[cobalt]

Dont know about you guys , but i oftern get asked to make things for people

I am a member of the university of the third age ,its a national organisation that is a self help group doing allsorts of interest and activities,some members in other towns run carving clubs art groups, some academic groups friendly people .

The local group has about 60-70 different activities i am a keen croquet player with them ,its more like a war game on grass, some of the players think there napoleon and are ruthless players,but its a fun game .A gentele game it is not.

Some of the members know i mess aroud with wood as they think, so been nominated to make a croquet set , they dont realise its not just a case of cutting wood and nailing it together.A good mallet is made from hardwood and wieghs between 2.75- 3.25lbs and have shafts between 36-38" long and generally are balanced with lead to ensure they wieght correctly. I dont have a lathe for a start for the handles. these things happen when your not around

Also my wife is a keen mahjong player with the group and membership organiser so have been volunteered to make some mahjong holders , i already have 4 projects of my own on the go

with this and other groups we belong to time goes so quick., i KEEP SAYING MY WORKSHOP IS MY TIME

So who says retirement is easy , never been so busy

Ahh well this is my time reading this stuff on the forum having a wee dram of scotish nectar before retiring for the night

 

[CV3]

I understand cobalt. I am not active in as many groups as you are but family and friends often want to volunteer me for a project. While some I am Glad to do. I have had to learn to say no on many. Most of the time I do not have the tools or the talent. The big one is signs. I am not a letter carver. That is a talent and skill I have never had a interest in. But every one thing because i carve I make signs.
I had a great friend who loved croquet. He was a very successful man and had his own croquet course or court , not sure what the right name is. The wickets, I hope thats the right name, came up out of the lawn at a push of a button. And it had lights for playing at night. It was nice.

 

[cobalt]

That sounds a pretty good green to play on

We are trying to organise some better equipment but to purchase croquet mallets there over £150 each? and we would need a minimum of 16

Our existing green is a couples back garden it will just take 3 crouqet greens but only just ,but dont know how long we would be able to use it.

So looking into getting some grants and using the local park for getting a court made theres about 20 members so far so whilst not playing it ,we play boule , but sure if i can organise it we could easily triple that number.with our existing membership and offering the service to local people and the elderly would far out reach that number.required for a grant

The local recreation officer is interested its just getting things of the ground.

There is a big health drive for the over 50`s now to keep people healthy and active during there older age as they say it saves the national health service millions of pounds just by keeping people active and healthy and health benifets for loney people has a big advantage so even this service is promoting activities and offering grants. a full set of croquet equipment costs around £1500 and we would need at lest 4sets so without a grant or raising at lest £25000 it will never get of the ground as it would also need a clubhouse for storage etc. and there boundrys marking and security insurance etc.