinning a yarn, weaving a basket, making a tool sheath from leather or bark, and even decorative methods for our wooden items. Feel free to showcase your other craft skills as we are interested in sharing and learning a wider range of skills as we grow as a group. If any members would like to lead a session of various crafts for the group, possibly a paid one day course, please get in contact with me and we will see what we can arrange for the future.

About the venue:
The venue has toilets, kitchen, and is accessible to wheelchairs. I will supply teabags, coffee, sugar and cows milk. Please bring your own non dairy milk if needed. If anyone wants to bring biscuits, cake, snacks to share that would be nice, but bring your own lunch, bowl/plate, drinking vessel, and cutlery please.

Members have suggested a contribution for Tea/Coffee a few times, so I have decided to ask for a contribution of 50p. Obviously if you bring all your own bits, there is no need to chip in.

Free secure parking is available within the walled garden. Follow the main driveway all the way down, past the public car park and the “no unauthorised vehicles” sign, then the Walled Garden’s big gates will be on the left. Toot your horn to let us know you’ve arrived.

See site map, and map links near bottom of page.

Hope to see you there, and please email me at  essexaptgw@gmail.com if you have any questions.

Richard Roberts - Group Coordinator APTGW Essex Bodgers

APTGW Membership:
Our meets are free of charge to members of the Association of Polelathe Turners and Green Woodworkers.
Non members are welcome to join us a few times to see if it’s something they’d like to pursue further. We then ask that folks join the APTGW. It’s only £20 per year and membership runs from January to December each year.

Join the APTGW here: https://www.bodgers.org.uk/joinus

For just £20 a year you get:

• A quarterly Gazette with news views and articles on all aspects of green woodworking.

• Attend the UK Bodger's Ball always held in mid-May (this is chargeable, but a bargain!)

• Win prizes for your creations at the many craft competitions at the ball

• Connect with other Green Woodworkers, tool makers, rural crafters.

• Learn new skills in a variety of length courses.

• Attend and participate in the Annual General Meeting which is held at the Bodgers Ball

• Vote on how the organisation progresses and elect, or even stand for the committee!

Here is a "what 3 words" ink to the location: https://w3w.co/sizes.soup.puddles

Google maps link to location: https://goo.gl/maps/f6rYfb92p6n43Uz99

Members Services

Sharpening Service - R2 Wood
I’ve launched a sharpening service for greenwood carving tools, offering APTGW members a 5% discount. Covering Sloyd and Spoon knives, Axes, Adzes, Gouges and more. Please contact Richard at info@r2wood.co.uk to enquire.

Mwasuze mutya mikwano gyange egy'enku [Luganda] - (Hello my wood friends)

News -  by Wendy of the Wool - Pics by R2 Wood:

Saturday 8 Feb
It was a damp day for our meet up on 8 February, but we had some great conversations in the classroom, fortified with usual tea and biscuits. David Wilkins worked on a spoon and brought along another he’d made with some kolrosing. Bowl Mike continued working on a large vessel, while Jamie carved a fox and Ranger Dave worked on his nunchucks? Bob and Richard carried on with spoons in progress and I inserted eyes into the dog I’m needle felting with was an exciting milestone.

Saturday 22 Feb
We were grateful for the mild weather at our last meet - umpteen layers not required! There was a hint of spring in the air with cheerful daffodils in bloom and I saw my first bumblebee of the year!

David Wilkins ran a skill sharing session on kolrosing with Jamilla. Carl worked on a shrink pot, Bob continued working a cooking spoon, Ranger Dave was carving a warrior character with a shield. I carried on with my needle felted dog and am making good progress on the head, ears will be the next step. Rich was doing finishing cuts on a spoon. It was good to see him doing some carving as he’s been hard at work on the Bodgers Gazette.

We had various visits from the Gardens volunteer crew. Daphne & Dave popped in with their lovely dogs, and we had a great conversation about a long bow and coracle that Daphne made some years ago. Lois & Bill dropped in and brought a wooden bowl and other items that had been turned by Lois’s Dad.

Members Services (See Listings at bottom of page)
Where local members can offer charged services to other local members: Craft Courses, Tool Repairs, Lathe building, Lathe for sale etc. Have a service to offer? Please reply to this email.

Listings will be approved at our discretion and are limited to local sole traders. There are no listing fees. We do not take responsibility over any transactions, so please be mindful of where your money is going.

Regular Bits n Bobs:
If you have them, bring your lathe, shave horse, and any other fun equipment. We have a few chopping blocks and one kuksa horse, so if you can bring your own please do. Note for those with Lathes, our floor space is mostly concrete, so treadles may not be able to be pegged down.

Our meets don’t just have to be about making wood chips, we encourage members to bring other crafts to the meets, be that spinning a yarn, weaving a basket, making a tool sheath from leather or bark, and even decorative methods for our wooden items. Feel free to showcase your other craft skills as we are interested in sharing and learning a wider range of skills as we grow as a group. If any members would like to lead a session of various crafts for the group, possibly a paid one day course, please get in contact with me and we will see what we can arrange for the future.

About the venue:
The venue has toilets, kitchen, and is accessible to wheelchairs. I will supply teabags, coffee, sugar and cows milk. Please bring your own non dairy milk if needed. If anyone wants to bring biscuits, cake, snacks to share that would be nice, but bring your own lunch, bowl/plate, drinking vessel, and cutlery please.

Members have suggested a contribution for Tea/Coffee a few times, so I have decided to ask for a contribution of 50p. Obviously if you bring all your own bits, there is no need to chip in.

Free secure parking is available within the walled garden. Follow the main driveway all the way down, past the public car park and the “no unauthorised vehicles” sign, then the Walled Garden’s big gates will be on the left. Toot your horn to let us know you’ve arrived.

See site map, and map links near bottom of page.

Hope to see you there, and please email me at  essexaptgw@gmail.com if you have any questions.

Richard Roberts - Group Coordinator APTGW Essex Bodgers

APTGW Membership:
Our meets are free of charge to members of the Association of Polelathe Turners and Green Woodworkers.

Non members are welcome to join us a few times to see if it’s something they’d like to pursue further. We then ask that folks join the APTGW. It’s only £20 per year and membership runs from January to December each year.

Join the APTGW here: https://www.bodgers.org.uk/joinus
For just £20 a year you get:

• A quarterly Gazette with news views and articles on all aspects of green woodworking.

• Attend the UK Bodger's Ball always held in mid-May (this is chargeable, but a bargain!)

• Win prizes for your creations at the many craft competitions at the ball

• Connect with other Green Woodworkers, tool makers, rural crafters.

• Learn new skills in a variety of length courses.

• Attend and participate in the Annual General Meeting which is held at the Bodgers Ball

• Vote on how the organisation progresses and elect, or even stand for the committee!

Here is a "what 3 words" ink to the location: https://w3w.co/sizes.soup.puddles

Google maps link to location: https://goo.gl/maps/f6rYfb92p6n43Uz99

Members Services

Sharpening Service - R2 Wood
I’ve launched a sharpening service for greenwood carving tools, offering APTGW members a 5% discount. Covering Sloyd and Spoon knives, Axes, Adzes, Gouges and more.
Please visit: https://www.r2wood.co.uk/new-page-1 or contact Richard at info@r2wood.co.uk with any questions you may have..

APTGW - Essex Bodgers Next Meet Sat 8th February 2025

Hallo Houtbewerkers [Dutch] - (Hello Woodworkers)

News -  by Wendy of the Wool:

It was a beautifully sunny day for our recent meet up – still cold, but not frosty, so we tucked ourselves up in the classroom with the heating on.
One of the garden volunteers – Fay – was in the garden when we arrived, gearing up to spend an hour noting down bird species for the RSPB's Big Birdwatch and we had some interesting conversations about the different species we've seen at the Garden's feeders.
Daphne and Dave from the garden volunteers also popped in and kindly brought a bottle of linseed oil for "the woodies", which Daphne had found at a bargain price in Homebase's closing down sale.
In between tea, chocolate biscuits, cheek and chat we did manage to produce a decent quantity of wood chips. Many spoons were worked on together with bowls, characters and woolly jiggery-pokery.

