Rough to Ready show 2024
BC Gem Show Field Trip
To participate in this trip you and all members in your party must be currently paid up members of the Victoria Lapidary and Mineral Society. This trip is open to minors accompanied by an adult.
Every year the British Columbia Lapidary Society hosts the biggest rock and gem show in BC, called The BC Gem Show. This year the show will be on May 10, 11 & 12th, Friday to Sunday. On Saturday there’s a the Rocklovers Roundup Tailgate sale. The show is being held at the Chilliwack Heritage Park.
The Victoria lapidary club is planning to organize a trip to the show. Participants would get themselves to the Swartz Bay terminal and buy their walk-on ferry tickets ($40 return) for the 7am ferry on Saturday May 11th. Usually we all meet up in the terminal and hang out as a group on the ferry, but that’s totally optional.
A coach will meet us getting off the ferry at the Tsawassen terminal at 8:45 and take us to Chilliwack. We would expect to arrive at Chilliwack around 10:30 am. The day would be free to spend at the show (entry ticket $6) and tailgate then the procedure would be reversed, and we would catch the 7pm ferry back to Swartz Bay.
We have reserved a 50 seater coach that is wheelchair accessible. We are asking club members to pay $25 per person attending for the coach which will defray about 50% of the cost of the coach – the rest of the cost for the coach will be paid from club funds.
I’ve attended the show with the group in the past and it has been a blast, as much for the tall tales told on the ferry and coach as for the show and tailgate itself. Bringing a carry-on suitcase on wheels is recommended if you have poor impulse control where slabs are concerned.
Numbers are limited, so we would like to get an early handle on how much interest there is in this trip. If you plan to attend (not maybe, but for sure) please fill out this form.
If you have questions please address them to David Jackson at treasurer@vlms.ca
Rock & Gem Show 2024
As ever, the Rock & Gem Show was a great way for rockhounds to meet up. This year we’ve chosen to celebrate our great vendors in our slideshow. Click the pictures to make them bigger and run the slideshow:
Monthly Meeting: Jan 8th, 2024
Barry Duncan gave an amusing short presentation on Fairy Stones of the Cowichan Valley. The slides he used in his presentation can be seen here.
Upcoming meetings in 2024
Hello,
We hope you all had a relaxing and rejuvenating Christmas and are looking forward to the New Year. The beginning of the year can be a little confusing as to the dates of club events due to stat holidays etc, so to clarify, here are the dates we have decided on. As always, these dates, workshop dates and field trip dates can be seen on the club calendar at https://vlms.ca/calendar/
January 2nd, 7pm: Board of directors’ meeting
January 8th, 7pm Annual General Meeting and first Members’ Meeting of the year. Location: the lawn bowling club. Note, this is not the first Monday of the month, which is New Year’s day.
January 30th, 7pm: Board of directors’ meeting
February 5th, 7pm: Members’ Meeting, Location: the lawn bowling club.
February 26th, 7pm: Board of directors’ meeting
March 4th, 7pm: Members’ Meeting, Location: the lawn bowling club.
March 15th-17th Rock and Gem show at the Da Vinci Center
March 25th, 7pm: Board of directors’ meeting
April 8th, 7pm: Members’ Meeting, Location: the lawn bowling club.Note, this is not the first Monday of the month as that is the Easter weekend,
Message from our President
I wanted to take this opportunity to pass along some thoughts about club activities and events this past year. It’s been quite an eventful and successful one for the club.
We had a record setting attendance and revenue at the March show.
We held an awesome auction bringing in some big dollars.
A terrific bus trip to Chilliwack to attend the BCLS show.
A great strawberry social attended by many.
An excellent fall show that surpassed all expectations.
Programs that were interesting, captivating and educational..
Field trips that were so well attended that they would have filled a Greyhound bus (with people and rocks).
A huge backlog of lapidary courses was cleared.
I want to thank all of our members who organized and coordinated events and also those who so generously gave up their time and volunteered.
On this note, just like in Jose Feliciano’ song, I want to wish you a Merry Christmas and a happy and prosperous New Year.
Yvan Gagnon, President