THE HISTORY OF DRONFIELD WOODCARVING CLUB
In the 1970s Ron Butterfield was engaged by the Sheffield Adult Education Department as tutor to a woodcarving class
at Norton College. This continued until September 1986 when, having reached "retirement age", Ron had to retire.
There was no replacement tutor available, and the class was threatened with closure. To keep going, Norton
Woodcarvers was set up. Fortunately, a Senior School Inspector, Brian Harris, was its first Chairman. Knowing
the senior staff at the college, he was able to arrange for the group to hire the workshop and retain Ron as its
tutor in a private capacity. Ron continued in this role until 1996, when he was forced to give up for health
reasons, having chronic respiratory problems, caused by long exposure to wood and stone dust.
A new tutor, Andy Meakin, took over from Ron and remains with us to date.
Following the rebuilding of Norton College in 2006 the Club moved to the woodcraft room in Dronfield Henry Fanshawe School.
In 2016 the Club changed its name to Dronfield Woodcarving Club, to prevent confusion about its location when trying to
attract new members.
