Thanks Capital Carousels! That sure was a great closeout dance we had last night as we definitely got in the spirit of our “Canada 150 Birthday Celebration”. We had a great turnout as you can see with lots of “team spirit” as we all came in our Canadian Red and White! We were definitely a walking billboard for Canada 150 and Pat and Jill Ivay definitely put the finishing touches on our decorations all around the hall at Parkdale! Great job as always guys! We started the night off right in celebration of our great country by singing our National Anthem, “Oh Canada”. We had 4 sets of music last night and before each set, we had a Canada “Did You Know” or “On This Date In Canadian History” segment. I think we all learned a few things about our country that we may not have already known! Speaking of dance sets, Pat Black put together a great dance program which was primarily all Canadian themed! Either done by Canadian choreographers, artists or Canadian producers! What a wealth of talent we have here! New this year, we had some free door prizes to give away-all Canadian themed! Congrats to our door prize winners, Teena, Ian, Sharon and Ann. We also had a Share The Wealth drawing! Congratulations to Mike for becoming a part of the illustrious, “Wealthiest Canadians” exclusive club!
In the middle of the evening, as promised, we held a very short Annual General Meeting and took care of some needed business. We also had an election of officers last evening and here are the results:
President-Gavin
Vice President-Ziggy
Secretary-Arlo
Programmer-Pat
Social Convenor-Ian and Ann
Director At Large-Wayne and Toni
A special thanks for those returning members who agreed to remain for another term. Arlo and Pat, we appreciate your dedication and hard work on behalf of everyone at Capital Carousels. Thank you! We would like to welcome Ian and Ann, Wayne and Toni for joining the team. Not only is your help most welcome, it is always nice to have others with perhaps a “fresh look” at what’s going on with the club. We look forward to your input and helping hands at Capital Carousels! It has been great having Pat and Jill serve with us this past year. They have done all asked of them from setting up decorations for our special events and also arranging and sending out get well cards as needed. We appreciate all of your work and will appreciate all your work “in the background” next season. Thanks! Ziggy and Jenny have been with Capital Carousels since its inception. We thank them for their many contributions to the club. Ziggy has served as President and has helped keep things going smoothly through all our departments. Directly involved with the creation of our policies and bylaws for the club, getting involved in teaching including some beginner rumba lessons. Also actively promoting round dancing through attendance at EOSARDA meetings, performing demos and some local advertising. Jenny has been there with him throughout much of this as well as their work on refreshments for the club and club events on many levels. From serving coffee and tea, to organizing potlucks, or to catered events. They have been there “in the thick of it” and we thank you. After 4 years on the board, Ziggy has decided to resign from the Presidency and Jenny from the Social Convenor position. They have experienced their own personal struggles with their health this past year and have decided to dedicate some time to themselves and well deserved, I might add!! Despite all this, Ziggy has graciously decided to fill in the Vice President position as an assistance anywhere he can. Thank you both for all you have done for the club. Your contributions do not go un-noticed- THANK YOU! Last, but not least…Gavin. What can we say?? It has been a challenging year indeed and you certainly picked up and took the reigns when needed. You have also been on the board since its inception and have always been a source of sound advice and reason in many discussions we have held as a club! You have always come across with common sense and grace and we are very lucky to have you. Thank you for accepting the position of President while also holding the Treasurer position so ably! How fortunate we are! We look forward to working with you in your new role!
So after all the “official” stuff was concluded, and all the dancing was done, Uri and Teena, on behalf of the Capital Carousels members, presented some hanging baskets to our President, Teaching and Cueing Staff. I am sure on behalf of Ziggy and Jenny, Pat, John and myself, we would like to extend a big thank you. We appreciate your faith and loyalty in us and in our club. Thanks!
When all the dancing, meetings and presentations were done, it was time to eat! As usual, it was a tremendous spread as provided by our members! Lots of sweet and savoury items to try and some indeed with a Canadian theme! How ingenious of our members! To finish it all off, we had a tremendous cake, with a Canada 150 theme and even a Capital Carousels logo on it. It is my understanding that Ian and Ann’s daughter did this cake and not only was it beautiful, it was delicious as well. Ian and Ann are definitely getting a head start on their new Social Convenor role and by the looks of things last night, we are in good hands!
This season created its own set of challenges, and thanks to a collaborate effort from the executive and its members, we have a game plan for next season. We look forward to seeing many of you back in September and have a wonderful summer everyone!