Who We Are

Well Happy New Year! I hope you are all settling comfortably into '04. In my absence, Mark Rand did a great job filling in for me. I especially enjoyed Mark's column in this space last month. And I also want to thank all the people who helped run BAWA last year. It takes a lot of volunteers, but all of you performed excellently and as a result we had a great year! Thank you!

I was traveling, so I missed the last two meetings. It's good to be back. I went to a Timber Framing Workshop in Maine the week of our January meeting and nearly froze my behind -- it was 20 degrees below zero! I got very excited about timber framing and woodworking, being with other woodworkers for a weeklong workshop. I realized once again that this is what BAWA is all about -- education! The introductory page on our website explains some things about "who we are." For example, it says that BAWA is "an informal forum for exchanging knowledge and ideas." It also tells visitors to our site that "BAWA promotes education on the principles of woodworking through lectures, seminars, discussions, workshops, and field trips."

Our mission statement contained in our by-laws further clarifies that our specific purpose is "the presentation of lectures, seminars, discussions, workshops, and field trips. To disseminate and exchange information and data on woods and woodworking methods."

Put quite simply, one of the major functions of BAWA is to operate as a non-profit organization that presents educational events. We do the "lectures" and "field trips" part very well. But we also want to bring new focus to the "workshops" and "discussions" part.

In last year's membership survey we found you're very interested in having several new programs started within BAWA. I've been talking about these for the last several months. These new programs will help us better fulfill our mission statement and provide a better club experience for you. So 3 new programs and 1 renewed one are starting this month and I'm delighted to announce the people who have volunteered for the following positions:

Education Chair

In our survey we asked about "Workshop Classes," similar to the ones taught by Arnie Champagne, Yeung Chan and others, only shorter. 28 of you said that you would be very interested in such classes. This is an excellent way to meet other BAWA members and share the learning experience. At future meetings, we can then continue to share with each other what we've learned at these events.

Neal White has agreed to come on board as our new Education Chair. Jamie Buxton, our Webmaster, has set up a great list of "Resources" on our website. So first Neal will work with Jamie to add to this a list of locally available classes, seminars, workshops etc.

Then Neal will work on setting up some seminars, talks or workshops for BAWA members. We might open these to some of our sister clubs too. Like the time we had the bent wood chair making demonstration. We charged a small amount to cover the airfare for the speaker. Some of our experienced members, and possibly other teachers in the field of woodworking, will be our instructors. We'll need to cover the costs of the instructor and the facility, but they will be informative and worth every penny!

Open Shops

Bruce Bell has agreed to be the Shop Tour Coordinator for this year. We used to do these, but had mixed success. Bruce has some exciting ideas for making these tours even more interesting. If you're one of the 6 who've signed up to host a tour, Bruce will be calling you. I'll pass around a sign-up sheet at our next meeting too, because in our survey 13 of you said you'd be willing to be a host. We plan to have one every other month or so.

Mentor Program

The Mentor Program is intended to pair experienced woodworkers with relative newcomers to learn by doing a particular technique or operation. So far 8 of you have volunteered to be Mentors, and 14 want to be students. Paul Reif has agreed to be the new Mentor Program Coordinator for this year. He'll be announcing some great ideas for how we'll operate this program.

Answer Person Program

Have you ever had a woodworking question you just couldn't find the answer to? Now you can. Dale Chorney has agreed to be the Answer Person Program Coordinator for this year. Dale will list on our website the names of 3 or 4 BAWA members who've volunteered. The names will rotate every 3 months or so. He'll also list the area of woodworking these "Answer People" are willing to discuss and the hours during which they'll accept calls. A few have already volunteered (see elsewhere in this news.) But we need more. In our survey, 16 of you said you're willing to help. So if you'd like to be an "Answer Person", please call Dale at 510/657-8038 (evenings) and sign up for a 3-month stint! I'll also pass around another signup sheet for this program at our February meeting.

Thanks in advance for all of you who've volunteered to staff these new positions!