In Mildura, Victoria a group of locals is using wood as a way to relax and recover from their daily routines. They come from all walks of life from chemists and truck drivers to the local priest. Source: ABC Local
Jim Underwood is the president of the Mildura wood turners club and he explains how things normally play out on a Saturday morning.
“We start at 9 o’clock and the people come in, and bring along their items that they want to do, a bit of wood turning or a bit of wood craft,” he said.
It’s easy to see that the club is a combination of people with different backgrounds and skills.
“All walks of life, we’ve got chemists, doctors, we’ve got a priest, an accountant, retired carpenters and I myself am a retired truck driver, so we’ve got all walks of life,” said Underwood.
This is no ‘boys club’ and just somewhere to gather on the weekend; Janet Connell from red Cliffs is working on a toy for her grandson.
She says her involvement with the woodworking group started when she was given a piece of old family furniture.
“I wanted to upgrade an antique chair that I was given, so I had to learn how to use a lathe and turn the legs, which I needed to replace one of them.
“I enjoy working with wood, I enjoy the company; the chaps with all their different skills from all the years they’ve been working with wood,” she said.
For Janet it’s quite simple, she enjoys the ‘pleasure of having a piece of wood and turning something beautiful out of it’.
Moving around the shed, the projects are varied and Father Keith Nicholas is concentrating hard on sanding some small and fragile pieces of timber.
“I really enjoy the solitude of working creatively my hands, and I’ve always done that throughout my life.
“When I came to Mildura I started getting into wood by a fellow giving me a large She oak tree and said would you like it to build something out of it,” he said.
For Father Nicholas the woodwork is more about the relaxation and solitude of creating something with his hands.
“It’s good to get here and be with a different group of people, they accept me for who I am, it’s really good fellowship.
“You can escape into your mind while you’re working with timber and it is a bit of scope, it’s very relaxing,” he said.
