Happy New Year! - from Caitlin

Welcome to 2022 everyone. I hope you all had a wonderful Summer break and now are ready for all that 2022 holds for you. 

The club got off to a cracking start. Derryn and Lynne ran the Gallery over the race days - 5th and 13th Jan - ably assisted by their team. Family race day on the 5th was buzzing and the Gallery was a hit. These days are extremely valuable to the club not just for the exposure it gives but also for members to get involved and have their work on show. We were fortunate that the weather allowed for display tables to be set up outside. A huge thank you to everyone who helped here. 

These events were followed by the Summer School. As you all know the 2022 Festival of Pots and Garden Art had been postponed and the club is dependent to some extent on the funds this raises. Our kilns and equipment and the upkeep of these are all funded by money raised from this event. With this in mind Kathryn and Jenny came up with the idea of a Summer School and from there on it was a whirlwind. Allie joined the team and there was no stopping them. It was a mountain of work setting this up in such a short time frame, but what an amazing 2 weeks.

This was an incredible event for the club, and we are discussing whether this might be something we can run again. We had people come from all over New Zealand to attend the classes and the feedback has been incredibly positive and supportive. For a first-time event it was amazing how well everything ran. A huge thanks to Jenny T, Allie, and Kathryn, to those who stepped in to help, and to the all the tutors. 

One of the things that has come out of this is that club day (Thursdays) is a great day for demonstrations. We are hoping this will continue and if you have a particular type of work that you are willing to demonstrate please let me know. Club days were originally set up for members to get-together to share ideas and discuss latest discoveries and generally have a good social time. 
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It would be lovely to get this going again. If you would be interested in managing this, please get in touch.

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