Annual General Meeting 1 April

Just a quick note for folk to place Saturday April 1 into their calendars as the date for the Club's AGM. We will be holding it at 4.30 pm in the MEAC instead of jujutsu that afternoon. Please attend, as this is an important part of setting the Club's agenda for the year ahead, and provides ordinary members with a say in what you would like the Club to provide over the subsequent 12 months— both in terms of classes and equipment. We will also be voting in the Executive team for the year ahead. 

Formal notification of the meeting and associated documents will be sen out next week. 

Jodo training cancelled for Feb. 22

Hello All,

Jodo training will be cancelled for Wednesday, February 22.

Jodo training will resume as normal the following Monday (27 February) at 7:00 pm (19:00 hrs).

Eric

Welcome Toowoomba Taiko

I would like to extend a very warm welcome to Tomoko Sneath and the other members of the newly formed Toowoomba Taiko into the BBRD family. 

Tomoko is an academic a USQ's Open Access College, and has been working over the past few months to start up a taiko drumming group here in Toowoomba. With the support of the Japanese-based Takatsuki Drums, Tomoko hopes to grow the numbers interested and participating in regular practice sessions over the coming months. 

The Club will be assisting with promoting the group to the University and wider Toowoomba community, and providing support in the writing of grant applications and the such like.

The first session will be Monday 13 February at the MEAC from 7.30 pm. All are welcome. 

One of the first orders of the group is to create a range of practice equipment. This will be done as an interim until they are able to obtain authentic taiko, as Japanese constructed drums can run into the thousands of dollars to purchase. 

If you are interested, you can contact Tomoko via e-mail at sumomotom123@gmail.com or just turn up to the Monday night training sessions. Just bring yourself, comfortable exercise clothes and some water. Training contributions and membership/insurance are the same arrangements as for other Club supported activities. 

Dogi wrangling part 1 ...

I spend a little time Saturday afternoon going through the uniforms tub in the store room to see what is currently out an unaccounted for. On the list (all jackets) are:

1 Size 5 Fight World brand white single weave
1 Size 5.5 Fuji brand white double weave
2 Size 6 Fuji brand white single weaves
2 Size 6 Sports Master brand white double weaves
1 Size 6 Fight World brand black single weave

If you have them sequestered away in your cupboard, please bring them to the dojo this week or call me to let me know when you will be returning them to me, again, no later than this Sunday. 

Uniforms cost at least $100 to replace, and they will be needed for the expected flush of new students that inevitably start from O-week onwards. Please, do not be "that guy" and require me to chase you in regards to this. Just saying ...

Jodo Inter-dojo training

The Jodo inter-dojo training took place on Saturday 4 February. It was a hot day, but the training session was good...the finer points of Omote Kata were covered.

The future dates for training with Glen Henry Sensei and his students are as follows:

18 March - Ipswich 10:00 am
29 April - Caloundra time TBA
10 June - Brisbane 10:00 am
22 July - Ipswich 10:00 am
2 Sept. - Caloundra time TBA
14 Oct. - Brisbane 10:00 am
25 Nov. - Ipswich 10:00 am

Please not some of the training times and places may change, but will be posted on this blog and on the calendar.

Eric

Weekend training for this week.

I just want to give notification that I will not be running regular classes this weekend. Saturday I am heading down to Brisbane to get some training in at the Kenshinkai and with Don Ouellette, and as such will not make it back in time for Saturday afternoon. 

However, the MEAC will still require its regular clean, and we shall discuss during this week if people wish to have n informal training session regardless. Likewise, having spent a whole day away in Brisbane, I will need to attend to home-based stuff on Sunday, and so will not be available for kendo.  

Getting ready for the new Academic year

As I mentioned last week, the first of the Club's commitments for the academic year will be on Thursday 23 February for O-Week Market Day.  

We will be out in the Quad once more just in front of C block and under the shade of the trees. Could you please let us know your availability on that day. We will require assistance setting up around 8 am, packing up around 3.30 pm, and of course bodies to do demonstrations throughout the day, folk to engage with the community and take details of those interested in doing things with he Club. This will be especially important from 10 am – 2 pm when the biggest numbers of people wash through.

It would be worth contemplating getting Club t-shirts for both the day and for training. You can order them directly from bbrd.printup.com.au 

Remember to look at the "Uniform" and well as the "Art shirts" as we have new designs for Arnis, Systema and a general white Club shirt as well as some of our other designs. Also, the more you order, of course, the less the shipping cost per t-shirt, so you may want to go in combination with a few of you to reduce the overall cost. And it would be worth doing so soon, as the least expensive shipping option still has an up to 10 day turn around time for delivery. 

We will be continuing to spend some time this week polishing our demonstration items, so please be prompt and attentive at class this week and next! 

Jodo inter-dojo training

Hello All,

It's time for the jodo inter-dojo training to start up for the new year. We will be starting off this weekend (February 4th) at 10:00 am at Chushinkan Dojo in Brisbane (see What's On calendar for location). We're negotiating on further places and dates for following inter-dojo training, so stay tuned (both on the blog and on the What's On calendar)

Eric

The month ahead

With only four weeks till the start of Semester 1, we are all in full preparation mode for the University year ahead. I want to wish everyone who is currently in the last stages of Semester 3 study all the best with final examinations and assignments. 

As always, the Club will be participating in the Orientation week Market day on Thursday 23 February. We have been allocated our regular position in the Quad opposite C block, and we will use the day to once again promote what we do and have fun training while doing so! 

At this stage, we are planning a trip to train at the Kenshinkai, Brisbane on the morning of Saturday 11 February (kendo, with iaido TBC). Additionally, we hope to have training opportunities with Tom Johnson sensei after his recent trip to WA, Glen Henry sensei as part of an ongoing program to assist SMR Jodo practitioners, and Don Ouellette sensei. 

We will also be holding an Executive meeting in the next fortnight, so please let the various representatives know if there is an issue or event you wish to be addressed in that forum.  

Updating the member database

As part of our ongoing efforts to ensure that the information we have about our members is secure and accurate, we will be sending out an email this week to ask that you check over your current information that we have on the system (so no, this wil not be phishing or spam — if in doubt please ask Michael at the dojo). These will be sent to your currently registered e-mail address, so if you do not receive an e-mail by weeks end, please let me know and we can manually enter the information into the system at the dojo. Also check your "Spam" folder, as the e-mail might be misidentified. 

One thing that we will be adding is a record of your USQ student or staff number. We would like your number even if you are not currently studying or working at USQ, as this is a permenant identifier (we will note your current status on our records).

For those of you who have never studied or worked at USQ, we will come up with your own Club number in its place. In addition, we will be creating Club membership cards so that you can better access Club benefits, such as discounted access to Anytime Fitness gyms.