Formerly The Ulster Chapter of The Irish Woodturner’s Guild
There are numerous woodturning clubs throughout the island of Ireland which are called Chapters who are members of the overarching body, The Irish Woodturners’ Guild (IWG)…of which we are members (former). Formed in 1992, Ulster Woodturning (formerly Ulster Chapter), has been committed to the promotion of woodturning within the counties of Northern Ireland. Meeting on every 2nd Saturday of the month there is usually a visiting demonstrator, some ‘shared skills participation’ and a competition for members, beginners & ‘the more experienced’ - more information can be found on the Demos/Competitions page. Members also participate regularly in outside events, promoting their skills & shared knowledge. We hope to have a library of resources in due course, our locally produced monthly ‘Shavings’ newsletter is already available to members. We have a Facebook Page (opens in a new window), which is a closed group, should you wish to join, you can submit a request from the page. Ulster Woodturning was set up in January 2020.
We are now an independant group from 9th April 2022. We have monthly meetings (2nd Saturday of the month except July and August) where we usually have a visiting demonstrator to help broaden our skills. Each month we also run a competition, on two levels, and, again, the purpose is to improve the skills of the members. Following each monthly demo we have “Shavings”, our own newsletter which is emailed to all members.
From September 2024, we have our own premises, located at, The McClay Building, Open Arms Centre 34a Ballynure Road, BT36 5SW.
A Brief history of Woodturning in Ireland
The Irish Woodturners’ Guild (IWG) was formed in 1983 following a very successful seminar in 1982. It was to be the world’s first woodturning group. Initially, it was a single all-island group but as numbers grew it was decided to form ‘branches’ but when the Dublin branch was formed in 1990 they called themselves a Chapter as was the norm in the American Association of Woodturners (AAW) which was founded in 1986. There are 20 Chapters in the IWG spread right across the island of Ireland and members are free to attend any Chapter providing they have space available. The Ulster Chapter was set up in 1992 and has remained one of the biggest Chapters in the IWG. Meetings were originally held in Antrim Grammar School and Parkhall School in Antrim but in 2006 the Ulster Chapter was offered a permanent venue at The Wood Shed in Templepatrick, here a venue which is envied by most other woodturning clubs throughout the world.