NWBA President Bill Apple
Hi Blacksmiths,
Well, another Fall Conference has come and gone. We had great demonstrators: thank you Brent Bailey and thank you Bob Kramer for putting on outstanding demonstrations. I have heard a lot of great feedback. As always, there were a lot of people helping as all of this was going on. Thanks to the Board and all who helped. And special thanks to Tom Ferry for all of his hard work getting everything ready to go. Thanks Tom.
We have two new Board Members as we had two that had to resign for personal and business reasons. I wish them the best and we will see them in the future. Bruce Weakly and Bruce Crittenden are the new members. I would like to thank them for stepping in and helping. They have both had to hit the ground running. Thanks Guys.
Well lets look at this year’s progress: New editor for Hot Iron News: Amy Mook took on this job after Grant’s passing. Thank you Amy, great job.
Tom Ferry did a lot of work with our outreach program with the Boy Scouts. We also had a number of members that went out and donated time at campHahobas. To Tom and all who helped, thank you.
Regarding the LongviewExpoCenter as conference site on a regular basis: Moving from site to site has become quite an undertaking, we are exploring this as we move along. The biggest change in the line-up is that beginning in January, on the 4th Saturday of every month, we will have monthly meetings. This will be an open forge with demonstrators at the LongviewExpoCenter: a full day of forgoing. Darryl Nelson will be the f rst demonstrator for the kick- off. I think this is great and will be a lot of fun. There will be no charge at this time, though we may adjust after we get this under way. There will be some full weekends in the year (not just a Saturday demo and hammer-in but also Sunday). We want to get everybody in the f re that we can. This has been talked about for years, and now this is no longer talk, its going to happen. Your Board of Directors has worked hard to make this a real deal. I would like to thank everyone on the Board for making this happen. We will go from 2 events a year to at least 11 (no event July 2013 due to county fair at the CowlitzExpoCenter). I hope we can get to know each other a little better, and share forging skills at all levels. This will be good for the novice as well as the seasoned smith.
For the Spring Conference 2013 we will be at Longview. Alec Steele from England will be the traveling demonstrator. This young man has exceptional skills and will be very inspiring to watch. More on Alec later . Conference dates: April 26-28, 2013.
For our local demonstrator, our very own home town guy, Berkley Tack from just across the river in Rainier Oregon.
Now, for anyone who missed it we will be back up on Mt Hood, Oregon for a Western States Conference. This is an international level show, the demonstrator list is being put together now: there will be blacksmithing, knife making, gunsmithing (forging a rif ed barrel), hands-on, vendors and tailgaters. We will take over the town, Government Camp Oregon will be all about BLACKSMITHING that week of August 22-25, 2013.
Well I think I have given you the highlights, remember to vote in the upcoming NWBA board elections. Hope to see all of you at our f rst monthly hammer-in on January 26, 2013 at our new clubhouse in Longview.
Your President, Bill Apple