Well we made it through January- only 2 more months of winter and an early spring if you believe that rodents can predict the weather!

Opening ceremonies handled nicely by the team of Roscoe and Reeve although grace was a little reverse despite reading directly from his phone!

Mike announced that he would be away for a few weeks doing good works in the South and that President Elect Janet would be stick handling the meetings.

 

Guests: Louise Cooke, guest of Catherine

Jon Lina and Laura Lawrence guest of Leslie Allison

and Ian Hamilton our guest speaker.

 

Nancy announced that they are looking for charitable partners for the Golf Tournament so if you haven any suggestions please forward them on to her.

 

We also received news that the people of Flint Michigan are reaching out for help with their water. One of the Trumpster's first of many dumb moves was to lower the standards for drinking water and now apparently their water has acceptable  levels of contaminants in it. Unbelievable. If anyone has a connection or resource that could help they would like to hear from you.

 

The Beer Festival pairing dinner was a success with 36 people attending and according to all reports the food was very good. Hopefully it will gain some legs and grow even more next year.

 

Bryce reported that the Syrian Refugee fund of over $8,400.00 has helped 3 families. In particular it has helped fund a young man's trip to the Canadian Karate Championships.

 

We saw a far more serous side of our SAA than we usually do as he reflected on the tragedy in Quebec City. He asked the club if there was any interest in contributing to the trust fund for the children left without fathers. There was total agreement and Rod will be taking donations next week. Subsequent to that the Club Donations Committee will match donations to a maximum of $1,000.00. It was also suggested that we reach out to the other 3 clubs in Burlington with a similar ask. A lovely idea Rod. 

A few happy dollars......Kathleen rightfully proud of her son who is now a successful lawyer, Dana delighted to be in street clothes and Glenn off on another "research" trip to Vietnam and Cambodia.

 

And a terrific joke about penguins from Eric which made us all laugh and I must say I have told it several times over the past weekend!

 

Dick Scott introduced our guest speaker Ian Hamilton, a local author recognized around the world for his Ava Lee novels. Ian has just released the 10th book in a 14 book series about an Asian Canadian lesbian accountant who collects bad debts for a living. His words not mine.

 

 

Ian started writing in 2009 after a health scare. He was still running a business that put a lot of strain on him and he admittedly  was drinking too much and eating all the wrong things and his wife Lorraine suggested that he  have his liver checked, His liver was fine but the aneurysm that they found wasn't. They operated successfully and while in a drug induced stupor reflected on his life. Hmmm what is the one thing that I haven't done that I want to  do he asked himself and  "write a book "came quickly to mind . After 2 days in the hospital he had sold his share of the business to his partner and the on the 3rd day he started his book. He finished his first book on a Tuesday morning and by Tuesday afternoon he had started his second. Lorraine's comment? "Not bad".

 

Ian uses familiar names in his books. Rick Burgess who many of you know appears as lawyer and on a less flattering scale he also mimics people who have been thorns in his side  or just plain unpleasant. Paybacks are hell.........

 

He sent his manuscript out to several publishers and was rejected by them all. One read the manuscript by mistake and recommended that he get an agent. Which he did- a tiny Asian women just like Ava Lee. He received an offer from Random House and an offer fro House of Anansi for 4 books and has been with them ever since. The London Book Fair was a major turning point in his career and he has never looked back. He has sold the TV rights  to the first book "the Water Rat" with more to come. Ridley Scott called him just after her had signed- a bit of a disappointment as Ian is a huge fan of his movies.

 

His advice to budding authours is to get an agent and to page number your manuscript.

 

Ian is the winner of the Arthur Ellis award, and has been named as the author of the Amazon book of the year. The BBC  has named him one to the top 10 crime/mystery writers that you must have on your bookshelf..

 

Ian and his wife Lorraine have 4 children and 8 grandchildren.

Just another example of the amazing talent residing in the little tiny city of Burlington. A terrific speaker-very humble and very entertaining. Thank you Ian!

 

 

P.S.  We're looking for a few more scribes-any interest!!!!

Have a good week!  Kathleen O'Connor will be updating us on her life this Thursday-make sure to catch her talk-It's a Cat's Life!

 

CB

 

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