It was the best of times. It was the worst of times. There was excitement about meeting in person. There were frights as new wrinkles on the Covid scene appeared. It was a time of loss. We watched friends and loved ones slip away. There were highlights and reversals, when Kirk DeHeer had to cut short his much anticipated tour of activities with our club. It was a fortunate time, for the club was generously gifted Colin MacKenzie's wood turning legacy. It was a time of vision and dreams as we anticipated exciting new ideas to raise our community profile, get new members, and promote the hobby of wood turning to the public. It was a time of delight as we sought ways to give more value to our members. It was a time of exploration and prospecting in our search to bring meetings and demonstrations into member's homes. What equipment do we buy and how do we organize it? 

It was a time of resolution and peace of mind to finally have all bureaucratic forms and filings resolved, legal, and up to date. Jim Loney spent countless hours straightening this mess out. We all owe him a debt of gratitude for that. Not only does it avoid penalties and fines for various forms, having our business paperwork completely tidy opens the door for the club to receive money in the form of grants to promote wood turning. 

It was a time of change and progress. The election of Officers for the SVW is held every year. However, the custom has been that elected officers serve for two years. Fewer transitions are better, so usually the incumbent positions are rubber-stamp nominated and confirmed by popular vote of the club membership. These are real elections. However, recent years have seen few if any candidates throwing their hat in the ring for a position, so typically nominees run uncontested and are summarily elected. Recently Jim Loney has stepped up to the plate and indicated that he wants to be President of SVW. When I spoke with Jim he outlined a number of things he wants to do to strengthen and promote our club. I think they are great ideas and some of them fit perfectly with the Audio-Visual setup being planned by Greg Peck and Mark Koenig. We have an extremely knowledgeable woodturner that has been at it since the 1970's, and he is raring to go, so I say let's give him the ball and let him run with it. It has been my honor and privilege to serve as your president in 2022, and I would like to pass the baton and give my enthusiastic endorsement to the Board and Membership for Jim Loney to be appointed and serve as president of SVW in 2023. In order to follow through on the ideas for marketing and communication that have already been planted, I would be happy to support Jim in any way I can. 

Looking forward to a great and invigorating year in 2023!

Steven Dahout