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Current highlights - details are under activities and past activities :

We have already had two full blow-ins in 2012: a Handel blow-in led by Ursula Grawe in mid-February, playing Roger Palmer's new arrangement for recorder orchestra of two works in Handel's Concerto Grosso op 6; and an April blow-in playing a Telemann concerto arranged by Bach, under the leadership of Diane Draper. Both were very well received!

In March we had our Annual General Meeting, at which the 2011 committee reported, and the 2012 committee was elected. Colin Smith was re-elected as President and Tanya McLean was re-elected Treasurer, with committee members Ursula Grawe, Roger Palmer, Kate Patrick, and Elisabeth Middleton. As per the rules, the committee has now designated two of its members to fill the vacant officer positions: Roger is now the Vice President and Kate Patrick the secretary. As a result, we have three vacancies for ordinary committee members - please let us know if you'd like to lend a hand.

Plans for later in the year are being developed by the new committee. Currently they include: 

• a whole-day workshop at Ballarat U3A on Saturday 19 May, from 10 am to 4.30 pm (bookings for this have now closed - we have a good attendance and expect to have a great day!)
  
• a soiree on Saturday 23 June, at the High Street Road Uniting Church
  
• a blow-in led by Jill Ferris on Sunday 15 July
  
• our annual two-day residential weekend at Myrniong on 5 - 7 October
• a soiree focusing on youth towards the end of the year.

An urgent task for the new committee is to find a new home for the library. The Victorian Music Library, where the library is currently housed, has to relocate in October. We are looking for a space to house at least 10 4-drawer filing cabinets and a bookshelf, ideally with room for a desk, computer, and printer, and internet access, and reasonably easy for members and the library team to get to. Perhaps a bungalow which is no longer used? an office at a school or university? Suggestions gratefully received, please use our contact page.

If you're interested in helping with the library, you might consider joining the library team? We are looking for a successor to Frances Wheeler as library coordinator, and an apprentice cataloguer to help Ruth Lewis... Do contact us at recorderplayers@gmail.com if you'd like to help.

Some longer term plans: the VRG is leading plans for a major recorder festival in Melbourne in 2015. For details, see the Recorders 2015 tab, which includes links so that you can put yourself on our mailing list, and complete a survey giving your ideas for the festival. If you're on Facebook, do visit the new Recorders 2015 page, www.facebook.com/recorders2015, and join the conversation. 

New members are welcome to join us, see our membership page.  Membership renewal for 2012 was due by the end of March - if your April newsletter did not arrive, you probably need to renew your subscription!

You can now join or renew online via our surveymonkey membership form (though you will have to pay via bank transfer or cheque as per usual...)

If you have suggestions for material to put on this website please contact  us.

Also do let us know of news items with a recorder flavour - such as the Early Music of Victoria concert and a charity gig by the recorder-led band Sweet Ade, both just coming up! see our News page.

Updated 18 May 2012 - KP