Annual General Meeting, 7 April, 1 pm

Hello everybody,

Just a reminder that the annual general meeting (AGM) is on Saturday 7 April at 1 pm at the MEAC.  This is the meeting where you are involved in the future direction of the club.

Please ensure that you are up to date on your club membership and have your yearly fees paid prior to the AGM.  I recently sent out an e-mail with the membership form attached, so please utilise that to figure out how much your yearly dues are.  If you have any questions about your fee structure please ask you discipline coordinator/instructor for assistance.

Hope to see everybody at the AGM.

Eric

Easter break

We will be taking a break from the dojo over the Easter long weekend, starting Friday 30 March and won't be in the MEAC for classes till Tuesday 3 April.

As we have done over previous school holidays, we will be able to leave the mats down from the 3rd until Thursday 12 April.

Have a happy and safe Easter everyone!

Final pieces of the timetable now in place

This week coming represents the first full week where we will be operating under the newly rolled out timetable. There are a couple of things to note.

First, Kendo will be making its shift to Wednesday evening, straight after Jujutsu. For those not participating in the Jujutsu class, please make sure that you are ready to start at 7.30 pm and anyone transitioning across the hall will join as soon as they are able.

Second, we have had an unfortunate late scratching from the timetable of the Tuesday Systema class. Unfortunately Michael Conroy sustained a serious injury training in Jujutsu on Saturday afternoon and is unlikely to be in a position to run those classes for some time. We wish him a speedy recovery and will post an update once we know more regarding when he might be in a position to return to the dojo.

USQ Harmony Day

Harmony Day at USQ was on last Wednesday (21 March) from 12-2 pm.  It was a very windy day out in the Quad, and there were quite a few diverse cultural events featured on the main stage (nobody was blown away, except by the acts on stage).

We had a stall set up and had a few inquiries about the club.  I would like to thank Tomoko and Jun of the Taiko side of the club for coming with their new drums from Japan and helping out.

A good time was had by all.

Eric

Official announcement of AGM: 1.00pm Saturday 7 April

One of the outcomes of the Executive meeting held last week was to bed down the time and location for the Club’s AGM. 

The AGM will start at 1.00 pm Saturday 7 April, in accordance with our requirements under the Club’s constitution. You should be receiving a membership renewal form via e-mail shortly, which you will need to e-mail, completed, to enquiries@bbrd.org.au , hand back physically to one of your discipline’s coordinators, or to one of the current elected Executive members

It is important that you attend or provide your proxy as we require quorum to elect the Club’s core executive (President, Secretary, Treasurer, and General Member). In order to do so, or to nominate for a position, you must be a financial member. If you have not paid membership this calendar year, you must do so before the start of the AGM. This can be done online via the Club’s website or in person at the dojo. 

Aside from the election of the executive, we will also be discussing important matters such as ratifying our training fees structure, providing reports on our year just past and mapping out some of the major things we are planning in the year ahead.  

As a sweetener, we will put on a pizza lunch for attendees.  

Launch of Ken Jin Kan — The Gin Gin Kendo Club

I just wanted to provide a quick report on the first training session of the Gin Gin Kendo Club — Ken Jin Kan. The class ran longer than expected, with everyone enthusiastically participating in a class that covered the fundamentals of posture, footwork, and swinging the shinai.

It was wonderful to be able to introduce ten enthusiastic locals to their first steps in Kendo, and we hope to build on those numbers this week as we get a few more adults along to the session as well. 

Many thanks to Tamara Kelly and Ivan Hills for driving the organisation of this on the ground, including marshalling interest in the Gin Gin community, taking the administrative lead to set things up and participating in Kendo for the first time themselves.  

First class in Gin Gin 4.30 pm Wednesday

I’m excited to be offering the first Kendo class to be held in Gin Gin this week. There has been a bit of interest, so I am hopeful that we ought to get a strong showing for the first afternoon session. 

If you are in the district, please come along to the National Fitness Hall, Bruce Highway (just next to the police station). No previous experience is required, and I will have equipment for folk to use.  

New timetable almost bedded down

Hi Folks! We almost have the new timetable up and running at the Club, though there are still to be some small changes over the coming weeks as we start to settle into our new routines.  

The biggest change is the shift in training from Sunday morning to Saturday afternoon. This will affect Kendo and Arnis directly, and will facilitate the running of a weekend Systema session for the first time in years.  

Make sure that you have a look at bbrd.org.au/timetables for the current times. We are trying to ensure that the discipline pages accurately reflect the training schedule, though there may be a few that fall through the cracks. If in doubt, please call or e-mail the relevant discipline coordinator to check. 

So we start today with FlexiFit at 6 pm, followed by Jujutsu at 7 pm. I hope to see may of you there for class, especially at the new Saturday times!

Takatsuki generosity

Yesterday, Sunday 4 March, was the annual Takatsuki Taiko festival. A small delegation from the Toowoomba City Council, including Sian representing our Toowoomba Taiko group, was on hand in Takatsuki, Japan, to receive the amazingly generous donation of some eight drums of varying sizes, stands and cases and to enjoy the festival. It was absolutely fantastic! Sian was able to join in with the Takatsuki Daiko Group in performing a piece in front of some 1500 people.

Head to the Facebook page to see photos from the Festival as Sian is able to post them.

The drums are heading to Toowoomba from this afternoon and a mayoral reception will be held on Wednesday 7 March. A taiko workshop will be held in the Empire Theatre on Wednesday morning for Toowoomba Taiko and any interested parties who may wish to learn to play from Takatsuki Taiko group members.

Kenjutsu workshop recap

The first kenjutsu workshop for the year was held last Sunday (4 March).  It kept with the kendo spirit of the past couple of weeks with this art being the main focus of the workshop.

Everybody who attended was able to work on the basics strikes of kendo, both solo and against an opponent, and on selected kendo kenjutsu kata.  The workshop was highly informative on all sword work kendo style, and it helped point out areas that I need to concentrate on within my own variation of all things sword (especially what I fall apart on when learning something new).

I hope that everyone who attended has come away with some vital titbit that they could use within their practise.

The next workshop will be in roughly three months from now, so please watch this space or the calender for the announcement of the date of this next workshop.