VPC at the CFPE picnic!

Fifteen Vancouver Pen Club members attended a picnic hosted by the local members of the Canadian Fountain Pen Enthusiasts (CFPE)-- a private Facebook group--- on Sunday September 10th! The setting was Deas Island Regional Park in Delta, BC, and the weather was nice and sunny for this casual, fun get-together (many VPC members are also members of the CFPE, so you'll see a lot of familiar faces in the photos that Sherman and I snapped :)

(The first 16 photos are courtesy of Sherman ~ please click on images to enlarge)

Sharon T. reserved a covered picnic area at Fisher's Field, the same location at the park where the CFPE's 2022 picnic was held

We had lots of table space for our pens....

...and people brought lots of food to share, too!

Some members brought pens to sell, while just other brought pens to show...

My friend Brian (above) had lots of really nice fountain pens for sale, and I bought a sweet English-made red ripple hard rubber lever-filling fountain pen (maker unknown) from him. Thanks again for the pen, Brian!

 There were lots of beautiful writing instruments for us to see (like the ones in Mark's vintage Parker display, above) in a relaxed, peaceful outdoor setting

(Above) That's Sharon T --who co-organized the event with Mark-- talking to Egon (I think Egon was the only person there who wasn't also in our pen club!). Sharon brought many lovely pens for us to see, and she showed me the software she uses to catalog her collection (if only I had that kind of discipline!)

(Photo above) Longtime Vancouver Pen Club member Derek carefully inspecting some pens....

Jerred (left, above) talking about his Delta pen collection (he brought in his entire collection for us to see!)

(Photo above) Phil and Rene (in hat)--both fans of vintage pens---had plenty of beautiful older fountain pens to look at. Sherman (in the background) had plenty of food to choose from ;)

(Top to bottom of photo): Dave M, Vladan, Jerred and Sharon N. (sporting a very cool arm tattoo). Dave is another long-time member of our pen club with an amazing writing instrument collection.


Now, here are the group shots (aka Sherman's famous selfies 😉) I know you've been waiting to see...

(Left to Right) Rene, Brian, me (Maja), Sherman and Jerred (note: I edited the original photo---with Sherman's permission--because my eyes were closed lol)

(L-R, at/by the table) : Sherman, Phil, Vladan (with cap), Egon and Dave M.

(L-R): Sherman, Egon, Sharon N, Sharon T (seated) and Derek

(L-R): Sherman, Sam and Mark

(L-R): Sherman, Jayne, Sharon N. and Egon.

 I also snapped a few photos....

(all photos below taken by Maja ~ please click on images to enlarge)

As I mentioned earlier, Jerred brought his complete Delta fountain pen collection to the picnic. We'd seen a lot of the pens at our pen club meetings over the years, but not all of them...and not all at once!

Above: A closer look at Jerred's marvelous Deltas

Rene and Jerred are both keen fountain pen collectors and I always learn something from them at our pen club meetings....

Mark (middle) also has a wealth of fountain pen knowledge, although his focus is vintage pens (which he also repairs, as well as some modern pens). Phil (left) and Sam look on while Mark inspects a Manos twist-filler, a black hard rubber vintage fountain pen belonging to Phil. The pen is a real oddity in that its barrel end was heat-crimped after its filling mechanism was installed at the factory, making it practically unserviceable (more info on it here)

That's Vladan, a CFPE member who joined our club after last year's CFPE picnic. Despite being in our club for just over a year, he took on the formidable task of Vancouver Pelikan Hub organizer for 2022, and he's the Vancouver organizer for it again this year (thank you, Vladan!)

 

Sharon N. holding a cool die-cast metal car that came with the Wahl-Eversharp 'Skyliner 50' fountain pen, a model that came out in 2013, shortly after the Wahl-Eversharp company was relaunched. Last year, Sharon brought her wonderful Pelikan fountain pen collection, which she just started collecting the year prior!

Jayne (above) brought lots of really nice pens to sell. I didn't buy any this year, but last year, I bought a pretty Lamy Al-Star fountain pen in "Vibrant Pink" and a bottle of Ferris Wheel Press "Edwards Garden" fountain pen ink from her (both of which I reviewed here). In the foreground of the photo, you can see some of Sharon T's amazing fountain pen collection, which consists of both vintage and modern pens.

One more photo! Peter (middle of photo, leaning over table) arrived a bit later and main photographer Sherman left a bit earlier, so I'm glad I snapped this shot :)

Many thanks to Sharon T. and Mark for organizing the picnic and inviting our club members to it (special thanks to Sharon for her generosity in reserving the picnic space), and to Sherman for snapping so many photos of this really fun event!

(~Blog post by Maja~)

** I'll be posting photos from our September meeting --held at the Vancouver Pen Shop two nights ago---sometime this weekend or Monday, so watch this space!