Axminster Tool & Machinery Exhibition

Royal Bath and West Showground, Shepton Mallett, Somerset.

   Following on from our success at the Midland Woodworking and Woodturning Exhibitions we were invited by Axminster Power Tool Company to do a similar stint at their show in Shepton Mallett, Somerset in 1997. This led us to being invited back in ‘98, ‘99 and once again in 2000.

Our stall consists of a display along the same lines as the Midland Show and a 'surgery' with members turning and talking to the public. MWA ‘show staff’ spend time both on the lathe and manning the display talking with the general public. Anyone who has attended this show would agree that this is the largest of the national woodworking exhibitions and it boasts the biggest complement of professional woodturners of all the major shows and it  is a feather in MWA's cap to be included as one of APTC's invited attractions.    

One of the show's other attractions is the 'Ready, Steady Turn' stand organised on behalf of the Devon Air Ambulance, an organisation that relies on charitable donations from the general public for funding. Visitors to the show enjoy watching all the professional turners trying to make an item on the lathe in 20 minutes. The format of racing against the clock is very entertaining and makes for a nerve wracking last few minutes as the 'victims' struggle to complete their turning. MWA's George Hughes has organised this for the past two years and has raised large sums of money by raffling off the finished articles to the general public.

Our travelling roadshow will once again be at the ATME on 9th -12th November, 2000.