AGM and membership renewals

Another quick reminder that the Club’s AGM is to be held at the MEAC on Saturday at 4.30 pm.

You ought to be in receipt of an e-mail outlining what you need to do with regard to renewal. If you have not, please check your “junk mail” folder, and if still not findable, please contact either Sian Carlyon or myself immediately — it is most likely that if you have not received it, we do not have your current e-mail properly listed in the Club’s database.

In order to continue to train, you will need to ensure that you have paid your annual fees no later than Monday 1 April. 

Remember that there will be no FlexiFit training this Saturday to accomodate the AGM, and we are planning to have some pizza to celebrate the new Club year, so do let your instructor/discipline coordinators know if you are attending so that we can cater appropriately. 

Training this week

With the Toowoomba Show Holiday and the Club’s AGM this week, there are some variations to the regular schedule. 

Thursday night Jujutsu, Taiko, Kendo and Iaido and Jodo classes will be cancelled.  

Saturday FlexiFit class is likewise cancelled to accomodate the AGM at 4.30 pm. 

In Gin Gin, we hope to see more folk at the Monday Jujutsu class, which will now be starting at 6.30 pm. Could those attending please arrive as soon as you can after 6 pm to help set up the mats, in order to facilitate a prompt start to training.  

Have a great week everyone! 

Kia kaha Christchurch

I just wanted to make a few brief comments regarding the events on Friday in Christchurch, and express solidarity with all those affected by it. 

In may ways the event itself and even some of the reactions to it have not been surprising, and while political violence is most distressingly a common tool internationally, when something like this occurs so close to home there is an immediate and visceral reaction to it. A reflex that reduces the barrier to empathy, and helps us to express solidarity with victims of tragedy. 

Kia kaha is a Maori phrase that translates to “stay strong”. It takes strength to stand in the face of indifference, malice and violence. I personally want to put out a call and suggest that we all have a moral responsibility to stay strong in the face of this, and to help others do likewise. 

In doing so I want to reaffirm the Club’s core values of Integrity, Perseverance, and Compassion (Makoto • Kon Ki • Jin). We stand as a collective that values diversity and stands with the vulnerable against those that promote fear and violence as tools of their politics. 

 

What’s on this week

Having survived the first week of CQU Term, I’m back in the car this morning for another packed week. This evening will be the first Jujutsu session in Gin Gin for the year, kicking off at 6 pm in the National Fitness Hall. All other training sessions are, at this stage, scheduled as usual for both Toowoomba and Gin Gin, including lunchtime Go in the USQ Refectory. Check the Club website for full details. 

Harmony “week” kicks off today around the country, celebrating 20 years of marking the United Nations International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, which is 21 March. The Club will be part of the USQ observance as we have done in previous years, and we have been asked to be part of the Rangeville State School’s celebration on Friday morning by providing Kendo and Iaido demonstrations. 

This week people who have been actively training through 2018 ought to be receiving an e-mail reminder to renew your membership for the new Club year. This will explain how to calculate how much you need to deposit into the Club’s bank account, and how to annotate your payment. Again please note that you will not be permitted to train after March 30 unless you are a current financial (and hence insured) member. If you don’t receive an e-mail by Wednesday, please contact either Sian or I urgently as we most likely have an incorrect e-mail address (or it has gone into your spam folder). 

Have a good week everyone, and I’ll look forward to seeing you in the dojo!  

On the road

Today mark the end of my extended summer, and the start of my new routine for the next seven and a bit months of travel up to Bundaberg and back for study. 

There is always a measure of nervousness and excitement with such large changes of routine, and a number of new opportunities (and their associated tasks) to go with this.  

First up, I will be on USQ Toowoomba Campus each Monday 12 pm with Go boards to see if anyone would like a catch up and a game. Please feel free to drop past, even if you have never played before, and you might have a surprising amount of fun! 

Second, I will be restarting classes in Gin GIn this week, with Kendo and Iaido first of the blocks from Wednesday afternoon. Jujutsu will restart the following Monday evening. We will be having some administrative changes there so that classes up there are fully covered by the Club’s insurance and systems. 

Third, I will be teaching back in Toowoomba on Thursday nights, and it would be great to see folk turn out for what will be a jam-packed evening of activities at the MEAC.  

I’m looking forward to catching up with everyone over this week, and will be posting regular updates in the Budo Bulletin concerning what we are doing up North. Till next time ...

Annual General Meeting Saturday 30 March

Yesterday evening, the Executive Committee set 30 March as the date for the Club’s AGM. The meeting will be held at the Mort Estate Activity Centre (MEAC) at 4.30 pm, in lieu of the regular scheduled session of FlexiFit. 

