Bodgers Ball 2019

Every year the members of the green woodworking fraternity have a knees up in a field somewhere around the country. This year it was the turn of a field just outside Cambridge.

Every year is slightly different but involves people showing what they can do, competitions in various  categories from chairs to bowls, spoons to field craft.
Its all very light hearted with the emphasis on enjoyment, sharing skills and a fair amount of alcohol .

The weather this year was not the best it was cold with a fair amount of rain until Saturday evening, a frost on Saturday night then glorious sunshine on Sunday. Camping on Saturday evening was a bit of a trial with frost being on the tents in the morning. Its a good job we took our wood burning stove to keep us warm. 

There are a few interesting races , the group and individual Log to Leg race where you take an ash log and turn two matching Windsor chair legs as quickly as possible. Our team came 5th in the Team race and I came 5th in the individual race, Plenty of room for improvement even though I took two minutes off my personal best!

A new event for this year is the Log to Bowl race. I did not take part in this but the photo below shows my friend Johnathan Dowe going at it. 

It really was a great event, I have come home full of inspiration and zing. The next Ball will be next May in a field somewhere in Wales. I am looking forward to it already