Geyserland Guild of Woodworkers in need of new home

The Geyserland Guild of Woodworkers is in a bit of a quandary as it looks for a new home, and is open to help from the community.

The guild has been in its current old scout hall building in Pererika St for about 10 years, and its number of members is in the mid 20s.

It has to be out of the building by December 31.

President Leith Gray says the Scout Club venue at the Rotorua Lakefront is to be demolished, so the Scout Club were looking for a new venue and already own the Pererika St building.

He says they are in need of a big empty space.

"There are a lot of other community organisations looking for homes at the same time.

"We would not be adverse to sharing it with another like-minded group that shares similar skills. We could work together on the same premises."

The Geyserland Guild of Woodworkers are looking for a new premises. (from left) David Carter, Jon Parker, Dave Johnson, Arthur Evans, Leith Gray. Photo / Ben Fraser

Secretary Jon Parker says the guild is in "a bit of a quandary" as they are officially a charity, and have been looking around, but there are a lot of places which are either cost or size prohibitive.

"We need quite a big space for equipment and workshops that we haven't been able to find yet."

He says if anyone has a communal property or leasable shop they would love to be able to negotiate something with someone.

The guild encourages all forms of wood work, particularly turning.

The guild's main source of income is going to the likes of markets and the A & P Show, with a portion of the money members make goes to the club.

It has a formal meeting twice a month, but is open Tuesdays and Saturdays for training and to work on prjoects.

Jon says the guild has a lot of old members who have a lot of experience and are happy to help anyone new to woodwork.

He says, as part of developing their skills, they also do things such as making wig stands for the Cancer Society and toys for Ronald McDonald House to give back to the community.

Leith says the guld has a lot of machinery which some people would not have access to at home - "It's really useful for our members".

Memeber Dave Johnson says, from his point of view, coming to a place like the woodworkers guild this is fantastic.

He says he started at the guild a couple of months ago with a background as an electrician, so this was something totally different.

The guild are also always after new members.

For more information on the Geyserland Guild of Woodworkers go to its Facebook page or www.ggw.org.nz.