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January, 2020 (AGM Edition)
RRTA NEWSLETTER
RRTA President’s Report
We have all had a great start to a new year of teaching for Richmond or retiring from teaching or combining the two. For those of you new, and possibly older retirees who have not yet taken the time to check out what the RRTA has to offer, I urge you to talk to friends or go to our website www.richmondrta.ca.You are welcome to attend any of our activities, but most require that you become a member. Membership is free for your first year, so no more excuses.
We have the Christmas Luncheon coming up on December 4th. This will be held at Mayfair Lakes Golf and Country Club. This is an opportunity to mix and mingle with colleagues from your past and to meet new friends. We have a delicious lunch, briefly talk about some of our programs, appreciate entertainment from students of one our Richmond Schools, and have an opportunity to donate cash (tax receipts given) or goods to the Richmond Food Bank.
I would like to personally thank all the members who are on the executive, committees, or fill in to help out when asked. Without all your support, we as an organization would not be as successful as we are. We still need help on a variety of committees. Please feel free to speak to myself or anyone on the executive to find out how you can join us to help improve our objectives of serving the needs and interests of the retired teachers of Richmond.
Enjoy life, keep smiling, and get involved in new hobbies or activities.!David BellPresident RRTA(November 2019)
Back to School Without Us Luncheon
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RRTA Directors 2019-20
www.richmondrta.ca
TABLE OFFICERS
PRESIDENT -- David Bell
VICE PRESIDENT - VacantSECRETARY -- Amanda HuftonTREASURER -- VacantPAST PRESIDENT - Gordon Smith
DIRECTORS (CHAIRS)
ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATIONS -- Loraine Martin
FINANCE -- VacantHERITAGE -- Loraine Martin
MEMBERSHIP / PHONING -- Denise GobboPROGRAMME -- Munjeet BootonWELLNESS -- Lynne FarquharsonSUNSHINE -- Pat Walach (604) 278-9530
NEWSLETTER -- Gordon Smith
CHRISTMAS PROJECT -- Karen HoldenTRUST FUND FOUNDATION -- Glenn Kishi (Chair)(604) [email protected]
DIRECTOR AT LARGEBob JacksonMichael GillesMary HardyCathy Wozny -- Acting Treasurer
NON DIRECTOR COMMITTEE CHAIRS
SOCIAL -- Looking for volunteers to chair the Social Committee! This would involve liaising with Mayfair Lakes regarding the Luncheons .
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RRTA AGMThere wasn’t very much new business covered at the AGM this year other than the expected adoption of the Financials for 2018-19, setting the budget for 2019-20, choosing the members with signing authority, and voting on the 2019-20 Board of Directors.
As you can see from the list on the previous page, the changes in leadership are minor. However, Cathy Wozny has stepped down as treasurer. She agreed to stay on as a Board member, and agreed to take on the position of Acting Treasurer until someone steps up and takes over the postion. You will notice that we have a number of vacant postions now and welcome the additon of new board members which can be voted onto the board to fill these vacancies by the sitting Board members. We currently need a Vice President and a Treasurer as well as some members to take on the chair of several committees -- most importantly, the Social Committee Chair.
Please consider helping out! Contact us through our website, www.richmondrta.ca
BCRTA AGM and Conference
RRTA President David Bell chairing the AGM
BCRTA Executive Past and Present
Charan Gill, Convention Chair
Doctor Art Hister Heather Knittel Susan Borax
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Report by Bob Jackson & Lynne Farquharson of the2019 BCRTA Conference and Annual General Meeting
October 3rd, 4th, & 5th, 2019
Thursday October 3rd
This is only an evening session for Delegate Registration, a time to meet and greet with other delegates and to enjoy the music of “Loades of Music”, directed by Ellie Loads, an RRTA member.
Friday, October 4th
The theme of this year Conference was “Living Well” and the conference was organized by Charan Gill, a member of RRTA.
Session #1- “Seniors’ Wellness” presented by Dr. Art HisterThis session was mixed with humour and statistics to dispel some of the myths of aging and some suggestions for healthy living for Seniors. He had the delegates in stitches for most of this hour. His message was as Seniors we should do everything in moderation and we should physically keep moving.
