Thursday, April 25, 2013

Greetings from the Board


Greetings from the Board of the recently incorporated Dry Stone Walling Association of Canada

The Board would like to cordially invite you to a meeting on Saturday, May 4th, 2013 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM Parkwood Estates 270 Simcoe St N, Oshawa, ON L1G 4T5
The purpose of this open social event and meeting is to inform dry stone wallers and interested parties of the Association’s activities to date and upcoming planned activities. In particular, we would like to provide information on the Association’s new Standards and 

Events guidelines and the Association's upcoming inaugural 2013 Stone Festival, in Alton, Ontario from June 28th - July 1st.
We hope to garner your ideas for the Association’s future direction, as well as encourage new membership. You need not be a member to attend this meeting. After the meeting, we will reconvene at a local pub for dinner and drinks.

2013 Stone Festival
We have formalized arrangements with the Town of Alton, who have agreed to be the host of our inaugural 2013 Stone Festival. The Town of Alton has a Trillium Grant from the Province of Ontario for the event. The Association been asked to build several sections of wall, a pillar, and a feature which will consist of a moongate with a bonsai metal sculpture embedded in its centre in a new Town Square.
We will also be conducting a beginner’s course taught by certified craftsmen.
The Dry Stone Walling Association of Great Britain, The Dry Stone Conservancy and The Stone Trust have all agreed to send representatives to the 2013 Stone Festival. All of them will participate in the builds; provide a presentation on their organization and activities; and to participate in Certification Examinations.2
Dry Stone Walling Association of Canada Invitation 

Guests to the festival include
Norman Haddow and another master craftsman from the DSWA-GB.
Neil Rippingale and Jane Wooley, The Dry Stone Conservancy, 
A master craftsman fromThe Stone Trust

The Association has chosen to invite members from three of the most influential walling organisations as both an outreach to more formal relations and to solicit a varied perspective with respect to education, standards and governance. All three organizations are very well recognised, respected and their members include some of the top wallers in the world. Their representatives will be involved before, throughout and after the 2013 Stone Festival weekend in preparation, education, and certification.

Lunches will be provided for all registered participants. On the Saturday evening there will be an open dinner with the town for all registered participants.

Volunteers
The Association has 2 pre-builds for which we need volunteers. These pre-builds are on the weekends of June 15th/16th and June 22nd/23rd. Accommodations and lunches will be provided for during the pre-builds. Please contact Eric Landman at landmaneric@gmail.com if you can help.
If you are interested in getting involved with the administration of the organisation we could greatly use ANY help, please contact Carlan Stants at drstants@ymail.com if you are interested. Some working groups that need support/activity include the Events Committee, Standards Committee, Website Committee, and Membership “The Great Catalogue of Wall” Committee.