PRESIDENT/CAPTAIN'S REPORT

No report this month.

SOCIAL CALENDAR

Some 15 members had a fun night at the recent Dinner & Show listening to heaps of classic sixties pop. Several of the ladies showed their style on the dance floor and everyone enjoyed the show.

Our next social outing is Friday September 19th at the Ballina RSL. Why not come along for a dinner by the river. Members can just turn up on the night as the club does not take bookings. Hope to see you all there!

See the Club Calendar page for full details of all our planned social activities.

SPECIAL NOTE:

By now members would be aware Christine Walker has been undergoing treatment for cancer. On behalf of the club we wish her and Eric all the best at this very difficult time. Following is an email received from Chris.

"Firstly thanks to B.M.C. for the beautiful flowers delivered to me during my stay in St Andrew's Hospital. They were the most stunning arrangement of dark pink tulips, just beautiful. Over the years we have made a lot of very good friends through the Mal Club, and we would like to send a very big THANK YOU to everyone who has rung, come to visit us, offered help if we need it and sent us their best wishes and prayers. It really means a lot to us to know you are there if we need help."

Mick Wilson turned up at the last comp for the first time in quite a while. Unfortunately like the rest of us he didn't get to compete. As you know Mary-Anne too has been battling cancer for some time and Mick was looking forward to Mary-Anne's return from treatment in Newcastle. We send our prayers and best wishes to them as well.

COMPETITON UPDATE

COMPETITION RESULTS - SEPTEMBER

No results recorded as the round was cancelled.

Current competition points - Wazza 93, Alan Rich 73, Rob House 69, Bruce Wilson 62, Brian Fryer 59, Chris Bull 57, Kerry Wilcox 53, Ken Garrington 46, Mick Calnan 43, Peter Wilcox 41, Brian Delaney 41, Mel Mott 41, Marg Bryant 39, Grant Edwards 36, Col Harper 35, Phil Calnan 33, Bill Webster 31, Paul Bioletti 28, Jan Webster 25, Terry Hargrave 19, Darryl Larkin 12.

Our next club round is on Sunday 5th October.

MEMBER PROFILE

Name: Chris Bull

Age: 53

Origins: Grew up in Kogarah Bay in Sydney, then moved to Cronulla

Family: Wife, Helen.

Job: Semi-retired from a career in Telecommunications working for Optus Commnications and Cable & Wireless. Currently co-owner of Tassiriki Ranch Horse Riding & Holiday Cabins.

Time on North Coast: 5 years

Style: Goofy

Quiver: 7'4" Maddog mini-mail, 9'1" Phil Myers Mal, 9'3" Harro mal.

Started surfing: At 7 years old on family holidays at Bateau Bay. In my late teens and early twenties we surfed around the Sandon Point - Bulli area, just south of Sydney.

Favorite Surf Spot: Green Island, Lake Conjola.

Favorite Food: Lobster Mornay

Favorite Activity (besides surfing): Spending time with my wife relaxing at the ranch.

Reason for joining the club: In Sydney I surfed with mates most weekends and as a new comer to Ballina I missed that. I joined the Mal club to meet surfers of a similar vintage keen for a few waves with friends.

TRAVEL REPORT
by Brian Delaney

Dear members,
For some years now I have heard of members having really interesting trips but I never hear much of the detail.  We are of an average age in this club where some of us are now part of the "travelling class" of socio-economics, i.e. kids off our hands, mortgage paid off and able to save for trips away.  I would enjoy reading articles in the newsletter about those travels, so to put my keyboard where my mouth is I am submitting a short piece that might be of interest.  

Robin and I did a trip to Italy for a month in March and April this year and we had a great time seeing a lot of the famous sights in the northern half of the country for two weeks, travelling with a rented car and staying in low cost accomodation. 