Word Of The Week - Brought to you by R2 Wood: Pith
Pith: A tissue in the stems of vascular plants. It is composed of soft, spongy parenchyma cells, which in some cases can store starch. The pith is encircled by a ring of xylem; the xylem, in turn, is encircled by a ring of phloem.

While new pith growth is usually white or pale in color, as the tissue ages it commonly darkens to a deeper brown color. In trees, pith is generally present in young growth, but in the trunk and older branches the pith often gets replaced – in great part – by xylem. In some plants, the pith in the middle of the stem may dry out and disintegrate, resulting in a hollow stem. A few plants, such as walnuts (see pic above), have distinctive chambered pith with numerous short cavities. The cells in the peripheral parts of the pith may, in some plants, develop to be different from cells in the rest of the pith. This layer of cells is then called the perimedullary region of the pithamus. An example of this can be observed in Hedera helix, a species of ivy.

Members Services (See Listings at bottom of page)
Where local members can offer charged services to other local members: Craft Courses, Tool Repairs, Lathe building, Lathe for sale etc. Have a service to offer? Please reply to this email. Listings will be approved at our discretion and are limited to local sole traders. There are no listing fees. We do not take responsibility over any transactions, so please be mindful of where your money is going.

Regular Bits n Bobs:
If you have them, bring your lathe, shave horse, and any other fun equipment. We have a few chopping blocks and one kuksa horse, so if you can bring your own please do. Note for those with Lathes, our floor space is mostly concrete, so treadles may not be able to be pegged down.

Our meets don’t just have to be about making wood chips, we encourage members to bring other crafts to the meets, be that spinning a yarn, weaving a basket, making a tool sheath from leather or bark, and even decorative methods for our wooden items. Feel free to showcase your other craft skills as we are interested in sharing and learning a wider range of skills as we grow as a group. If any members would like to lead a session of various crafts for the group, possibly a paid one day course, please get in contact with me and we will see what we can arrange for the future.

About the venue:
The venue has toilets, kitchen, and is accessible to wheelchairs. I will supply teabags, coffee, sugar and cows milk. Please bring your own non dairy milk if needed. If anyone wants to bring biscuits, cake, snacks to share that would be nice, but bring your own lunch, bowl/plate, drinking vessel, and cutlery please.

Members have suggested a contribution for Tea/Coffee a few times, so I have decided to ask for a contribution of 50p. Obviously if you bring all your own bits, there is no need to chip in.

Free secure parking is available within the walled garden. Follow the main driveway all the way down, past the public car park and the “no unauthorised vehicles” sign, then the Walled Garden’s big gates will be on the left. Toot your horn to let us know you’ve arrived.

See site map, and map links near bottom of page.

Hope to see you there, and please email me at  essexaptgw@gmail.com if you have any questions.

Richard Roberts - Group Coordinator APTGW Essex Bodgers

APTGW Membership:
Our meets are free of charge to members of the Association of Polelathe Turners and Green Woodworkers.

Non members are welcome to join us a few times to see if it’s something they’d like to pursue further. We then ask that folks join the APTGW. It’s only £20 per year and membership runs from January to December each year.

Join the APTGW here: https://www.bodgers.org.uk/joinus

For just £20 a year you get:

• A quarterly Gazette with news views and articles on all aspects of green woodworking.

• Attend the UK Bodger's Ball always held in mid-May (this is chargeable, but a bargain!)

• Win prizes for your creations at the many craft competitions at the ball

• Connect with other Green Woodworkers, tool makers, rural crafters.

• Learn new skills in a variety of length courses.

• Attend and participate in the Annual General Meeting which is held at the Bodgers Ball

• Vote on how the organisation progresses and elect, or even stand for the committee!

Here is a "what 3 words" ink to the location: https://w3w.co/sizes.soup.puddles

Google maps link to location: https://goo.gl/maps/f6rYfb92p6n43Uz99

Members Services

Sharpening Service - R2 Wood
I’ve launched a sharpening service for greenwood carving tools, offering APTGW members a 5% discount. Covering Sloyd and Spoon knives, Axes, Adzes, Gouges and more. Please contact Richard at info@r2wood.co.uk to enquire.

APTGW - Essex Bodgers Next Meet Sat 25th January 2025

Marautaki ni yabaki vou [Fijian] - (Happy New Year)

News -  by Wendy of the Wool:
Confronted with sub-zero temperatures, I entered the garden with around 6 layers of clothing for our first meet of 2025. I don't think I've ever seen a frost as thick as the one that was waiting for us when we got through the gates. Gates that were hard to open as one of the drop bolts had frozen into the ground, taking Rich and Bowl Mike around 5 minutes to tackle.

So spectacular and thick was the glistening display that Jack Frost had delivered - we were all compelled to go around taking photos.

Andrew returned for this meet up and worked on carving a spoon with a little guidance from Rich. It was great to see him again and hear about all the things he's been up to since we last saw him. Jamie also joined us with a magnificent furry lining hat and got to work carving some figures, he's not carving any more Santas until at least Easter! Ranger Dave has also put Santa's aside for the time being and was working on some nun chucks out of some gorgeous, golden Cherry.

Rich worked on a Bakers scoop made from Willow. I did very little needle felting, despite acquiring new tools, instead preferring to mainly drink tea and chat. Bowl Mike worked on his Spring Collection of Gravy Barges and showed us some tubes he had made out of bamboo to hold needles – for leatherwork, needle felting.

The bare winter branches on the trees near the classroom at the Garden provides a better view of the many tiny birds frequenting the feeders, we saw Dunnocks, Robins, a possible Woodpecker, blue tits, great tits and my favourites, long-tailed tits (also delightfully referred to in old English folk names as Bum Barrels, Mumruffins, Bottle Tits, Fuffits, Hedge Jugs and Milithrum/Miller's Thumb!)  I love these fascinating, flitting, tiny birds! 

Word Of The Week - Brought to you by Wendy of the Wool: Tits
Tits, have the family name Paridae, meaning a large family of small passerine birds which live mainly in the Northern Hemisphere and Africa. Eurasian and African members of this family are referred to as "tits", while North American species are called either "chickadees" (onomatopoeic, derived from their distinctive "chick-a dee dee dee" alarm call) or "titmice". The name titmouse is recorded from the 14th century, composed of the Old English name for the bird, mase (Proto-Germanic maison, Dutch mees, German Meise), and tit, denoting something small. The former spelling, "titmose", was influenced by mouse in the 16th century.  

 Tits are active, noisy, and social birds. They are territorial during the breeding season and often join mixed-species feeding flocks during the nonbreeding season. The tits are highly adaptable, and after the corvids (crows and jays) and parrots, amongst the most intelligent of all birds.  Tits recognize the difference between species that are dangerous or harmless to them, which helps them protect each other or their families. They do this by mobbing or escaping, however they also avoid the nest when predators are present to avoid their families being seen.

 Tits are generalist insectivores and consume a wide range of small insects and other invertebrates. They also eat seeds and nuts, particularly in the winter. One characteristic method of foraging in the family is hanging, where they inspect a branch or twig and leaves from all angles while hanging upside down to feed. In areas where numerous species of tit coexist, different species forage in different parts of the tree, their niche determined in no small way by their morphology; larger species forage on the ground, medium-sized species foraging on larger branches, and the smallest species on the ends of branches. Having obtained larger prey items or seeds, tits engage in hold-hammering, where they hold the item between their feet and hammer it with their bill until it opens. In this fashion, they can even open hazelnuts in around 20 minutes. Some of the species are also involved in food caching - hoarding supplies of food during the winter.

 Blue Tits typically live for three years, but the maximum age recorded from bird ringing is 10 years, 3 months and 10 days. Almost two-thirds of young Blue Tits will not survive their first year of life, but those that do usually start to breed the spring after they hatched.

 According to the naturalist John Lewis-Stempel:  Bird names have become standardized, homogenized, conscripted into what is considered proper by scientists for classification.  A century ago, a birder could have told what county, even what village he was in by the folk name for a long-tailed tit.  In his Treatise on Birds of Gloucestershire, WL Mellersh collected no fewer than 10 local names for Aegithalos caudatus, the long-tailed tit, among them Long Tom, Oven-Bird, Poke-Pudding and Creak-Mouse).

