Riverhill Himilayan Gardens Nr Sevenoaks 12/13^th June

Harry Rogers (Secretary) arranged this new Kent meeting venue. The estate is privately owned by Sarah and Edward Rogers. 

No meeting would be complete without a large carved bowl, sitting on this rather handsome if not heavy shave horse.

This was my first outing for selling bowls and other treen. Learnt a lot! 

The most important thing – have a sales person. You cannot maximise your sales whilst demonstrating. 

The first bodger (and the most financially successful) I have ever met – Robin Fawcett is a model to follow – huge range of stuff and a huge range of prices. Something for everyone, but most importantly THE SALESPERSON!

Harry was giving a few lessons in the basics.

He was selling leather tankards and belts.

John Burbage (Ex -treasurer) giving one to one lessons.

He was selling garden stakes and some rather nice gardeners lines.

Phil Piddell tirelessly entertaining the crowd. I wish I had his energy.

He was selling bird boxes.

Nick Bertenshaw bowl turning on some very fresh Oak – he was enjoying the challenge and was very successful – James (Pumfrey) would have been proud.

He was selling bowls.

Graham Aslett selling and demonstrating rake making – caught dabbling in the dark art of glass papering or to use more technically correct terms – aluminium oxide papering!

His demo of tine making was crowd pleasing!

Needless to say Graham and Harry were next to the naked lady Statue.

Description of the statue taken from their website -

Open Cry by Rick Kirby is a perfect example of his feminine figure archetypes. The granular sections of welded steel are seen as pixels on a screen, angular and cold metal becomes sinuous curves and organic form when joined en masse.

This was a lovely venue I think we all sold something but more importantly we enjoyed demonstrating and interacting with the public. The hosts were great – not only supplying refreshments but buying some goods as well. We were not mobbed but the people we did meet were interested and willing to buy something. 

I think we need to get more organised on the selling front. We should coordinate what we are making - to avoid confrontations of interest. Get a sales team and improve the way we display goods for sale.