A brief history of the wandi woodturning club
The Wandi Progress Association (WPA) had a desire to supply community facilities that locals and other community members could use. Their first major project after the construction of the Magenup Equestrian Centre was to lobby Town of Kwinana for a community hall. They were successful and once the building was completed a variety of clubs sprung up to become permanent users.
The Wandi Woodturning groups founding members mainly consisted of WPA committee members and then after a local newspaper article their membership grew from about 4 twice a month on a Thursday evening to between 8 & 12.
In these early days of the club they had little in the way of machinery and tools, all was supplied by the members and carted in to hold a demonstration workshop. A car would roll up with a mini lathe and it would be set up in the hall for the demonstration tools would be sharpened at home and then honed while on the job because the club had no grinder.
Over the coming years the membership grew to about 30 but there was a need for week day workshops for the retirees; many of the WPA committee were still members and it was decided to lobby council again for a larger and more purpose build area. Other groups that were established at the same time Wandi Playgroup, Wandi Craft Group were also in need of a better space.
It took a few years but finally the Clubrooms were built and a multi purpose area was constructed for the turners to use. It consisted of a long lockable space with a secure store room, lathes were meant to be stored behind two large roller doors that could be moved out when needed. This space worked well for many years with the club having two Thursday night meetings a month and a Wednesday hands on meeting. Still the group grew and so did the lathe numbers along with a grinding sharpening station and bandsaw. It was evident again that the club had out grown its space.
About this time the suburb of Hope Valley was resumed as a light industrial area, all the residential housing and community facilities including a school were to be bulldozed. The distressed community couldn't do anything about the decision, they had to go but they thought one building could be saved and that was Hope Valley Primary School a community centre piece that everyone had something to do with in the last 50 years. The Town of Kwinana were lobbied by the community to save the school however Landcorp said it had to go but it was realised that the school buildings could be moved to another site. This where the WPA became involved and said that it would organise the move. Landcorp came up with some funds, a grant was secured through the Department of Local Government and Lottery West. The main building consisted of three classrooms the office for the secretary and principal along with staffroom and canteen. The outside play area was covered with a roof so the children could play out of the sun and this would go as well.
The WPA gained a building license applied for the appropriate building approvals and then engaged a builder and building transport company. The school was stripped of useful materials, then the builder came in and removed the verandahs, canteen and staffroom. The woodturners came to the aid of the WPA and helped with the striping and dismantling the WPA didn't have the man power for this. It was around this time the WPA realised that the large cover over the play area could be useful so negotiated to have it removed and delivered to site. The remaining building was cut in half loaded onto two low-loaders and delivered to the site where it sits today now at the Wandi Community Centre.
Well the covered play structure became the Wandi Woodturners new clubrooms, the building was installed as a stand alone structure, roof only with a concrete slab. The additional changes to make it an enclosed building were completed by the WPA and many woodturners from around the metropolitan area. Not too many screws are in a straight line but it was all completed by volunteer help. A handyman was paid to build the stud wall framing and a local gyprock installer donated a day and team of men to line the inside. flushing off the joins and painting was completed by the handyman. The inside of the building has six different sized storerooms and by the time the building was finished all the spaces were occupied by different groups. Now the woodturners were able to leave half their lathes in place only having to move a couple to have their hands on workshops, and they also finished up with a secured wood store.
With this improved space the club started another hands on night for members who were still working and a women's only group shared half a Wednesday in the afternoon.
Still the club expanded and with the ever increasing member age issue it was clear that a new home was needed where lathes could be left in place and not be moved. Again the WPA made a decision to assist and lobbied the City of Kwinana to build another building this time one that could house all the wood groups that now use the Wandi Community Centre site. It became clear that funding such a building was not possible so the WPA mapped the community buildings and came up with a plan to move the permanent groups around. it was decided to use the new workshop for woodturning, Triton, Scroll sawing and leave space for a future group. Carvers would go in the old school building now called the Resource Centre nd share with the Marquetry Club.
It has been two years now since the Pavilion was finished and the Wandi turners are creating their usual mess of chips and dust cleaning it up and then making more mess again and cleaning it up. The building and workshop has hosted many Wandi and WA Woodturners workshops including national and international guest turners. The area is a credit to the long serving members of the club and the tenacity of the WPA who had the insight bring these facilities together to support the various users.