 A poem about the Long-Tailed Tit by John Clare, English poet (13 July 1793 – 20 May 1864)
Bum-barrels twit on bush and tree
Scarse bigger than a bumble bee
And in a white thorn’s leafy rest
It builds its curious pudding-nest
Wi hole beside as if a mouse
Had built the little barrel house.

Members Services (See Listings at bottom of page)
Where local members can offer charged services to other local members: Craft Courses, Tool Repairs, Lathe building, Lathe for sale etc. Have a service to offer? Please reply to this email.

Listings will be approved at our discretion and are limited to local sole traders. There are no listing fees. We do not take responsibility over any transactions, so please be mindful of where your money is going.

Regular Bits n Bobs:
If you have them, bring your lathe, shave horse, and any other fun equipment. We have a few chopping blocks and one kuksa horse, so if you can bring your own please do. Note for those with Lathes, our floor space is mostly concrete, so treadles may not be able to be pegged down.

Our meets don’t just have to be about making wood chips, we encourage members to bring other crafts to the meets, be that spinning a yarn, weaving a basket, making a tool sheath from leather or bark, and even decorative methods for our wooden items. Feel free to showcase your other craft skills as we are interested in sharing and learning a wider range of skills as we grow as a group. If any members would like to lead a session of various crafts for the group, possibly a paid one day course, please get in contact with me and we will see what we can arrange for the future.

About the venue:
The venue has toilets, kitchen, and is accessible to wheelchairs. I will supply teabags, coffee, sugar and cows milk. Please bring your own non dairy milk if needed. If anyone wants to bring biscuits, cake, snacks to share that would be nice, but bring your own lunch, bowl/plate, drinking vessel, and cutlery please.

Members have suggested a contribution for Tea/Coffee a few times, so I have decided to ask for a contribution of 50p. Obviously if you bring all your own bits, there is no need to chip in.

Free secure parking is available within the walled garden. Follow the main driveway all the way down, past the public car park and the “no unauthorised vehicles” sign, then the Walled Garden’s big gates will be on the left. Toot your horn to let us know you’ve arrived.

See site map, and map links near bottom of page.

Hope to see you there, and please email me at  essexaptgw@gmail.com if you have any questions.

Richard Roberts - Group Coordinator APTGW Essex Bodgers

APTGW Membership:
Our meets are free of charge to members of the Association of Polelathe Turners and Green Woodworkers.

Non members are welcome to join us a few times to see if it’s something they’d like to pursue further. We then ask that folks join the APTGW. It’s only £20 per year and membership runs from January to December each year.

Join the APTGW here: https://www.bodgers.org.uk/joinus

For just £20 a year you get:

• A quarterly Gazette with news views and articles on all aspects of green woodworking.

• Attend the UK Bodger's Ball always held in mid-May (this is chargeable, but a bargain!)

• Win prizes for your creations at the many craft competitions at the ball

• Connect with other Green Woodworkers, tool makers, rural crafters.

• Learn new skills in a variety of length courses.

• Attend and participate in the Annual General Meeting which is held at the Bodgers Ball

• Vote on how the organisation progresses and elect, or even stand for the committee!

Here is a "what 3 words" ink to the location: https://w3w.co/sizes.soup.puddles

Google maps link to location: https://goo.gl/maps/f6rYfb92p6n43Uz99

Members Services

Sharpening Service - R2 Wood
I’ve launched a sharpening service for greenwood carving tools, offering APTGW members a 5% discount. Covering Sloyd and Spoon knives, Axes, Adzes, Gouges and more. Please contact Richard at info@r2wood.co.uk to enquire.

Zaalige Keershmus [Limburgish] - (Merry Christmas)

News -  by Rich - R2 Wood:
The Garden was in full winter mode, trees resembling vascular systems, birds and squirrels zooming around getting their Christmas shopping done at the well stocked feeders, preparing not for a feast like ourselves, but for raw survival. We wish them the all the best.

As this was our last gathering of the year, we celebrated with mince pies, stollen, vol au vents, and fancy biscuits amongst other treats; “to keep up the energy on such a cold day”, and yes, we’re sticking to that in season reason.

We set up in the garden’s huge poly-tunnel greenhouse, as Fay; one of the gardens dedicated volunteers, was running a Christmas Wreath making workshop in the wood cabin, where she also brewed up a deliciously warming mulled apple juice to share with all.

Wilkins, Potty Steve, and Bob (our resident comedic triple act) worked on spoons whilst dispensing a seasonal gluts worth of cheer, cheek, and japery - with the odd bit of useful advice thrown in of course.

Jamila returned and was joined by her friend Rachel, a long time bodger who induced her to the APTGW at last year’s spectacular Ball. Jamila started a new spoon and Rachel worked on a hand felted mallet to “ding dong merrily” a gong she owns.

It was the last push for Ranger Dave and Jamie to finish their Santa carvings, which are to be Christmas presents for their friends and family. Our resident Ranger also brought along some lovely big birch logs.

Carl worked on a couple of spoons, and Rich worked on "Thing" - It’s for eating out of. Inspired by his Nan and John Mullaney.

Kirstie continued to work on her puffin automata and also brought along some of her needle felting work. Wendy was thrilled to have three woolies in attendance, and continued to work on the long running needle felted dog. Will Wendy weald will, upon the wool, well enough to wrap up the wooly wonder whilst wassailing in a winter wonderland? Tune in to the next wissue to find out!

Apart from his constant comedy, Bowl Mike worked on…. yep, you guessed it, a bowl! There was an extra wrinkle in his grin, he’d made a deal with Potty Steve; to pass on guardianship of Mike’s "Thames Gravy Barge" bowl, which inadvertently (absolutely nothing to do with Rich) became a hot head ware trend. I blame the Brandy in the mince pies.

I’d like to bestow a big end of year thank you to everyone who’s joined us at our meets this year. From my perspective the Essex Bodgers could not exist without the enthusiasm, vibes, banter, the care and friendships created, the yearning we all have for learning, and most of all, you folks that bring all these qualities to sustain such a fun and creative group.

Wishing you all a lovely time over the Christmas holidays and look forward to seeing you all in 2025.

Word Of The Week: Tomte
The Tomte is a very small, elderly and bearded mythical humanoid, believed to live in barns, under the floorboards, or in the forest nearby. Tomtar (plural of Tomte) are deeply rooted in Scandinavian folklore, particularly in Sweden, and are typically depicted as small, gnome-like figures, about the size of a child, with a long white beard, wearing a red or grey knitted hat that tapers to a point.

The role of the Tomte in folklore is to be a protector of farms and households. Ensuring the well-being of animals and the success of the farm. In return for his care, the household must treat him kindly, which includes offering him food (especially a bowl of porridge with butter during Christmas).

Tomtar are wise and hard-working, although temperamental and vengeful if insulted or neglected. Offences such as mistreating animals, disrespecting traditions, or forgetting his porridge can lead to pranks or worse, like the misfortune of the farm.

Over time, the Tomte merged with Christmas traditions and became associated with Jultomten, the Swedish version of Santa Claus.

Unlike the jolly Santa Claus of other cultures, Jultomten is more subdued, sometimes portrayed delivering gifts while retaining his farmstead roots. To this day Tomtar are popular figures during Christmas in Sweden and other Nordic countries. They are featured in decorations, cards, and stories, often blending their traditional roles with more modern interpretations of holiday spirit.

Members Services (See Listings at bottom of page)

A new section of our Newsletter where local members can offer charged services to other local members. For example: Craft Courses, Tool Repairs, Lathe building, Lathe for sale etc. If you have a service you would like offer here, please reply to this email.

Listings will be approved at our discretion and are limited to local sole traders. There are no listing fees. We do not take responsibility over any transactions, so please be mindful of where your money is going.

Regular Bits n Bobs:

If you have them, bring your lathe, shave horse, and any other fun equipment. We have a few chopping blocks and one kuksa horse, so if you can bring your own please do. Note for those with Lathes, our floor space is mostly concrete, so treadles may not be able to be pegged down.

