Please keep the following members and their families in your thoughts.

This past week has been quite rough for some in the Club's broader community. As many of you are aware, the Ole family has had a particularly tough time, with Amber Ole still recovering in the Lady Cilento Children's Hospital with head injuries sustained in a vehicular accident, her Uncle Tyrone (Lauren Ole's brother) dying in a motorcycle accident and one of Lauren's cousins ending in the ICU of the Gold Coast University Hospital after a separate motorcycle accident. These accidents all occurred in less than a week of each other.

I am happy to write that I went to Brisbane on Friday to visit, and that Amber has been making an excellent recovery. She still has quite a way to go before she will be able to return to school and more normal activities, but her rate of progress meant that she was able to be discharged today. Both Amber and Lauren have expressed their thanks for the love and consideration that has come from Club members, including the "edible blooms" organised by Sian Carlyon on the Club's behalf. I will let everyone know as soon as I do what practical things we might be able to do as a community to assist the Ole family through what will continue to be a challenging time.

However, I am very sad to report that Aaron and Reina Tootle also experienced tragedy this weekend with the stillbirth of their son. The Tootles have been a integral part of the Toowoomba Kendo community for many years— Reina wining the title of Australian University Games Women's Open Champion and bronze medallist in the Mixed Individual Open competition in 2009. Our thoughts go to them in this very difficult time.

Kyokushin Karate seminar this Sunday

This Sunday 25 January, Toowoomba Kyokushin will be hosting Sensei Jason Baltov for a seminar from 8–11 am at the North Street dojo.

Baltov sensei is 4 times Australian Full Contact Champ and has fought in 2 world championships.  All styles are welcome and cost is $15 for non-Toowoomba Kyokushin members.  Please contact Drew directly via the Toowoomba Kyokushin FaceBook page for more details.

Thanks to everyone who helped

I want to express my thanks for evereyone who generously gave up their time on Saturday to help out with the cleaning of the MEAC's main hall and the Club mats.

In essence Tai Chi Ch'uan and Jujutsu training was called off in order to help Jim, the School's contract cleaner, to give the MEAC the best scrub down and dusting that it has received in years.

Thanks to those that leant their muscle to move pianos and other fixtures, got up high to remove insects and cobwebs and braves the might strong brew of cleaning solvent to scrub the floor and mats. It places both the Club and the School community in a great position to enjoy the start of the academic year!

Damien Parker to direct traffic for Tuesday Night Systema

I am very happy to announce that starting this week, Tuesday night Systema will be ably supported by long time Club member Damien Parker.

Damien has a background in boxing and has been practising Systema for over three years. He will be a welcome addition to the Systema team at BBRD. He will be providing welcome relief for Michael, who over the past few months has been directing traffic for both sessions of Systema at the MEAC.

Welcome on board Damien, and best of luck with your upcoming classes!

Welcome to 2015!

2015 is shaping up to be an exciting year ahead for the Club, with the calendar already filling up with seminars, retreats, competitions and grading opportunities. Over the coming months we will be engaging in a number of new initiatives and a refresh of how we are doing some things in the Club. Keep an eye out over the coming weeks to see what we have coming up!

This past week  has provided a nice easing into the training year, with Keiko Hajime last Monday well attended and regular classes for Jodo and Jujutsu leading the way for the full spread of disciplines training this week.

Keiko Hajime was great fun this year, with demonstrations and/or participation segments in Systema, Jujutsu, Dragon Wrestling, Arnis, Jodo, Iaijutsu, Tai Chi Ch'uan and Iaido.

Congratulations to everyone who participated, and special thanks to the instructors who directed sessions.

 Keiko Hajime 2015 group photo.

Date Grabber: Bunning fundraising BBQ Saturday 4 April

The Club has been successful in its application for a fund raising BBQ on Saturday 4 April.

This is an excellent opportunity for the Club to raise funds and our profile. The date falls on the Easter long weekend, which is traditionally a high traffic day for Bunnings, increasing our potential customer base.

I will post more details closer to the time, but if I could get you to think about your availability that day as we will need people to staff the hotplate and to participate in demonstrations through the day!

Expression of interest for this year's Australian Kendo Championships

The 40th Australian Kendo Championships, Seminar and Kendo Exam, 2015 will be held this year in Melbourne from Friday 3 to Wednesday 8 April (which includes the Easter long weekend).

The AKC are the premier event in Australia for Kendo, and it brings practitioners from all over the country to compete, train and learn from Australian based and Japan based senior sensei.

To be eligible for competition, your QKR membership must have been processed before November 2014. If you are interested in competing this year, could you please contact your dojo sensei ASAP as the Queensland Senior Sensei want to start planning for Queensland squad training and helping to sharpen the skills of those also wanting to compete in the individual divisions.

New year's resolutions and all ...

A new year can provide an excellent opportunity to re-examine and recommit to principles in training. I would urge everyone to have a look at the Club's various Codes of Conduct as a self check to see what you might work on to improve over this year.

One thing I would like everyone to commit to this year is improving on the rate of "tardiness" that crept into attendances towards the end of the year. This can significantly eat into the available time for class.

I do not want to dwell on this as I include myself in this. However, unless there are exceptional circumstances or commitments you simply cannot avoid, you should be ready to commence class by the nominated start times.

I will amend the class timetable to reflect the actual start time, which I will be holding to. You will need to ensure that you are at the dojo ready to commence (equipment set up and checked, changed into dogi ready for reiho). This will usually mean that you should be there approximately 15 minutes before the nominated time.

So for my part I hope to see everyone coming tomorrow to training at 6pm sharp, and Wednesday Kendo at 3.50pm!

Reminder: Keiko Hajime from 5pm Monday 5 January 2015

I hope that everyone has had a marvellous fortnight off and is looking forward to getting into the new training year!

While Itakura sensei, Michael Reidel and Ryo Astumi kicked things off on Sunday with Kendo at the PCYC, the official start to the BBRD training year is 5 pm Monday 5 January 2015.

As with previous years we will be engaging in a range of demonstrations and hands on practice and then having a light supper afterwards. So far we have confirmed that Arnis, Dragon Wrestling, Iaijutsu, Jodo, Jujutsu, Kendo, Seitei Iaido,  Systema and Tai Chi Ch'uan will be represented, with the other disciplines' instructors are yet to confirm if they can make it.

Could you please let Michael know ASAP if you are coming so that sufficient nibbles can be procured!

Are you a code monkey willing to barter?

Current CITO for the BBRD

Are you someone able to do some HTML5, CSS and/or Java scripting? Do you have a little spare time on your hands and would like to do a project for the Club?

We are wanting to develop a few interactive elements on the BBRD website and are willing to do a trade — some free training (classes and personal training sessions) in exchange for some work done on a suit of interactive tables for the Club.

If you are interested, please contact Michael ASAP!