Session #2 – “Making Room for Living Well” by Heather Knittel and Susan Borax from Good Riddance Professional Organizing Solutions.This session was providing suggestions how to declutter our homes. They used the Acronym SPACE.S – Sort you belongingsP – Purge – Dispose, donate or sellA – Assign a space in your house so that everything has a permanent homeC – Contain – Shelve it, box it, put it in a drawer or hang itE – Equalize – If you add something then you must get rid of something
Session #3 – Results of the BCRTA Membership Survey by Tim Anderson, the BCRTA Executive DirectorDuring last summer the BCRTA conducted an on-line survey. The membership is extremely happy with the BCRTA communications via Postscript and the BCRTA Electronic Newsletter – Connections. Work still needs to be done to encourage retired teachers to join the BCRTA and their local associations.
The afternoon started with a video of the Golden Star winners. These are schools that make a significant contribution to the lives of seniors.
The BCRTA President, Gerry Tiede (a former Richmond teacher), talked about the status of our pension, the preparations for the October 21st Federal Election and the status of the BCRTA Strategic Planning Process. To be healthy our pension requires that the investments made with our funds should yield at least 6%/year. The rating of our pension is based over the interest yielded over 5 years. Our pension investments yielded 8% over the last 5 years even though this past year was only 2%.
The Conference portion ended with delegates meeting with delegates broken into zone meetings. In our Lower Mainland Zone Meeting the majority of the time was spent on the different locals describing the successful activities that attract members to attend local association meetings.
A new feature of the Conference Banquet was initial Postscript Awards. These were to recognize members who had provided outstanding articles to our teacher magazine. The evening ended with dancing to music provided by a DJ.
Saturday, October 5thThis day is devoted to the AGM, the annual business meeting of the BCRTA. The financial report tendered indicated that the BCRTA is in good financial shape. But with future plans to improve the services to members the meeting approved a $2.00 increase in our annual membership so that in 2020-2021 our BCRTA Membership Fee will be $42.00.
The RRTA Delegates were Lynne Farquharson, Gordon Smith and Bob Jackson
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Excercise breaks separated the Convention Sessions
Tim Anderson presented awards for Postscript articles during the
Friday evening Banquet
Pat Brady chaired the AGM on Saturday
An ACER-Cart Update was presented by Dale Lauber
Your Delegates to the 2019 BCRTA AGM, Bob Jackson, Lynne Farquharson and Gordon Smith
BCRTA President, Gerry Tiede
Chair of the RR Smith AGM, Judy De Vries
BCRTA Conference Chair, Charan Gill
Best Postscrpt Travel Article, Garry Litke, presented by
JoAnn Lauber
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Our Speaker Series this Fall
Our October Speaker Series presented by Graham Best was called “Unlocking the Power of Memory”. This was a well attended session held in the RTA Offices on Westminser highway. Many thanks to the RTA Executive and staff for use of this facility.Graham Best
In November we once again invited Linda Fawcus of the Gluu Society to present a workshop on travelling with handheld devices. This session, held in the General Currie Heritage building was also well attended.
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Christmas Luncheon 2019
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If you know of any
RRTA members who could use some
sunshine in their lives due to illness or a loss in their family, please
let our Sunshine Chair, Pat
Bill McKittrick -- NovemberFred R. McLeod -- November
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Speaker Series -- Friday January 17th at 10 am in the Currie Heritage Building. Heather Knittel from “Good Riddance Professional Orangizing Solutions is our first speaker of 2020. We all have too much stuff and vow each year to tackle our clutter. Here’s your opportunity to keep that New Year’s resolution! Heather Knittel of Good Riddance Professional Organizing Solutions will present “Showing Clutter the Door” and walk you through the steps to successfully downsize those things you don’t need and explain how to do it. Whether you are intent on lightening your load of possessions or are in a full-blown move from your home of many years, you will leave the presentation armed with the know-how and be inspired to become a ruthless chucker! This light-hearted presentation covers why we have so much stuff, why it’s so difficult to get-started, provides you with tips on disbursement and disposal and will give you much-needed permission to purge! Good Riddance has been helping individuals for 15 years working throughout the Lower Mainland.
