Our Chapter held its annual general meeting on Sunday, May 6th. We had an excellent turnout, and it was a great opportunity to connect with members we haven’t seen for a while.

As this is an alternate year AGM, there was no change in the Board.

It has been an active year, as usual, for our Chapter. There were numerous workshops, exhibition participation, and attendance at NAOTA.

Reports were presented by board members about Chapter business. Our finances are in good shape. We have great communication modalities to keep both our members as well as the community informed.

As a result of the new constitution given to us by Headquarters in Japan, the board revised our bylaws to be consistent with the new constitution. These were presented to the membership and were passed at the meeting.

Liz Armstrong reported on the planning for our 30^th anniversary celebrations. The tentative dates are either at the end of September or mid-October, depending on the availability of the Centrepointe Theatre. We plan on having four workshops, a big demonstration and a reception. Its very exciting that our guest master will be Marcel Vrignaud of France. He trained with Houn Ohara, is a good friend of the current Headmaster, and holds the highest honours in the School for someone living outside of Japan.

An enormous thank you to all the people who donated items for sale and silent auction. There were some amazing containers, and many of us count ourselves lucky with our finds. We raised over $1,000 towards our 30^th! Thank you to: Irene Bond, Catherine Seaborn, Jeanette Arthur (a former member) and Hélène Vigeant. And thank you to Mona Forzley for suggesting the container sale with a percentage to the chapter. A major success for all of us!

And thanks to Liz Armstrong for providing the hospitality and to our members who provided the treats.