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Whāngārei Women's Woodworking Workshop

Tai Tokerau Timebank covers the whole of the Far North and Whāngārei District Council areas, so our events are held right across the region, not just in and around Kaitāia. Here's a report from one of our Whāngārei workshops.

Last Saturday (31st Oct) I attended a phenomenal woodworking workshop hosted by Tai Tokerau Timebank. One of the reasons I enrolled in this workshop is because I love the ethos behind the Timebank principle, but another pressing reason was to get my hands on carpentry tools and make something special in a safe, supportive, and non-competitive environment. You can imagine how delighted I was when the three other participants and I were warmly greeted by our carpentry tutors Jordie, Freya and Greer, then invited into the venue, where the tools were carefully laid out: hand-saw, drill, hammer, measuring tools, orbital sander. Jordie pointed to the finely milled strips of aromatic wood: Japanese Cedar from Maungatapere; a natural material that did not need any chemical treatments.



Jordie showed us how to begin making the boxes, guiding us gradually by demonstrating what tools to use at each stage and how to use them safely and correctly; Freya and Greer were there to support us, every step of the way (thank you!!). All time was lost in this warm and joyful workshop as we watched and learned, measured and sawed, shared anecdotes and carpentry hints, and finally created our own superb little boxes; each being a slight variation on the original!

Thank you to our wonderful tutors for generously sharing their astounding carpentry knowledge in such a safe and supportive way: they inspired all of us. As a footnote I would also like to applaud the great communication skills of Whāngārei TT Timebank-Coordinator Greer Rasmussen, who covered everything from venue location and start/finish time, to health and safety requirements. I would highly recommend this course to all women and non-binary people, who wish to acquire carpentry skills, while making their own exquisite hand-made item. Personally, I’m looking forward to the next course!


By Nyree Sherlock


Hopefully the course will be run again for Timebank members in February - contact Greer for more information.

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