Mick Hanbury (U.K.) gave a workshop at Tony Farrell's place on the day after the Annual seminar.  For the 17 participants who attended it was a wonderful day.  Tony Farrell's now famous ham luncheon added greatly, as usual, to the event.
Working on four lathes the different groups made each of the projects that Mick had demonstrated in Midleton the previous day.  The artistic side was prominent for two of the groups.  They opted to make the coloured "rose" bowl and a great job they made of them too.  One very adventurous group got to grips with the triangular bowl and when they got the blank spinning at full speed it was like being inside an old-fashioned propellor-driven aeroplane.  The more conservative of us were happy to concentrate on the three-sided box and luckily the ever-generous Tony Farrell, our host for the day, provided enough blanks to enable us, because we didn't get to finish the project, take it up again on our home lathes.
It was a beautifully sunny day and we wound up the day sitting in the sunshine with teas and coffees and the most delicious chocolate biscuit cake and lemon-flavoured queen cakes.
Mick Hanbury is a wonderful teacher and demonstrator and had unbounded energy throughout the day as he darted about from lathe to lathe instructing and correcting.  Tony, our host, became a second trainer and as usual was more than generous with his advice and help.  As a further demonstration of his generosity nobody left Waterfall without a few pieces of wood from Tony's large stock.
The attached photographs are some random shots from the very excellent day.

Our guest turners for the seminar on the 18th April were Mick Hanbury from the U.K. and Philip Mahon from Sligo.  We are deeply grateful to both of them for a wonderful days turning.
Mick did three exciting projects; the first was a triangular bowl on a pedestal; the second was a bowl, the outside of which he coloured black and then added flower designs, using a compressor, and for the third project he made a three-sided box with a minaret-type top.
Philip, meanwhile and to the delight of many, stayed with straight-forward honest-to-goodness turning.  His first project was a covered sugar bowl and scoop, which he repeated for a different audience later in the day and for his second project he made a most attractive candlestick.

For the first session after lunch our own chapter turners, Chairman John Ahern and committee member Peter Manning, gave, in their usual style, excellent demonstrations.  John did a potpourri bowl in yew but took the opportunity to demonstrate his new Simon Hope jig for deep hollowing.  Peter did a "mystery" saltcellar.  It was demonstrated by Nick Cook in the National Seminar last year and is available on one of his DVDs.  It is a fun project and placed on any dining table is a definite conversation creator.

Mick Hanbury

Mick's rose bowl

Philip Mahon with his completed bowl and scoop.

Whoever said to avoid making pairs - clearly doesn't apply to Philip

Peter Manning, working on his mystery saltcellar

John Ahern with one of his potpourri bowls.

Our annual seminar took place today, 18th April, 2015 at Midleton Park Hotel.  Everybody attending reported that they had a great day and a longer, more comprehensive report on the day will be posted in the next few days.  In the meantime hearty congratulations to Dave Lee and Jim O'Donovan who shared the homers in the open competition.  It is a common phrase that a picture paints a thousands words and therefore I leave it to the attached photos to tell the story.  Dave got both first and second place whilst Jim got third.  Both were very popular winners.

Dave Lee with his prize-winning entries. 1st on the left; 2nd on the right.

Jim O'Donovan with his 3rd place entry.