Category: Monthly Meeting Report

Because we hadn’t seen each other for over a year (thanks, Covid) we used the September meeting to have a BBQ and social instead of the usual Monday Members’ meeing.  We are rentedc the upstairs room of the Da Vinci Centrefor the evening and bought in Lori, from Lori’s Little Kitchen  to run a BBQ from the parking lot at the club’s expense. 

The plan was to provide a time and space where we could catch up with each other after a long hiatus and share the tall stories of what we’ve been doing to fulfill our rock cravings over the last year and a half when we haven’t been able to meet in person. Members were encouraged to bring rocks/ photos of rocks and indulge your passion (for rocks)

Click on the photos to see bigger images as a slideshow.

Victoria, owner of Twisted Fern Designs presented her work and how it is evolving on Monday evening at our monthly members’ meeting.

Victoria started Twisted Fern Designs in 2017 having acquired a crochet addiction the year before. In 2018 she became a member of Sidney Lapidary Club, and quickly fell in love with Metal Smithing and learned to incorporate BC stones. While Silver Lace is the main focus of her creations, she still enjoys creating stone set pieces, using local island beach finds and her favourite handpicked UK stone, Lewisian Gneiss.

Twisted Fern’s Silver Lace Jewelry and Sculpture marries 19th century lacework traditions with the geometrical complexity of the natural world. Crocheted Silver is strong, yet light, and allows great scope for creativity and a wide range of design.

Each piece is hand-crafted from 100% reclaimed Silver, using antique hand tools; a modern and sustainable imagining of a heritage craft. You can check out Victoria’s website at: www.twistedferndesigns.store.

Also at the meeting, Bill Needoba had a show table of fossils he collected during Summer Camp 2019 at Galloway (E Kootenays) in BC.

In the January member’s meeting we elect and appoint our board members for the year. This year the following have committed their time, energy and expertise to keeping our club running.

Note: The Island Zone reps do not change in January, but in March.

In other news, the meeting was well attended and lively with wide-ranging discussions of club business.

	Elected Positions
	President  Doug McLeod president@vlms.ca		Past President  Allana Shillito
	Treasurer David Jackson treasurer@vlms.ca		Vice President Mel Johnson vicepresident@vlms.ca
	Membership  Becci Simmons membership@vlms.ca		Secretary Sarah Hamilton secretary@vlms.ca
	Member at Large John Anderson		Member at Large Rae DeFrane
	Member at Large Brian McMillan		Member at Large Debbie Frank
	Appointed Positions
	Laphound News Editor  Gary Brooke laphoundnews@vlms.ca		Librarian Kathryn Hawkins librarian@vlms.ca
	Field Trips Sean Maier fieldtrips@vlms.ca		Program Coordinator Arlene Modderman
	Program Coordinator Karol Jorgensen		Show Chairman  Allana Shillito showcommittee@vlms.ca
	Social Committee Susannah Anderson		Social Committee Barb McKenzie
	Workshop  Doug McLeod lapidaryworkshop@vlms.ca		Workshop Brian McMillan
	Senior Island Zone Representative  David Jackson		Junior Island Zone Representative Doug McLeod president@vlms.ca
	intermediate Island Zone Representative Sarah Hamilton		Webmaster Becci Simmons web@vlms.ca

The Christmas pot luck party was well attended this year, and much good cheer was had.

Click on the photos to see bigger images as a slideshow.

Marikò Cappello (4th Feb, 2019)

Our February talk, “The benefits of living near a Volcano”, was given by Marikò Cappello of the UVic School of Earth and Ocean Sciences. Marikò does research in Earth history and geochronology and has a BSc in Geological Sciences from the University of Bologna. She is currently working on a project that aims to introduce new time constraints on the Ordovician-Silurian boundary.

Marikò has family living near Mt. Etna in Italy. Her presentation included engaging video of what day-to-day life feels like when the sky is continuously dropping ash and volcanic pebbles.

Marikò also brought samples of the different kinds of rock produced by a volcano for hands-on identification. She is an engaging and energetic speaker, and we thank her for her time.

Allana pointed out that our club stone, Dallasite, is a volcanic Breccia, and gave Marikò a piece as a gift.

To see a sample of slides from Marikò’s presentation click below.

At the AGM Brian MacMillan was presented with Dallasite-face wrist watch and Giles LeBrun was presented with a Dallasite-face pocket watch for their years of service to the club.  The watches were made by club member Doug Smith.

Click the pictures below to see them larger as a slideshow.

Also, at the annual general meeting the new committee for 2019 were elected, and our new executive are:

	Elected Positions
	President  Allana Shilito		Past President  Vanessa Steffens
	Treasurer David Jackson		Vice President Leni Gagnon
	Membership  Margaret Braithwaite assisted by Debbie Frank		Secretary Sarah Hamilton
	Member at Large John Anderson		Member at Large Yvan Gagnon
	Member at Large Brian McMillan		Member at Large Debbie Frank
	Appointed Positions
	Laphound News Editor  Gary Brooke		Librarian Kathryn Hawkins
	Field Trips Giles LeBrun		Meeting Events Nick Aktarian
	Program Coordinator Position vacant arranges guest speaker for Monday meetings		Social Committee Susannah Anderson
	Show Chairman  Allana Shillito		Social Committee Barb McKenzie
	Workshop Brian McMillan		Senior Island Zone Representative  David Jackson
	Workshop Doug McLeod		Intermediate Island Zone Representative  Sarah Hamilton
	Webmaster Becci Simmons		Junior Island Zone Representative Doug McLeod

If you need to contact any of the above, please log into the Members Only area for contact information.