There are a few procedural things that we need to ensure before this happens. First, all Club memberships are due before this time. All people currently training, bar those that might be within their first four weeks at the Club will need to renew their membership in order to continue doing sessions at the Club. We shall be asking that instructors use our membership database to ensure that you are a current financial member after this point. 

We will send around a membership renewal form later this week so that you can provide the relevant details. These include: 

  • Full legal name
  • Email address
  • Contact phone number
  • Proper emergency contact details
  • USQ Student or Staff number (even if you have discontinued or finished your studies)  

These are critical for your continued insurance coverage and so that we can make sure you are properly contactable.  

Fees will continue at the same level as for last year. They consist of a core membership, discipline levy, and insurance contribution, and vary slightly depending on which/how many disciplines you train in. These shall be laid out in the e-mail send later this week. If you have any queries regarding your membership, the amount you owe, or any other matters of interest or concern, please contact your relevant discipline coordinator in the first instance, then Sian Carlyon in her role as Treasurer, then myself. 

We would like to see as many of you there as can make it as there will be a number of significant changes going into the new year, particularly as I will be stepping down from the President’s role. To encourage you, we will be putting on a light dinner after the AGM.  

I hope to see you at the AGM and going forward into the new year! 

Taiko performances

This week just past has been a busy one for our Toowoomba Taiko group with three different sets of high energy performances fulfilled! Saturday 3 March was a performance at the High Vibe Night Market opposite the Spotted Cow in Blank Space in the Mills Precinct. Several videos of our performance have been posted to our social media sites on Facebook and Instagram if you want to check us out! Thanks to Tomoko, Jun, Michelle, Arielle, Gary, Katy (who also performed her dance magic), and our brave newercomers Mika, Natsuko and Barbara, who have all learned the pieces so quickly and well. Then the team turned around on Sunday afternoon for a performance at Cobb and Co Museum for the annual Mayoral TRC and USQ "Cooee" welcome to the international students and families. Again a great vibe and feedback from the audience. Later in the week on Friday morning, a slightly smaller group performed to a very appreciative audience for the Endeavour Foundation and, as with the other sessions, audience members also enjoyed a chance to show their own bacchi beats on the Takatsuki donated drums. Thanks team for your wonderful energy, coordination and obvious enjoyment while performing!

Many thanks MUST go also to Tomoko and Jun for collecting the drums from TRC and trsnporting them to and from our various performances, storing them on the other days, then returning them to TRC. We so greatly appreciate your efforts!  Domo arigato!

At the moment, we train Taiko on Thursdays in the first session from 6-7.30ish and all are very welcome to come along and give it a go. No experience is necessary, it's fun and it can be a great workout at the same time (like all our Club arts!).

Slight changes to pricing on the Website

For those of you making payments for classes and memberships via the Club’s website, you will notice that there have been some changes (increases) in the cost. This reflects part of the price we are charged by Stripe to process these payments, and in some cases, bring the cost in line with what has been charged via other methods of payment. This especially hit our casual session fee, where we were loosing more than 10 percent to charges. 

Please remember that our preferred method of payment is direct bank transfer into the Club’s account, as this takes the least amount of money out of the transfer. Details for where and how to pay can be found on the website at www.bbrd.org.au/fees/

If you have concerns with this, please contact Sian Carlyon, the Club’s Treasurer.

New timetable in effect

Just a reminder that the new training timetable came into effect on Saturday. The Club’s website has been updated to reflect these changes, the headlines of which are: 

  • No current training on Wednesday nights (Adult fencing has been canceled, Jujutsu and Kendo shifted)
  • Monday Jujutsu now starts at 6.00 pm and FlexiFit shifted to Saturday 4.45 pm
  • Thursdays are now packed with Jujutsu, Taiko, Jodo, Kendo and Iaido
  • Saturdays order has changed to Kendo (2 pm), Jujutsu (3.40 pm) and FlexiFit (4.45 pm) 
  • Go boards will be set up in the Refectory Monday lunch times from 12.15-1.15 pm

Please ensure that your equipment and/or uniform is serviceable (clean) and try to get to your class session at least 5-10 minutes early so that you are ready to start promptly. Individual tardiness has an impact on everyone in the class, and my goal for this year is to reduce this to rare occurrences. 

If in doubt, check the website, or contact the relevant discipline coordinator.  

Have fun everyone, and I’ll look forward to seeing you at the dojo!