Berkshire Woodturners Association was formed on 28th October 1991 by Keith Sherwood and a group of woodturning friends who used to meet in Keith’s workshop.
Here is Keith Sherwood’s own description of how Berkshire Woodturners was formed:
“After working many happy years in the film industry as a “special effects” man I decided to find employment elsewhere that had less stress. Eventually I found employment working in a tool shop in Reading. Having a reasonable knowledge of engineering and tools I seemed to slot in nicely.
When the week was over, I decided to buy my first lathe, which I purchased from Rob Bonner, a Coronet No. 1.
During the week two customers came in and said they had just come back from Devon where they had been on a wood turning course with Oliver Plant, it was highly recommended, so I immediately booked a 3 day course which I found to be most enjoyable.
Back at the shop I made a bee line for any customer that showed an interest in wood turning and through this I made many good friends. They started to bring into the shop projects they had made to show me, so in return I invited a few of them to my house to show them what I had made.
After a while I was getting as many as 16 people coming on a Thursday, which was my day off. A few of us decided to put some feelers out about starting a wood turning club. We went to the Mytchett wood turning club 2 or 3 times to see how it was run and to get some ideas.
Danny Cleary found our first club venue, which was a convent in Finchampstead Road, Wokingham on the 28th October 1991 and had 41 attendances. Since then the club has grown and has been going for fifteen years and I hope it will continue to do so.
Keith Sherwood, 2006
Since that time the club has moved to several other venues, people have come and gone, and a lot of shavings have been cleared off the workshop floor, but the club has retained the same friendly atmosphere, welcoming and nurturing new members.