 Prior to striking out on our own we stayed for two weeks with old Aussie friends who retired in Sydney, sold the house and rented a 650 yr old house for a year in a 800 yr old walled town in Umbria, central Italy.  It was a great experience to be in a town that was off the tourist path and had a stable contented community. No one could speak english but they were well educated and living in a town that they were obviously proud of that was really a living museum.  The town is called Montone (pron: Mon-toe-nay) and has about 1000 people.  It is the classic walled fortress on a high hill and everything is made of stone.  All cars have to be left outside the high walls with four entry points through archways into the town.  The streets are narrow and and very labyrinthine and it is easy to become disoriented but all streets eventually lead out into the piazza in the centre of town where the only bar/cafe and other service essentials await you.  Because it has a monopoly on the public drinking of coffee and booze (beer on tap too) it is a popular place.  There are two restaurants off the piazza on side streets and another one on the outside of the wall overlooking the broad valley below and mountains beyond.

Our house was 300mts down a narrow street that runs off the piazza.  Our hosts had been there for 9 months and have very outgoing outgoing personalities and had ingratiated themselves into activities in the town by volunteering in various ways.  Through the interpreting of our hosts and with our very basic Italian (crash course at LIsmore ACE) I found their happy go lucky attitude and indifference to strangers quite charming.  They don't give a stuff where you are from, just be friendly and have a laugh with them and all is well with the world. They live for today yet they are living in such cultural and historical surroundings.  They are comfortable with their heritage to the point that they are very conservative in their attitude to food, they are only interested in their food.  Throughout our travels I only saw one non Italian restaurant (Korean, near the main Rome railway station).  Therefore recipes remain unchanged.  Pizza is just tomato paste and mozzarella cheese, plain as.  Embellishments to traditional recipes were done when the recipes were exported to commercial enterprises overseas, no changes in their kitchens.  They truly believe Italian wines are the best and they are not interested in wines from anywhere else, not even wine from neighbouring France is sold in stores. The attitude to the Catholic Church was an eye opener, in that regard they are not conservative, they long ago did a quiet rebellion in a nation which is officially catholic by constitution (a deal done between the Vatican and the National Government in the 19th Cent), but very few people in the town have any time for the local church or clergy.  The families in Montone have been the cannon fodder between Vatican Armies and feudal warlords over hundreds of years and the town church (which is obscenely magnificent for a town of this size) has sucked money and labour out of them for just as long.  Left wing socialist politics has a strong following there. 

I have included my favourite photo from the hundreds taken on our trip.  I have been interested in photography for decades and every now and then a lighting and subject situation presents itself that excites me and this was one we chanced on.  This loggia (open air gallery) is at Museo del Bargello in Florence.  Midmorning light was coming from both sides lighting up the sculptures and reflecting off the vaulted fresco ceiling illuminating the details of the artwork and that overall effect gave such a great sense of spatial dimension. No, that is not me or Robin in the photo.

regards, Brian Delaney

CLUB SHIRTS

The club is considering ordering new team shirts for members to wear at social gatherings and inter-club competition rounds. The intention is to raise our profile and perhaps even attract more new members. The cost per shirt is estimated to be $30, the committee need to know if members think it's a good idea and willing to purchase a shirt each. Please provide your feedback to the secretary@ballinamalibuclub.org.

NEWSLETTER & NEW WEB SITE

The club has a new web site – www.ballinamalibuclub.org. All the club newsletters can now be accessed via the web site and either viewed online or downloaded in a format suitable for printing. Members who have provided their email addresses to the secretary will receive an email each month containing a link to the newsletter. The Committee urges all members to take advantage of the new web site and register their email address. Members without an email address will still receive a printed copy via surface mail.

Members will find many benefits with the new web site including:

Members interested in submitting stories for inclusion in our monthly newsletter should Email submissions to secretary@ballinamalibuclub.org

MEMBERS CLASSIFIEDS

Items for sale (eg. used surfboards, surfing-related items etc) may be listed free of charge by members. Members are invited to lodge advertisements by Email to the Secretary. Please include a description, asking price, contact details, and preferably a color photograph of the item(s) for sale.

9'3" x 23 1/8" x 3" Harro Malibu Thruster Listed By Chris Bull PH: 6683-4602 PRICE $450 O.N.O. Good condition, has a few stress fractures under the nose but no damage to the underlying foam. No other dings. A very affordable secondhand mal.