Our 4th annual Fall Kick-Off Dinner was a huge success! We filled the hall with 50 members and guests who enjoyed a tasty catered dinner, and listened to the stories about the woodworking projects members have been making recently that were displayed for the Show & Tell Competition. This fantastic event was prepared for us by Banquet Chair Robbie Fanning. CJ & Dick Reiser, and Fred Reicher helped set up the banquet room, prepare the tables and do general schlepping. Kathy Booker (spouse of Stan Booker) also shared with us some wonderful crafts and artwork she recently brought back from a trip she and Stan made to Africa. Money from the sale of these items goes back to the people who made them in the countries of Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda.

Near the end of the dinner part, President Craig Mineweaser and others made a series of announcements. David Heim, who lives nearby, announced he had some freshly cut and hard to find Olive wood available in log form for pickup after the meeting. Craig announced that Gene Wagg and Arnie Champagne have volunteered to be on this year's Nominating Committee. This committee really needs one other member to help out. If you'd like to assist, call one of them or Craig. Mike Cooper announced that the Dublin Woodcraft store is having two, very special classes with television star, David Marks (who was a BAWA presenter a couple years ago). These workshops with David will be at their store on October 1 and 2nd. They are offering BAWA members a generous discount. Mike also announced that he donated a brand new, still-in-the-box VCR/DVD player to the club, to give future presenters one more option for how to present their material. Thanks Michael!! John Schmidt discussed the upcoming annual show of work by members of our sister club, the Tuolumne River Woodworkers Association. It will be at the McHenry Museum in Modesto from September 24th through October 9th. Toy Workshops Chair, Harold Patterson announced toys made by the members at that the Toy Workshop in October would be donated to the victims of hurricane Katrina. He added that because the need is so great, members may bring any toy (not just wooden) to our next BAWA meeting and they will also be donated. Harold also mentioned that he has more copies of the handouts available from the BAWA's Plane Tuning event held in July. Eric McCrystal announced that on Veterans Day a "Freedom Pen Turnathon" will be held at either the Dublin or the San Carlos Woodcraft store.

And finally, the Woodworking Show in San Mateo, October 28-31 was discussed by Shows Co-Chair Tony Fanning. A sign-up sheet was passed around and most all the positions were filled. You get free admission to the Show in exchange for a two-hour stint staffing our booth. Tony is planning some new features for our booth and he asked for any member who would like to display a project in our locked display case to bring it to him at the next meeting. It needs to be a maximum of 12" high. He is also seeking full size chairs or other pieces to be displayed in the booth as we have three spaces donated to us by the Show this year.

We are all relieved to learn that Donna Rand (spouse of Mark Rand) is okay. As they were leaving Donna fainted and was whisked away to the hospital for observation. Mark reports that she was feeling fine the next day and he'll be sure to get his vote in earlier next year. He's still looking for a piece of that delicious chocolate cake.

After we made sure Donna was taken care of, the meeting was restarted and President Craig Mineweaser thanked all of the participants, Board members, Committee Chairs, regular volunteers, occasional volunteers, Robbie Fanning and crew who helped put together this dinner, and anyone else who assisted BAWA throughout this year. He said, "Although not everyone who volunteered could be here tonight, we thank all of you for your valuable contribution to our club. We are a fantastic club ONLY because of all of you! Thank you!?

Then the Show & Tell (or "Show Us Whatchya Got!") Competition commenced. This is the first year we ran the S&T event as a competition. Although not as numerous as some past S&T events, this year's entries were varied pieces and showed a good cross section of the many approaches to the hobby and craft of woodworking evident within our club. There were two categories of entries:

Lovers of Woodworking Category

Dan Goodman -- Folding Adirondack Chair of Ipe

Eric McCrystal -- Adirondack Chair of pallet wood

David Heim -- Night Stand

Bruce Woods -- 4 different boxes out of a collection of 14 that he's made from scrap wood. (Plus 2 example bird houses by his Grandfather to illustrate his story)

John Schmidt -- Galileo Thermometer with turned post

Professional Category

Arnie Champagne -- "Madam Butterfly" marquetry topped jewelry box

Craig explained the rules for this "winner-take-all" event, and then the audience was given another opportunity to examine the entries more closely and to vote for their single favorite piece in each category. Since Mark Rand had left, David Heim & Obie Gilkerson counted the ballots for him. During dessert (featuring a delicious cake that Robbie brought from a local bakery) the winners were announced. Winner of the Lovers of Woodworking Category, Dan Goodman, received a very nice pair of Bessey clamps, donated by the San Carlos Woodcraft Store. Arnie Champagne swept the Pro category to win a super DeWalt Mini (laminate) Router, donated by the Dublin Woodcraft store.

In addition, newly retired member Stan Booker showed some of the wooden tools he had kept in his school shop classroom for years.

Door prizes for the event were donated by the Rockler store. We thank these three stores for their generous contributions to BAWA!