Our meets don’t just have to be about making wood chips, we encourage members to bring other crafts to the meets, be that spinning a yarn, weaving a basket, making a tool sheath from leather or bark, and even decorative methods for our wooden items. Feel free to showcase your other craft skills as we are interested in sharing and learning a wider range of skills as we grow as a group. If any members would like to lead a session of various crafts for the group, possibly a paid one day course, please get in contact with me and we will see what we can arrange for the future.

About the venue:
The venue has toilets, kitchen, and is accessible to wheelchairs. I will supply teabags, coffee, sugar and cows milk. Please bring your own non dairy milk if needed. If anyone wants to bring biscuits, cake, snacks to share that would be nice, but bring your own lunch, bowl/plate, drinking vessel, and cutlery please.

Members have suggested a contribution for Tea/Coffee a few times, so I have decided to ask for a contribution of 50p. Obviously if you bring all your own bits, there is no need to chip in.

Free secure parking is available within the walled garden. Follow the main driveway all the way down, past the public car park and the “no unauthorised vehicles” sign, then the Walled Garden’s big gates will be on the left. Toot your horn to let us know you’ve arrived.

See site map, and map links near bottom of page.

Hope to see you there, and please email me at  essexaptgw@gmail.com if you have any questions.

Richard Roberts - Group Coordinator APTGW Essex Bodgers

APTGW Membership:

Our meets are free of charge to members of the Association of Polelathe Turners and Green Woodworkers.

Non members are welcome to join us a few times to see if it’s something they’d like to pursue further. We then ask that folks join the APTGW. It’s only £20 per year and membership runs from January to December each year.

Join the APTGW here: https://www.bodgers.org.uk/joinus
For just £20 a year you get:

• A quarterly Gazette with news views and articles on all aspects of green woodworking.

• Attend the UK Bodger's Ball always held in mid-May (this is chargeable, but a bargain!)

• Win prizes for your creations at the many craft competitions at the ball

• Connect with other Green Woodworkers, tool makers, rural crafters.

• Learn new skills in a variety of length courses.

• Attend and participate in the Annual General Meeting which is held at the Bodgers Ball

• Vote on how the organisation progresses and elect, or even stand for the committee!

Here is a "what 3 words" ink to the location: https://w3w.co/sizes.soup.puddles

Google maps link to location: https://goo.gl/maps/f6rYfb92p6n43Uz99

Members Services

Sharpening Service - R2 Wood
I’ve launched a sharpening service for greenwood carving tools, offering APTGW members a 5% discount. Covering Sloyd and Spoon knives, Axes, Adzes, Gouges and more. Please contact Richard at info@r2wood.co.uk to enquire.

APTGW - Essex Bodgers Meet Sat 7th December

Aten ladaw a shakram ga [Jingpo] - (Greetings of the season)

News -  by Wendy of the Wool:

The weather at our recent meet up was wet and windy, so we stayed in the classroom where it was much warmer. David Wilkins continued working on the spoon he started at his lesson with Richard. He also showed us the latest Tomte’s he’s been carving too. Kirstie worked on a wooden puffin, Rich worked on a Damson spoon. It was lovely to see the progress Ranger Dave’s made with the Santa’s he’s been carving. Steve also continued working on the spoon he started on a lesson with Richard. We also welcomed Jamila back who brought along a spoon she started at a class at London Greenwood. Bob worked on a spoon and we were grateful for the fact that he knew how to use the heater (he is also one of the Walled Garden Volunteers) so we were nice and toasty (thanks Bob/Brian). Wendy continued felting a little dog, managed to only stab her finger once and didn’t break any needles this time. As always there was much talk of tools and methods, plenty of tea, chat and banter. We’re looking forward to some festive snacks at our next meet on 7 December which will be our last for 2024.

Word Of The Week: History of the Walled Garden

The name Bedfords is thought to derive from a John Bedford or Bedforde who owned land in the area in 1362. The tenement of Bedfords was acquired for the Gidea Hall estate in 1412 by Robert Chichele. The neighbouring tenement, Earles, was added to the Gidea Hall estate by the Cooke family after they bought Gidea Hall in 1652. In 1659 Bedfords and Earles were sold together to Joachim Matthews of Gobions. In 1688, Joachim's son, Sir Philip Matthews, sold Bedfords and Earles to Simon and Sarah Rogers.
A succession of London Merchants owned Bedfords from that point on, though none are thought to have lived there. It wasn't until 1771, when Nathaniel Houlton sold Bedfords to John Heaton, that Bedfords had a permanent resident and Lord of the Manor. Soon after buying the estate, John Heaton began rebuilding the house as a two storey brick mansion. It is assumed he erected the walled garden too, sometime between 1777 and the 1805 1 inch Ordnance Survey Map which shows the walled garden.
Nash's Seats (1819) describes "a well-stocked walled Garden with Greenhouses, Hot House, and a Pinery of considerable extent". The pineapple house and fernery were later additions, present by the 1860s. Heaton's 2 acre garden was enclosed in 12ft high brick walls and is aligned slightly east of south. This position offers a wide variety of growing conditions for example the south-facing walls are suitable for growing warmth-loving crops like peaches and apricots, whilst the cooler soil at the lowest part of the garden is more suited to moisture loving crops like cabbages and late peas.
In 1870 the estate was sold to Henry Stone. After Stone's death his widow sold Bedfords to Romford Urban District Council for £9,000 on the 31st of March 1933. The Council then opened Bedfords as a public park in 1934 with the mansion house being used as a museum and art gallery. Following serious deterioration the mansion house was demolished in 1958.

Members Services (See Listings at bottom of page)
A new section of our Newsletter where local members can offer charged services to other local members. For example: Craft Courses, Tool Repairs, Lathe building, Lathe for sale etc. If you have a service you would like offer here, please reply to this email.
Listings will be approved at our discretion and are limited to local sole traders. There are no listing fees. We do not take responsibility over any transactions, so please be mindful of where your money is going.

Regular Bits n Bobs:
If you have them, bring your lathe, shave horse, and any other fun equipment. We have a few chopping blocks and one kuksa horse, so if you can bring your own please do. Note for those with Lathes, our floor space is mostly concrete, so treadles may not be able to be pegged down.
Our meets don’t just have to be about making wood chips, we encourage members to bring other crafts to the meets, be that spinning a yarn, weaving a basket, making a tool sheath from leather or bark, and even decorative methods for our wooden items. Feel free to showcase your other craft skills as we are interested in sharing and learning a wider range of skills as we grow as a group. If any members would like to lead a session of various crafts for the group, possibly a paid one day course, please get in contact with me and we will see what we can arrange for the future.

About the venue:
The venue has toilets, kitchen, and is accessible to wheelchairs. I will supply teabags, coffee, sugar and cows milk. Please bring your own non dairy milk if needed. If anyone wants to bring biscuits, cake, snacks to share that would be nice, but bring your own lunch, bowl/plate, drinking vessel, and cutlery please.
Members have suggested a contribution for Tea/Coffee a few times, so I have decided to ask for a contribution of 50p. Obviously if you bring all your own bits, there is no need to chip in.
Free secure parking is available within the walled garden. Follow the main driveway all the way down, past the public car park and the “no unauthorised vehicles” sign, then the Walled Garden’s big gates will be on the left. Toot your horn to let us know you’ve arrived.

See site map, and map links near bottom of page.

Hope to see you there, and please email me at  essexaptgw@gmail.com if you have any questions.

Richard Roberts - Group Coordinator APTGW Essex Bodgers

APTGW Membership:
Our meets are free of charge to members of the Association of Polelathe Turners and Green Woodworkers.
Non members are welcome to join us a few times to see if it’s something they’d like to pursue further. We then ask that folks join the APTGW. It’s only £20 per year and membership runs from January to December each year.

Join the APTGW here: https://www.bodgers.org.uk/joinus

For just £20 a year you get:

• A quarterly Gazette with news views and articles on all aspects of green woodworking.

• Attend the UK Bodger's Ball always held in mid-May (this is chargeable, but a bargain!)

• Win prizes for your creations at the many craft competitions at the ball

• Connect with other Green Woodworkers, tool makers, rural crafters.

• Learn new skills in a variety of length courses.

• Attend and participate in the Annual General Meeting which is held at the Bodgers Ball

• Vote on how the organisation progresses and elect, or even stand for the committee!