The Wandi Woodturning groups founding members mainly consisted of WPA committee members and then after a local newspaper article their membership grew from about 4 twice a month on a Thursday evening to between 8 & 12.
In these early days of the club they had little in the way of machinery and tools, all was supplied by the members and carted in to hold a demonstration workshop. A car would roll up with a mini lathe and it would be set up in the hall for the demonstration tools would be sharpened at home and then honed while on the job because the club had no grinder.
Over the coming years the membership grew to about 30 but there was a need for week day workshops for the retirees; many of the WPA committee were still members and it was decided to lobby council again for a larger and more purpose build area. Other groups that were established at the same time Wandi Playgroup, Wandi Craft Group were also in need of a better space.
It took a few years but finally the Clubrooms were built and a multi purpose area was constructed for the turners to use. It consisted of a long lockable space with a secure store room, lathes were meant to be stored behind two large roller doors that could be moved out when needed. This space worked well for many years with the club having two Thursday night meetings a month and a Wednesday hands on meeting. Still the group grew and so did the lathe numbers along with a grinding sharpening station and bandsaw. It was evident again that the club had out grown its space.
About this time the suburb of Hope Valley was resumed as a light industrial area, all the residential housing and community facilities including a school were to be bulldozed. The distressed community couldn't do anything about the decision, they had to go but they thought one building could be saved and that was Hope Valley Primary School a community centre piece that everyone had something to do with in the last 50 years. The Town of Kwinana were lobbied by the community to save the school however Landcorp said it had to go but it was realised that the school buildings could be moved to another site. This where the WPA became involved and said that it would organise the move. Landcorp came up with some funds, a grant was secured through the Department of Local Government and Lottery West. The main building consisted of three classrooms the office for the secretary and principal along with staffroom and canteen. The outside play area was covered with a roof so the children could play out of the sun and this would go as well.
The WPA gained a building license applied for the appropriate building approvals and then engaged a builder and building transport company. The school was stripped of useful materials, then the builder came in and removed the verandahs, canteen and staffroom. The woodturners came to the aid of the WPA and helped with the striping and dismantling the WPA didn't have the man power for this. It was around this time the WPA realised that the large cover over the play area could be useful so negotiated to have it removed and delivered to site. The remaining building was cut in half loaded onto two low-loaders and delivered to the site where it sits today now at the Wandi Community Centre.
Well the covered play structure became the Wandi Woodturners new clubrooms, the building was installed as a stand alone structure, roof only with a concrete slab. The additional changes to make it an enclosed building were completed by the WPA and many woodturners from around the metropolitan area. Not too many screws are in a straight line but it was all completed by volunteer help. A handyman was paid to build the stud wall framing and a local gyprock installer donated a day and team of men to line the inside. flushing off the joins and painting was completed by the handyman. The inside of the building has six different sized storerooms and by the time the building was finished all the spaces were occupied by different groups. Now the woodturners were able to leave half their lathes in place only having to move a couple to have their hands on workshops, and they also finished up with a secured wood store.
With this improved space the club started another hands on night for members who were still working and a women's only group shared half a Wednesday in the afternoon.
Still the club expanded and with the ever increasing member age issue it was clear that a new home was needed where lathes could be left in place and not be moved. Again the WPA made a decision to assist and lobbied the City of Kwinana to build another building this time one that could house all the wood groups that now use the Wandi Community Centre site. It became clear that funding such a building was not possible so the WPA mapped the community buildings and came up with a plan to move the permanent groups around. it was decided to use the new workshop for woodturning, Triton, Scroll sawing and leave space for a future group. Carvers would go in the old school building now called the Resource Centre nd share with the Marquetry Club.
It has been two years now since the Pavilion was finished and the Wandi turners are creating their usual mess of chips and dust cleaning it up and then making more mess again and cleaning it up. The building and workshop has hosted many Wandi and WA Woodturners workshops including national and international guest turners. The area is a credit to the long serving members of the club and the tenacity of the WPA who had the insight bring these facilities together to support the various users.