The meeting began a bit earlier that normal in order to include all the festivities planned. It started with announcements of various upcoming activities and events and then went on to a lengthy question and answer period regarding dust collection and extraction systems.
This was followed by an auction for an official Canadian football cap and a DeWalt jacket. Information was also given for an upcoming raffle sponsored by the AWA of which the winning prize will be a Ridgid Job Site Radio! We were also told of an upcoming membership drive contest where the one who brings in the most new members will win a cordless tool yet to be determined. Looks like the new year will be another exciting one!
The high point of the evening, well, actually just one of them, was the Toy Show and Tell where the members who brought in toys told about their trials and tribulations in the creation of such. Let me tell you, there were a few laughs for some of these stories!
This year, as in the past, there was an excellent collection of toys brought in. These will be given to the Salvation Army for distribution. Here are a few photos of these great projects:
Another high point was a presentation by Lee Valley assistant manager, Kevin Hurst, on some of the newest products from Lee Valley, including the new dovetail saw, block planes and the side and skew rabbet planes:
We all had great fun playing with these new toys:
Of course, the high point of high points, it wouldn’t be a Christmas party without great food and we sure had a lot of it! There were sandwiches, cakes and cookies of all kinds that the members brought in:
It was certainly nice spending a social evening, especially at this time of year, with a lot of good friends. Mixing it up with a bit of woodworking was the icing on the cake!
btw – Here’s a link to last year’s Christmas meeting.
Back to the shop…