The Illawarra Woodworkers Group is a non profit volunteer group located in the Illawarra region of New South Wales.
Our aim is to promote fine craftsmanship and maintain the traditional skills of working with timber. Among our members are cabinet makers, carvers, woodturners, patternmakers, toymakers and modellers. Some of our members are actively involved in woodworking trades, while there are others whose daily occupation has nothing to do with wood but feel the need to create shavings to maintain some stability in life.
The group holds several exhibition and sales events during the year which showcase members work and provide the opportunity for members to sell their own items. Our major exhibition during the year is held on the Saturday in conjunction with the Thirroul Seaside Festival either late March or early April each year.
We also make and donate toys to local charities for their use or for their own fund raising activities. A small selection of items is shown on the Donations page.
The Group has workshop mornings on Saturday and a General meeting once a month at the workshop in Fairy Meadow, see the Location page for directions and a map. Details of the dates and times are shown on the Events Calendar page.
Workshop's are held most Saturday mornings during the year (starting from 8:30am) which are a great venue to learn new skills or get advice from other members. Toys are made for donation to various local charities as well as some items which are made to be sold to raise funds for the group. See the Woodwork for Sale page for more details.
On the second Saturday of each month the workshop session is shortened for the General Meeting which starts about 9:00am. Visitors are welcome and encouraged to attend up to 3 monthly meetings, after this if you wish to continue attending we ask you to join the group. The annual membership fee is $25 per person.
A newsletter is generally published every 2 months with information for members and little bits and pieces that the editor finds in his travels. Copies of past newsletters are also available from the Newsletters page
The group supports itself with fund raising at shows, craft fairs and exhibitions. These venues also provide the opportunity for our members to sell any items they make.
The Annual General meeting is held following the April general meeting. The committee positions are vacated and refilled each year by nomination and vote at the AGM.
2023 Committee Members:
President: Mark Beaver
Vice President: Jason Hedley
Secretary & Maintenance co-ordinator: Pat Keefe
Treasurer & Public Officer: William Perry
Asst Treasurer : Julien Leveugle
Meetings & Club Sales Coordinator: Horatio Rodriguez
Club Sales Coordinator: Darinka Radinovic
Workshop Coordinator: Mark Beaver
Newsletter : Virginie Schmelitschek / Julien Leveugle
Librarian: Darinka Radinovic
The Illawarra Woodworkers Group Inc is incorporated under the NSW Associations Incorporation Act 2009 and governed by a constitution as adopted by the group members.
A Brief History of the Group:
The Illawarra group was formed in 1988 by a small group of men who shared an interest in working with wood to make furniture, boxes, turnings and carvings. They originally met in each others workshops and garages. As the group expanded the meetings moved to a workshop at the local University of Wollongong for a number of years. After this the meetings where moved to a workshop in Corrimal. In 2001 the search began for new premises that would be suitable for the group to hold meetings and workshops. An offer was made of an old amenities block in need of repair in the school grounds. So with the help of a couple of retired builders in the group we renovated and fitted out the current workshop.
During 2011 we were very fortunate to receive a NSW Communities grant to extend the storage area and build a new pergola roof over an outdoor concrete slab at the workshop. This has increased the area available for workshop days and also provided the space to install a dust extraction system also funded from a NSW Communities grant that has improved the dust control in the workshop considerably.
Below are some early photo's of the group at the Fairy Meadow Workshop.
{vsig_c}0|ws1.jpg|Trying to get the first meeting in the new workshop to order.|{/vsig_c}
{vsig_c}0|ws2.jpg|Everyone ready for the meeting to start.|{/vsig_c}
{vsig_c}0|ws3.jpg|Rowley Volk looking at a stone axe mounted on a turned base.|{/vsig_c}
{vsig_c}0|ws4.jpg|Andrew Medway with an old hand plane.|{/vsig_c}
{vsig_c}0|ws5.jpg|Terry Elkins with his intarsia "Lazy Kangaroo".|{/vsig_c}
{vsig_c}0|ws6.jpg|Bill Dinning with a mallet made at STurt School for Wood.|{/vsig_c}
{vsig_c}0|ws7.jpg|Sunny Edwards with his model boat.|{/vsig_c}
{vsig_c}0|ws8.jpg|Sunny's model boat.|{/vsig_c}