Here is a "what 3 words" ink to the location: https://w3w.co/sizes.soup.puddles

Google maps link to location: https://goo.gl/maps/f6rYfb92p6n43Uz99

Members Services

Sharpening Service - R2 Wood
I’ve launched a sharpening service for greenwood carving tools, offering APTGW members a 5% discount. Covering Sloyd and Spoon knives, Axes, Adzes, Gouges and more. Please contact Richard at info@r2wood.co.uk to enquire.

Gude ol manmeri bilong bus [Tok Pisin] - (Hello forest people)

News -  by Wendy of the Wool:

With leaf fall all around, the branches of the cherry trees that lead up to the classroom bare, our last meet was a chilly one but not wet. Thankfully Bodgers instinctively know when additional hot drinks and biscuits are required for strength and warmth.
In amongst the chatting and cheer, Mr Wilkins continued with his spoon carving lesson with Richard (when he wasn't intriguing people with little presents and items he'd brought along which this time included a sheep's skull for Zed Outdoors and a little carved and painted Tomte). Jamie and Ranger Dave were in the final push before Christmas carving their festive Santas. Bob was back and has settled in nicely, delivering cheek and banter as if he's been with us for months!  Wendy needle felted a little robin.
We welcomed a new face – Jamila – who popped in with her adorable doggy and some delicious Baklava to meet us all and have a cuppa and who we hope to see again soon.
We were also joined by Lisa, our basket weaving friend who we haven't seen for a while so it was lovely for us all to catch up while crafting.
And last but by no means least, we bowed, we curtsied and were honoured to be visited by none other than the Bodger King himself (he has the t-shirt and hat) Darren Hood, current Chairman of the APTGW. Hilarious tear causing conversation filled the rest of the afternoon and before we knew it, it was time to pack up and go home to warm up.

Word Of The Week: Nålebinding

The term "Nålebinding (Danish and Norwegian)" -  'binding with a needle' or 'needle-binding’. It is an ancient fabric creation technique, also known in English as "knotless netting", "knotless knitting", or "single-needle knitting”.
The technique is distinct from crochet in that it involves passing the full length of the working thread through each loop, unlike crochet where the work is formed only of loops, never involving the free end. It also differs from knitting in that lengths must be pieced together during the process of nålebinding, rather than a continuous strand of yarn that can easily be pulled out. Archaeological specimens of fabric made by nålebinding can be difficult to distinguish from knitted fabric. Historically needles were made out of wood, antler, or bone.
Nålebinding is still used to make bracelets by women of the Nanti tribe, an indigenous people of the Camisea region of Peru. Nålebinding also remains popular in the Scandinavian countries, as well as in the Balkans.

History
The oldest known textile fragment of Nålbinding dating from c. 6500 BCE was found in Nahal Hemar Cave, in the Judean Desert. Another made of lime bast fibre, from the Ertebølle period c. 4200 BCE was found in Tybrind Vig, a Mesolithic fishing village in Denmark.
The oldest known samples of single-needle knitted clothing include the color-patterned sandal socks of the Coptic Christians of Egypt (4th century CE), and hats and shawls from the Paracas and Nazca cultures in Peru, dated between 300 BCE and 300 CE.
Nålbinding predates knitting and crochet. Historical samples have often been misidentified as knitting due to how similar they can appear in the finished products if made using the Coptic stitch. Often a textile historian will need to closely follow the path of the yarn itself to identify the item as either knitting or nålbinding. This is possible by knowing the textile structures created by the two crafts and identifying those within the fabric or by looking for a frequent use of joining of strands.
Nålbinding was used during the Viking age of 793–1066 CE in Scandinavia. This was an effective method for them to create sturdy, serviceable garments.
A famous piece of nålbinding is the 'Coppergate sock' found during an excavation of the Coppergate area of York. A clear Viking influence in the textiles was found in the finds in this area. This was a wool sock that had been created using a technique never before recorded in England. The sock was slipper-like in style and would have covered the whole foot.
Nålbinding was used in some regions of Northern Europe until the 1950s, when it most likely declined because of the changes in the textile industry and almost disappeared. It later gained renewed interest among many textile historians, archaeologists, craftspeople, and reenactors, so that it is today an exotic but well-kept handicraft tradition.

Members Services (See Listings at bottom of page)
A new section of our Newsletter where local members can offer charged services to other local members. For example: Craft Courses, Tool Repairs, Lathe building, Lathe for sale etc. If you have a service you would like offer here, please reply to this email.
Listings will be approved at our discretion and are limited to local sole traders. There are no listing fees. We do not take responsibility over any transactions, so please be mindful of where your money is going.

Regular Bits n Bobs:
If you have them, bring your lathe, shave horse, and any other fun equipment. We have a few chopping blocks and one kuksa horse, so if you can bring your own please do. Note for those with Lathes, our floor space is mostly concrete, so treadles may not be able to be pegged down.
Our meets don’t just have to be about making wood chips, we encourage members to bring other crafts to the meets, be that spinning a yarn, weaving a basket, making a tool sheath from leather or bark, and even decorative methods for our wooden items. Feel free to showcase your other craft skills as we are interested in sharing and learning a wider range of skills as we grow as a group. If any members would like to lead a session of various crafts for the group, possibly a paid one day course, please get in contact with me and we will see what we can arrange for the future.

About the venue:
The venue has toilets, kitchen, and is accessible to wheelchairs. I will supply teabags, coffee, sugar and cows milk. Please bring your own non dairy milk if needed. If anyone wants to bring biscuits, cake, snacks to share that would be nice, but bring your own lunch, bowl/plate, drinking vessel, and cutlery please.
Members have suggested a contribution for Tea/Coffee a few times, so I have decided to ask for a contribution of 50p. Obviously if you bring all your own bits, there is no need to chip in.
Free secure parking is available within the walled garden. Follow the main driveway all the way down, past the public car park and the “no unauthorised vehicles” sign, then the Walled Garden’s big gates will be on the left. Toot your horn to let us know you’ve arrived.

See site map, and map links near bottom of page.

Hope to see you there, and please email me at  essexaptgw@gmail.com if you have any questions.
Richard Roberts - Group Coordinator APTGW Essex Bodgers

APTGW Membership:
Our meets are free of charge to members of the Association of Polelathe Turners and Green Woodworkers.
Non members are welcome to join us a few times to see if it’s something they’d like to pursue further. We then ask that folks join the APTGW. It’s only £20 per year and membership runs from January to December each year.

Join the APTGW here: https://www.bodgers.org.uk/joinus
For just £20 a year you get:

• A quarterly Gazette with news views and articles on all aspects of green woodworking.

• Attend the UK Bodger's Ball always held in mid-May (this is chargeable, but a bargain!)

• Win prizes for your creations at the many craft competitions at the ball

• Connect with other Green Woodworkers, tool makers, rural crafters.

• Learn new skills in a variety of length courses.

• Attend and participate in the Annual General Meeting which is held at the Bodgers Ball

• Vote on how the organisation progresses and elect, or even stand for the committee!

Here is a "what 3 words" ink to the location: https://w3w.co/sizes.soup.puddles
Google maps link to location: https://goo.gl/maps/f6rYfb92p6n43Uz99

Members Services

Sharpening Service - R2 Wood
I’ve launched a sharpening service for greenwood carving tools, offering APTGW members a 5% discount. Covering Sloyd and Spoon knives, Axes, Adzes, Gouges and more. Please contact Richard at info@r2wood.co.uk to enquire.

Moni anthu aku matabwa [Chichewa] - (Hello wood people)

News -  by Wendy of the Wool:
The last meet was quite busy: Tea, biscuits, and banter were consumed in large amounts - we welcomed back some familiar faces who we haven't seen for a while – Carl, Kevin, Pete (and Bess) and Jackie. Recent joiner Bob returned and got on with carving a spoon – he seems to have quickly got back into the swing of things.

Richard and Dave Wilkins continued to have a spoon carving lesson, Bowl Mike worked on a couple of bowls.  Kevin carved out some blanks for future spoons. Jamie and Ranger Dave continued their festive build up of Santas who are coming along nicely I've been reliably informed that a Sleigh of Santas is the collective noun for a group of Santas (I would have thought a Sack of Santas might be more appropriate!).

