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.