Caboolture woodcrafters spread Christmas joy

The elves in this workshop share a laugh, banter, a passion for timber, and a spirit of giving that puts smiles on hundreds of little faces every Christmas.

Caboolture and Districts Woodcrafters Club makes toys for children for Christmas. Picture: Dominika Lis

The elves in this workshop share a laugh, banter, a passion for timber, and a spirit of giving that puts smiles on hundreds of little faces every Christmas.

They’re all volunteers and members of the Caboolture and District Woodcrafters Club.

President Doug Pearce says making hundreds of toys every year is a whole club project from start to finish.

Logs are collected and brought to the village so they can be milled, dried and prepared before they are carefully crafted into toys and painted.

The result is about 600 toys a year, the majority of which are donated to charities including Caboolture Family Haven, The Salvation Army Caboolture branch, Adopt-A-Family, St Vincent de Paul, RAFFTS Family Counselling Service and the Department of Communities and Child Safety.

Each group is given 50-60 toys to give to children, who otherwise may not receive a gift at Christmas. The remaining toys are sold to help cover the woodcrafters’ costs.

Caboolture and Districts Woodcrafters Club makes toys for children for Christmas. Picture: Dominika Lis

“It takes all year to make them all,” Doug explains.

“It makes us feel warm and fuzzy. It gives a lot of members a sense of worth and purpose.”

The group started in 1998 and Doug says they’ve been making toys for charity for about 19 years.

Each one takes about three weeks to make – from drawing a design on paper to the end product.

Members make trains, trucks, aeroplanes, tractors, rocking horses, jeeps, cots, sewing machines, building blocks, highchairs, jewellery boxes, motorcycles and more.

Doug says wooden toys are special because “they pretty much last forever”, there are no sharp edges and the paint is safe if children decide to chew on the timber.

The woodcrafters follow Australian standards for toy making and the quality of their work is second to none.

“They don’t mass-produce stuff like this,” Doug says.

Caboolture and Districts Woodcrafters Club makes toys for children for Christmas. Picture: Dominika Lis

This year’s batch will be ready for charities to collect in the last week of November.

Doug says many volunteers from these groups get emotional when they see what has been made for the children.

“I’d like to thank everyone who donated timber during the year. Without their donations, we can’t do it,” he says.

Caboolture and District Woodcrafters is based at Caboolture Historical Village and has members of all ages.

Visit caboolturewoodcrafters.com for more information.