Word Of The Week - R2 of the Wood:
Riving/Cleaving:
Riving or cleaving is an ancient technique to process lumber for making wooden objects, some basket weaving, and to make firewood. Unlike wood sawing, the wood is split along the grain using tools such as a hammer and wedges, splitting maul, cleaving axe, side knife, or froe.

Carpenters use a wooden siding which gets its name, clapboard, from originally being split from logs—the sound of the plank against the log being a clap. This is used in clapboard architecture and for wainscoting. Coopers use oak clapboards to make barrel staves. Split-rail fences are made with split wood.

There are a range of traditionally made baskets from Ash or Oak, made by pounding the wood with a mallet and pulling long strips from the log.

Splitting firewood from logs that have been pre-cut into sections (rounds, bolts, billets), can be done by hand, using an axe or maul, or by using a mechanical log splitter. When splitting a log by hand, it is best to aim for the cracks (called checks), if there are any visible. Some types of wood are harder to split than others, including extremely hard woods, as well as types like gum which an axe will often bounce off of, and chestnut, which is typically so twisted it's near impossible to get a clean split, but any type of wood, having large knots or twisted grain can make it difficult to split.

The advantages of splitting wood along its grain, rather than sawing it is that the wood is much stronger. Due to this, it was historically used for building ships (e.g. drekars) and traditional skis. A defining feature of shakes, which are like shingles, is that they are split rather than sawn and because the cell structure of the wood remains intact may be more durable, and similarly trunnels when split are stronger than when sawn.

Members Services (See Listings at bottom of page)
A new section of our Newsletter where local members can offer charged services to other local members. For example: Craft Courses, Tool Repairs, Lathe building, Lathe for sale etc. If you have a service you would like offer here, please reply to this email.
Listings will be approved at our discretion and are limited to local sole traders. There are no listing fees. We do not take responsibility over any transactions, so please be mindful of where your money is going.

Regular Bits n Bobs:
If you have them, bring your lathe, shave horse, and any other fun equipment. We have a few chopping blocks and one kuksa horse, so if you can bring your own please do. Note for those with Lathes, our floor space is mostly concrete, so treadles may not be able to be pegged down.

Our meets don’t just have to be about making wood chips, we encourage members to bring other crafts to the meets, be that spinning a yarn, weaving a basket, making a tool sheath from leather or bark, and even decorative methods for our wooden items. Feel free to showcase your other craft skills as we are interested in sharing and learning a wider range of skills as we grow as a group. If any members would like to lead a session of various crafts for the group, possibly a paid one day course, please get in contact with me and we will see what we can arrange for the future.

About the venue:
The venue has toilets, kitchen, and is accessible to wheelchairs. I will supply teabags, coffee, sugar and cows milk. Please bring your own non dairy milk if needed. If anyone wants to bring biscuits, cake, snacks to share that would be nice, but bring your own lunch, bowl/plate, drinking vessel, and cutlery please.

Members have suggested a contribution for Tea/Coffee a few times, so I have decided to ask for a contribution of 50p. Obviously if you bring all your own bits, there is no need to chip in.

Free secure parking is available within the walled garden. Follow the main driveway all the way down, past the public car park and the “no unauthorised vehicles” sign, then the Walled Garden’s big gates will be on the left. Toot your horn to let us know you’ve arrived.

See site map, and map links near bottom of page.

Hope to see you there, and please email me at  essexaptgw@gmail.com if you have any questions.

Richard Roberts - Group Coordinator APTGW Essex Bodgers

APTGW Membership:
Our meets are free of charge to members of the Association of Polelathe Turners and Green Woodworkers.
Non members are welcome to join us a few times to see if it’s something they’d like to pursue further. We then ask that folks join the APTGW. It’s only £20 per year and membership runs from January to December each year.

Join the APTGW here: https://www.bodgers.org.uk/joinus

For just £20 a year you get:

• A quarterly Gazette with news views and articles on all aspects of green woodworking.

• Attend the UK Bodger's Ball always held in mid-May (this is chargeable, but a bargain!)

• Win prizes for your creations at the many craft competitions at the ball

• Connect with other Green Woodworkers, tool makers, rural crafters.

• Learn new skills in a variety of length courses.

• Attend and participate in the Annual General Meeting which is held at the Bodgers Ball

• Vote on how the organisation progresses and elect, or even stand for the committee!

Here is a "what 3 words" ink to the location: https://w3w.co/sizes.soup.puddles
Google maps link to location: https://goo.gl/maps/f6rYfb92p6n43Uz99

Members Services

Spoon Carving Lessons - R2 Wood
Learn Spoon Carving split into 3 separate lessons, held on different set days as shown below.
Lesson 1 covers axing out a squared blank.
Lesson 2 covers spoon design and axing the outline of our spoon.
Lesson 3 covers the knife work to finish our spoon.

There are three options to choose from:
One Lesson - £50 - offer price £40
Any Two Lessons - £90 - offer price £75
All Three Lessons - £130 - offer price £110

Lesson Dates:
Sat 09 Nov Lesson 1 - 2 places available
Sat 23 Nov Lesson 2 - 2 places available
Sat 07 Dec Lesson 3 - 2 places available
All prices are per person. Offer is only for paid up APTGW members on the dates shown above. Guests are welcome, but will pay the regular price. Please contact Richard at info@r2wood.co.uk to enquire or book.

Sharpening Service - R2 Wood
I’ve launched a sharpening service for greenwood carving tools, offering APTGW members a 5% discount. Covering Sloyd and Spoon knives, Axes, Adzes, Gouges and more. Please contact Richard at info@r2wood.co.uk to enquire.

APTGW - Essex Bodgers Meet Sat 26th October

Mokuzai oyobi sen'i rōdō-sha no minasan, kon'nichiwa [Japanese] - (Hello wood and fiber workers)

News -  by Wendy of the Wool:

The Walled Garden's Autumn Celebration took place on Sunday 6 October with Richard demonstrating spoon carving and selling spoons and other woody goodies, Bowl Mike carving bowls, David Wilkins giving his general cheek to the public and Merlin demonstrating turning on his pole lathe. Jamie also popped down to show support in the afternoon which was appreciated! Although we didn't have the glorious sunshine of 2023, we were lucky not to have any rain until just after we packed up. A nice day was had by all and it's great to see the garden on its busiest day of the year.
A new face, Bob, One of the Garden's volunteers, approached us at the Autumn Celebration mentioning that he had done some carving some time ago and had some tools that he may want to sell as he no longer uses them. Bob then popped along last weekend to one of our group meets and it seems he may actually be thinking about taking up those tools to do some carving again in the future after some nice chats with the Essex Bodgers.

At the last group meet we welcomed back Chris who had a spoon carving lesson with Richard along with David Wilkins. We were dodging the rain with a few stop start showers and then quite a downpour in the afternoon – so we took refuge in the classroom and poly tunnel.
The rest of us continued with our individual projects – carving bowls for Mike, detailed Santa carvings for Dave the Ranger and Jamie, and Wendy worked on yet another head draft for the needle-felted dog she is working on.
As usual we enjoyed many hot beverages and chats and were graced with a visit from the Tunnocks Fairy as well!

Word Of The Week - R2 of the Wood

Oak Apple:
An Oak Apple or Oak Gall is a large, round, vaguely Apple-like Gall commonly found on many species of Oak. Oak Apples range in size from 2 to 4 centimetres (1 to 2 in) in diameter and are caused by chemicals injected by the larva of certain kinds of Gall Wasp in the family Cynipidae. Oak Apples may be brownish, yellowish, greenish, pinkish, or reddish.
The adult female Wasp lays single eggs in developing leaf buds. The Wasp larvae feed on the Gall tissue resulting from their secretions, which modify the Oak bud into the Gall, a structure that protects the developing larvae until they undergo metamorphosis into adults.
Oak Galls have been used in the production of ink since at least the time of the Roman Empire. From the Middle Ages to the early twentieth century, Iron Gall ink was the main medium used for writing in the Western world.
Gall nuts are a source of tannin in the production of Iron Gall ink. Tannins belong to a group of molecules known as polyphenols and can be taken from different parts of plants such as leaves, pods, fruits, and Gall nuts.
Along with Gall nuts, other important ingredients in the production of iron Gall ink include iron sulfate and gum arabic. The reaction between the tannins from the Gall nut and the iron produces a complex that gives the iron Gall ink its color. The gum arabic makes the ink more viscous and helps bind the ink to the writing surface.

