First Rasha Umeljic was hospitalised, requiring an operation to repair an aneurysm on his aorta. He will off work for three months.

Then Alan Kenley checked himself in to the Jewish General with an irregular heat beat. He underwent a bunch of tests, but plans to be back at rehearsal tonight.

On a personal note, I will be celebrating my 6^th "New" Birthday tomorrow, since it was January 31, 2000 that I had my heart attack.

The show is only 13 weeks away! That means we have a bunch of new music to learn, tickets to sell and advertising to sell for the show program. We have budgeted to make a profit on this year’s show – something we haven’t done for the past four years. One way we can do that is to sell enough advertising that we pay for the costs of the show.

It can be done, and there is no time like the present to start. See Murray or Steve! We will be taking orders for tickets at the same time. so start to talk up our show with your friends and acquaintances. The price of the tickets has been reduced to $20.00 CDN or $17.50 US.

Former NED member Rick Spencer has been named Director of Music Education and Services.

"Rick Spencer is a fine musician, vocalist, arranger, teacher and extremely well organized," said Joe Liles, a past Executive Director who has served as Interim Director of Music Education the past eight months. "He is in touch with youth and has great vision for the future of the Society. He has already proven himself a good manager. I'm looking forward to working with him in his new capacity."

NO change since last week. Talk to somebody about barbershop this week! Our target for members this year is for a 7 member NET INCREASE by the end if 2006.

Everyone should be there next Saturday, as we will be receiving coaching as a chorus for the full day, by Steve Tramack, Director of the Granite Statesman. The day starts at 8:00 AM and will finish at 6:00 PM, after the mini-concert by the participating quartets and choruses.

Rick will be at the Great Northern Harmony Workshop.

The Board of Directors for 2006 wants to make sure we are all pulling in the same direction, and have a growing, happy, competitive Chapter and Chorus.

At last Monday’s meeting, our "contract" was explained, and each member was asked to sign up. Most are things we are already doing, and all are intended to help us improve, so if you were away, or haven’t signed yet, ask for a copy.

As part of our Commitment Contract, we have agreed to personally record ourselves on a regular basis. If you are looking for a new recording device, a copy of a great report done for the Heart of Carolina Chorus is available through the Member’s Only web site. It is a PDF file, or an Excel spread sheet.

Alan Kenley has a supplier that has sent us coffee and hot chocolate on consignment. We sell the units at $5.00 each and we make $2.50 per unit for the Chapter. It is good quality coffee and hot chocolate, too!

Alan Mackenzie is taking over the printer cartridge-recycling project. Not every cartridge is eligible, but if you check with Alan, he’ll tell you if yours are eligible. If they are, all you need to do is give them to him on a Monday evening.

The chapter can benefit from your car repairs, your appetite, your clothes… all you have to do is get the cards to buy at the outlets from FundScrip.