Communications UpdateRecently, we have been having problems emailing you the “The RRTA Loop”. Some of your computers think that ‘The Loop” is spam or a security risk. In order to help with this problem please add the Richmond Retired Teachers’ Association to your Contact list. The RRTA’s email is [email protected] To keep in ‘the Loop’ about upcoming events you can go to the RRTA website, richmondrta.ca
You might notice that we have made changes to the RRTA website. Please check it out. The website can be accessed using the URL richmondrta.ca OR bcrta.ca/richmond. These changes have been made so that items are easier to access using mobile devices, such as phones , tablets, ands iPad. The Contact Us form has also been changed.
We have a new IT person recommended to us by the BCRTA. The Communications Committee co-chairs have met with Vince and have been very happy with the work he has done for us.
Vince Dimanno, our new IT person from Deep Blue Creative
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Goings and Doings (from the September Luncheon)
Just returned from a fantastic safari in Kenya where we saw
so many amazing animals! I travelled with my daughter, son in law and the three teenage grandchiildren. We had a fabulous time together on safari and then we had five days at a beach resort in Zanzibar. The trip of a lifetime! Louise Foreman
David Bell had the amazing experience of taking his grandchildren and family, who now live in Berlin, on a ski trip to the Czech Republic. It was so much fun watching them learn and find a new family hobby. I will be going with them again this February.
Powell River and the whole of the Sechelt Penninsula is a gorgeous part of the province. The highway from Saltry Bay to Powell River is a wonderful taste of the Indy 500, but you will only get the curves -- not the speed! In late August, Powell River hosts “Blackberry Festival” and “Art in the Park”! It’s well worth the visit. Lynne Farquharson
Five days with family “on the beach” at Qualicum Beach in July. Alaska cruise coming up in September, followed by a trip to UK late October into November. Hilary Smith
Keeping busy painting and exhibiting -- Federation of Canadian Artist new juried exhibition “Concepts” accepted one of my recent works. I am involved in the new “Cultural Arts” open studio the last Sunday in September 10 -- 14 at my studio. A large “paint out” Grand Prix plein air event planned for Steveston by the Cannery Saturday September
And from the Christmas Luncheon . . .
I visit Italy frequently as my daughter Jesse lives in Calabria. If you want to see her website, check out Italy Group Specialists. Joan Andrews
Pat walach has cruised twice to the South Caribbean -- a wonderful, colourful adventure with a different island every day. Next summer she’s booked on a Baltic Cruise with 3 days in Saint
Petersburg -- # 1 on her bucket list!
I am back to biking and hiking with my two new bionic hips! Muriel Hemmes.
Enjoyed a hiking trip to Mount Assiniboine Lodge with Muriel and Totter Bikers. The heli ride in was exciting! Margaret Hobson
21st -- many painters are involved in this contest and it is lots of fun.
Gerry Gilker visited Ottawa this summer, a lovely little city! Lots to see.
Spent a wonderful summer enjoying the BC weather. Participated in a number of dragon boat regattas -- luckily winning some silver medals. Donna Matheson
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I river rafted down the grand Canyon for 14 days in September. Dianne Milsom
This September was a celebratory retirement trip to Ontario. They say to be away that first day of school in September of your first year of retirement -- good advice. We rented a houseboat and motored/floated on the lakes of the Trent-Severn Waterway enjoying life.
Diane Whidden had the great fortune to live in France for six months each year for the last 6 years. The travelling was wonderful but never as wonderful as returning to Vancouver, the best place on earth.
Living BOLD in retirement! Attended “Writers at Woody Point” book festival in Gros Morne Park, Newfoundland and ended up buying a summer house in the village of Rose Blanche. Jane Wright
In October we explored Germany -- loved it. Mary Hardy
We love to travel in September. Spent 4 wonderful weeks in Scotland this September. Cathy Grant
Paddling with a seniors dragon boat team and getting fit while having fun. Also travelled to Ecuador on an orchid tour. Swam with a sea turtle -- such a gentle creature. Linda Mah
As a retired teacher of a few years, I have been visiting UBC Hospital for my right, then a few years later my left hip replacement. Now I can continue to ski and travel pain free! David Bell
And to finish up, a few more photos of the thank you letters received by
the RRTA from our scholarship recipients.