Members Services (See Listings at bottom of page)
A new section of our Newsletter where local members can offer charged services to other local members. For example: Craft Courses, Tool Repairs, Lathe building, Lathe for sale etc. If you have a service you would like offer here, please reply to this email.
Listings will be approved at our discretion and are limited to local sole traders. There are no listing fees. We do not take responsibility over any transactions, so please be mindful of where your money is going.

Regular Bits n Bobs:
If you have them, bring your lathe, shave horse, and any other fun equipment. We have a few chopping blocks and one kuksa horse, so if you can bring your own please do. Note for those with Lathes, our floor space is mostly concrete, so treadles may not be able to be pegged down.

Our meets don’t just have to be about making wood chips, we encourage members to bring other crafts to the meets, be that spinning a yarn, weaving a basket, making a tool sheath from leather or bark, and even decorative methods for our wooden items. Feel free to showcase your other craft skills as we are interested in sharing and learning a wider range of skills as we grow as a group. If any members would like to lead a session of various crafts for the group, possibly a paid one day course, please get in contact with me and we will see what we can arrange for the future.

About the venue:
The venue has toilets, kitchen, and is accessible to wheelchairs. I will supply teabags, coffee, sugar and cows milk. Please bring your own non dairy milk if needed. If anyone wants to bring biscuits, cake, snacks to share that would be nice, but bring your own lunch, bowl/plate, drinking vessel, and cutlery please.

Members have suggested a contribution for Tea/Coffee a few times, so I have decided to ask for a contribution of 50p. Obviously if you bring all your own bits, there is no need to chip in.

Free secure parking is available within the walled garden. Follow the main driveway all the way down, past the public car park and the “no unauthorised vehicles” sign, then the Walled Garden’s big gates will be on the left. Toot your horn to let us know you’ve arrived.

See site map, and map links near bottom of page.

Hope to see you there, and please reply if you have any questions.

Richard Roberts - Group Coordinator APTGW Essex Bodgers

APTGW Membership:
Our meets are free of charge to members of the Association of Polelathe Turners and Green Woodworkers.
Non members are welcome to join us a few times to see if it’s something they’d like to pursue further. We then ask that folks join the APTGW. It’s only £20 per year and membership runs from January to December each year.

Join the APTGW here: https://www.bodgers.org.uk/joinus
For just £20 a year you get:

• A quarterly Gazette with news views and articles on all aspects of green woodworking.

• Attend the UK Bodger's Ball always held in mid-May (this is chargeable, but a bargain!)

• Win prizes for your creations at the many craft competitions at the ball

• Connect with other Green Woodworkers, tool makers, rural crafters.

• Learn new skills in a variety of length courses.

• Attend and participate in the Annual General Meeting which is held at the Bodgers Ball

• Vote on how the organisation progresses and elect, or even stand for the committee!

Here is a "what 3 words" ink to the location: https://w3w.co/sizes.soup.puddles

Google maps link to location: https://goo.gl/maps/f6rYfb92p6n43Uz99

Members Services

Spoon Carving Lessons - R2 Wood
Learn Spoon Carving split into 3 separate lessons, held on different set days as shown below.
Lesson 1 covers axing out a squared blank.
Lesson 2 covers spoon design and axing the outline of our spoon.
Lesson 3 covers the knife work to finish our spoon.

There are three options to choose from:
One Lesson - £50 - offer price £40
Any Two Lessons - £90 - offer price £75
All Three Lessons - £130 - offer price £110

Lesson Dates:
Sat 09 Nov Lesson 1 - 2 places available
Sat 23 Nov Lesson 2 - 2 places available
Sat 07 Dec Lesson 3 - 2 places available

All prices are per person. Offer is only for paid up APTGW members on the dates shown above. Guests are welcome, but will pay the regular price. Please contact Richard at info@r2wood.co.uk to enquire or book.

Sharpening Service - R2 Wood
I’ve launched a sharpening service for greenwood carving tools, offering APTGW members a 5% discount. Covering Sloyd and Spoon knives, Axes, Adzes, Gouges and more. Please contact Richard at info@r2wood.co.uk to enquire.

APTGW - Essex Bodgers Meet Sat 12th October

Akkam jirtu hiriyyoota koo mukaa - (Hello my woody friends)[Oromo]

News -  by Wendy of the Wool:

It was a beautiful day to spend in the outdoors at the Walled Garden at our last meet. The sun shone, the squirrels scurried, the birds twittered, butterflies flittered and if you listened carefully you could hear the chop, chop, chop of axes, chortles of chuckle laden banter (and the occasional bellow of Brian, the resident Bedford's Park Stag). David Wilkins and Potty Steve had a spoon carving lesson from Richard.  Poor Ranger Dave had a bad back and had to call it a day at lunch time (hoping he's feeling better now). Bowl Mike worked on some bowls, including a bird bowl and kept us entertained with stories about is recent trip to Helsinki.  Wendy worked on head number 3 of a dog she is making. No, she's not making Cerberus the three headed hellhound, it's just draft number 3 as it's taking a lot of trial and error trying to get it right!

With thoughts now centred around Sunday's Autumn Celebration at the Walled Garden, we look forward to welcoming Merlin back to the garden to demonstrate his pole lathe skills, bowl carving from Bowl Mike, Richard with his spoons and snowmen, and David Wilkins with various wooden wares. Keep your fingers crossed for good weather and you'll hear all about it in the next update.

Words Of The Week - Mike of the Bowl: Ricasso and more:
When researching Puukkos, after my Helsinki trip, I came across a new term; Ricasso. It is the unsharpened section of a knife blade nearest the handle and, as you all know, is not a feature of sloyd knives or Puukkos. While you're probably already aware of the feature, now you can name it. On a similar vein, Aglet; you know what it is but not what it's called. It's the tube, or ferrule, at the end of your laces. Finally my favourite archaic term, and one reserved for classical sculptures (or down the local gym), Callipygian; having well shaped buttocks. MotB

Spoon Carving Classes with R2 Wood
I’m doing a special offer on Spoon Carving days for APTGW members, held on our regular meet days at the beautiful Walled Garden. The lessons are intimate with just one or two pupils, allowing plenty of undiluted attention.

There are two options to choose from:
Solo Lesson - Regular price £80 - Offer £60
Two pupils booked as pair - Regular price £60 - Offer £40

Lesson Dates:
Sat 28 Sep Fully Booked
Sat 12 Oct Fully Booked
Sat 26 Oct 2 places available
Sat 9 Nov 2 places available
Sat 23 Nov 2 places available

All prices are per person. Offer is only for paid up APTGW members on the dates shown above. Guests are welcome, but will pay the regular price. Please contact Richard at info@r2wood.co.uk to enquire or book.

Sharpening Service
I’m also launching a sharpening service for greenwood carving tools, offering APTGW members a 5% discount. Covering Sloyd and Spoon knives, Axes, Adzes, Gouges and more. Please contact Richard at info@r2wood.co.uk to enquire.

Regular Bits n Bobs:
If you have them, bring your lathe, shave horse, and any other fun equipment. We have a few chopping blocks and one kuksa horse, so if you can bring your own please do. Note for those with Lathes, our floor space is mostly concrete, so treadles may not be able to be pegged down.

Our meets don’t just have to be about making wood chips, we encourage members to bring other crafts to the meets, be that spinning a yarn, weaving a basket, making a tool sheath from leather or bark, and even decorative methods for our wooden items. Feel free to showcase your other craft skills as we are interested in sharing and learning a wider range of skills as we grow as a group. If any members would like to lead a session of various crafts for the group, possibly a paid one day course, please get in contact with me and we will see what we can arrange for the future.

About the venue:
The venue has toilets, kitchen, and is accessible to wheelchairs. I will supply teabags, coffee, sugar and cows milk. Please bring your own non dairy milk if needed. If anyone wants to bring biscuits, cake, snacks to share that would be nice, but bring your own lunch, bowl/plate, drinking vessel, and cutlery please.

