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Mitch has sent in his final column for the AACB to the newsletter (you can read it below or click onto this link to open in a new window).
Mitch has been AACB president for six years.
Mitch and Jane were the Madison conference chairs since 1997. Bud LaMonica is taking on that responsibility. He will do well with it.
President’s Page
Well another year is drawing to a close, and for some of us it is the closing pages of a chapter in our lives. For others it is the opening paragraph for a time when they will help to make things better in the world and in the lives of many blacksmiths. It has been a pleasure to try and make blacksmithing better for others - and in the process make it better for myself. It may sound rather self serving, and really it is, but I can assure you that one of my main goals during my tenure as the President was to make the organization better and to create opportunity for all members that would allow them to improve their forging skills. I hope that we have succeeded.
The years have not passed without bumps but helping to smooth them out has helped the cause. I look forward to making some bumps and smoothing them out on some hot iron this winter!! What I really am grateful for is relatively large numbers of members that are willing to say yes when asked to help with this project, or that issue. This is an organization of volunteers - we are from the Volunteer State after all - that are willing to work to get the job done. Though we are many, we are one. It has been great. I look forward to helping the new officers in any way that I might - and I hope that you think this way too.
Several events have passed since I wrote last, and many of you were involved. Warren County hosted their annual regional meeting and it was another great time. We had a meeting at the John C. Campbell Folk School in early November and had about 50 attendees with Jack Wheeler providing another great, great learning opportunity - many questions were asked and answered - which is a good gauge, in my opinion, of how much learning is really going on. As I write, we are getting ready to go to the annual (Jack Wheeler) Instructional Workshop - not taught by Jack, but conceived by Jack - and the instructor Kim Thomas hails from near Cleveland Ohio. Fiddlers Grove has once again stepped up and done much of the coordination and work to put on this workshop and for that we should be grateful (I am!).
Submitted by Mitch Latsch