Well, maybe the heading should expand a little beyond “Woodturning” as woodwork of any sort was allowed in the Open Artistic Category. The judges, Gordon Pembridge and Ian Fish, had to choose from items varying from a chair created with barrel staves and swamp kauri to a small thin-walled, pierced and painted hollow form. I just wish I could show you the whole range here but you need to visit the show to see them.

The other category in the exhibition was “Traditional” and here one might sometimes ask whether an item would really fulfil a traditional use of woodturning – one naturally pierced piece would certainly not contain peanuts but would be good for an apple. The expected bowls and platters did dominate this part of the exhibition but, even within that array, there was a huge variation of styles.

The judges were impressed with the work and had some difficulty selecting the best, particularly in the Traditional. In the end it came down to many pieces losing points due to a fault in the finish or the makers attention to detail.

The Franklin Arts Exhibition has undergone some serious change this year. Woodturning has been reduced from the five or six categories of previous years to just two this year, but each with better prizes. There is no “Best of Show” for woodturning either, but they now have a significant “Supreme Award” judged among all category winners in the exhibition. This year we were each allowed three entries in total whereas previously it was one per category. The end result, sadly, was a reduction in the total number of entries despite my having seen some very competitive items on display in our local clubs. How do we encourage them to enter their work?