Members have suggested a contribution for Tea/Coffee a few times, so I have decided to ask for a contribution of 50p. Obviously if you bring all your own bits, there is no need to chip in.

Free secure parking is available within the walled garden. Follow the main driveway all the way down, past the public car park and the “no unauthorised vehicles” sign, then the Walled Garden’s big gates will be on the left. Toot your horn to let us know you’ve arrived.

See site map, and map links at bottom of page.

Hope to see you there, and please contact me  if you have any questions.

Richard Roberts - Group Coordinator APTGW Essex Bodgers

APTGW Membership:
Our meets are free of charge to members of the Association of Polelathe Turners and Green Woodworkers.
Non members are welcome to join us a few times to see if it’s something they’d like to pursue further. We then ask that folks join the APTGW. It’s only £20 per year and membership runs from January to December each year.

Join the APTGW here: https://www.bodgers.org.uk/joinus

For just £20 a year you get:

• A quarterly Gazette with news views and articles on all aspects of green woodworking.

• Attend the UK Bodger's Ball always held in mid-May (this is chargeable, but a bargain!)

• Win prizes for your creations at the many craft competitions at the ball

• Connect with other Green Woodworkers, tool makers, rural crafters.

• Learn new skills in a variety of length courses.

• Attend and participate in the Annual General Meeting which is held at the Bodgers Ball

• Vote on how the organisation progresses and elect, or even stand for the committee!

Here is a "what 3 words" ink to the location: https://w3w.co/sizes.soup.puddles

Google maps link to location: https://goo.gl/maps/f6rYfb92p6n43Uz99

Tervetuloa puunveistäjät - (Welcome woodcarvers)[Finnish]

News -  by Wendy of the Wool:
The Weather Gods were on our side for our first September meet, bathing the garden in glorious sunshine. Richard gave Potty Steve a spoon carving lesson, while the rest of us sat by the classroom getting on with various projects. Ranger Dave kept us enthralled with stories about the deer at Bedford's Park and local areas, while working on a bowl and later joining Jamie working on Santa figurines. Sue worked on finishing some spoons, and Wendy continued with felting a small dog, whose head is proving to be quite difficult. 

Spoon Carving Classes with R2 Wood
I’m doing a special offer on Spoon Carving days for APTGW members, held on our regular meet days at the beautiful Walled Garden. The lessons are intimate with just one or two pupils, allowing plenty of undiluted attention.

There are two options to choose from:
Solo Lesson - Regular price £80 - Offer £60
Two pupils booked as pair - Regular price £60 - Offer £40

Lesson Dates:
Sat 28 Sep Fully Booked
Sat 12 Oct 1 place available
Sat 26 Oct 2 places available
Sat 9 Nov 2 places available
Sat 23 Nov 2 places available

All prices are per person. Offer is only for paid up APTGW members on the dates shown above. Guests are welcome, but will pay the regular price. Please contact Richard at info@r2wood.co.uk to enquire or book.

Sharpening Service
I’m also launching a sharpening service for greenwood carving tools, offering APTGW members a 5% discount. Covering Sloyd and Spoon knives, Axes, Adzes, Gouges and more. Please contact Richard at info@r2wood.co.uk to enquire.

Word Of The Week - Mikko of the Bowl:

Puukko:
A puukko is a small traditional Finnish general purpose belt knife with a single curved cutting edge, solid hidden tang, and usually, a flat spine. The basic components of a puukko are a handle and a blade along with a sheath, which can usually be attached to a belt, but sometimes to a shirt or coat button. The traditional length of the puukko blade is the same as one's palm width, usually 90–120 mm (3.5–4.7 in). Carvers, huntsmen and leatherworkers favour shorter blades; woodworkers, carpenters and constructors longer ones. The blade of the historical väkipuukko ("strongknife") may be up to 500 mm (20 in). The väkipuukko more closely resembles a seax or short sword than a true puukko, although it has inspired the leuku of the Sámi people.

Both factory-forged and hand-forged blades may be laminated: a thin layer of very hard steel (traditionally crucible steel made from limonite iron) is sandwiched between two layers of softer metal, which makes the blade less brittle and facilitates repeated sharpening. Before the 19th century, almost all iron in Finland was made from limonite on charcoal blast furnaces, which yield very pure and high- quality iron suitable for crucible steel. German silver steel was and is a popular core-steel material. Today both carbon steel and stainless steel are used. The blade can be lightened and strengthened by a fuller.

The traditional material for the handle is curly (masur) birch. Also great sallow root, birch bark, antler (especially elk and reindeer), scrimshaw and bone are used. Often the handle is made from various materials between spacers. Today, however, industrially made puukkos often have plastic handles.

Puukkos are most often used as carving tools for decorative and fire-making purposes, and to clean fish and game. Some puukko designs have a slightly upwards-or downwards-curving point, depending on the knife's purpose. A hunting puukko's tip is often curved downwards, to make the skinning and gutting of an animal easier and less messy. Fishermen's puukkos sometimes have a small dovetail on point, to help in gutting a fish.

In Finland and northern Scandinavia, many take great pride in carving their puukkos' handles themselves. Over generations, this knife has become intimately tied to Nordic culture and, in one version or another, is a part of many national costumes. A good puukko is equal parts artistic expression and a tool. Making it requires many different skills: not only those of a bladesmith, but also those of a carver, a jeweller, a designer, and a leatherworker to make the sheath. Some fine puukkos have blades of pattern welded steel, and forging a blade using crucible steel was considered the hallmark of a master smith.

Regular Bits n Bobs:
If you have them, bring your lathe, shave horse, and any other fun equipment. We have a few chopping blocks and one kuksa horse, so if you can bring your own please do. Note for those with Lathes, our floor space is mostly concrete, so treadles may not be able to be pegged down.

Our meets don’t just have to be about making wood chips, we encourage members to bring other crafts to the meets, be that spinning a yarn, weaving a basket, making a tool sheath from leather or bark, and even decorative methods for our wooden items. Feel free to showcase your other craft skills as we are interested in sharing and learning a wider range of skills as we grow as a group. If any members would like to lead a session of various crafts for the group, possibly a paid one day course, please get in contact with me and we will see what we can arrange for the future.

About the venue:
The venue has toilets, kitchen, and is accessible to wheelchairs. I will supply teabags, coffee, sugar and cows milk. Please bring your own non dairy milk if needed. If anyone wants to bring biscuits, cake, snacks to share that would be nice, but bring your own lunch, bowl/plate, drinking vessel, and cutlery please.

Members have suggested a contribution for Tea/Coffee a few times, so I have decided to ask for a contribution of 50p. Obviously if you bring all your own bits, there is no need to chip in.

Free secure parking is available within the walled garden. Follow the main driveway all the way down, past the public car park and the “no unauthorised vehicles” sign, then the Walled Garden’s big gates will be on the left. Toot your horn to let us know you’ve arrived.

See site map, and map links at bottom of page.

Hope to see you there, and please contact me  if you have any questions.

Richard Roberts - Group Coordinator APTGW Essex Bodgers

APTGW Membership:
Our meets are free of charge to members of the Association of Polelathe Turners and Green Woodworkers.

Non members are welcome to join us a few times to see if it’s something they’d like to pursue further. We then ask that folks join the APTGW. It’s only £20 per year and membership runs from January to December each year.

Join the APTGW here: https://www.bodgers.org.uk/joinus

For just £20 a year you get:

• A quarterly Gazette with news views and articles on all aspects of green woodworking.

• Attend the UK Bodger's Ball always held in mid-May (this is chargeable, but a bargain!)

• Win prizes for your creations at the many craft competitions at the ball

• Connect with other Green Woodworkers, tool makers, rural crafters.

• Learn new skills in a variety of length courses.

• Attend and participate in the Annual General Meeting which is held at the Bodgers Ball

• Vote on how the organisation progresses and elect, or even stand for the committee!

Here is a "what 3 words" ink to the location: https://w3w.co/sizes.soup.puddles

Google maps link to location: https://goo.gl/maps/f6rYfb92p6n43Uz99