Many thanks to the Vancouver Pen Shop for inviting us to their wonderful store in downtown Vancouver for our August meeting on the 22nd! Sherman and I both snapped a lot of photos, but I'll start with his pics as he took a lot more photos of people (I took more photos of the pencils people brought in for the evening's theme lol). Enjoy!
(all photos courtesy of Sherman ~ please click on photos to enlarge)
That's Sherman on the left, with longtime Vancouver Pen Club member Mark (Sherman is holding up one of Mark's new business cards for his pen repair business PenDen.ca)
It was a full house at the store --someone estimated about 60 people in attendance!-- and there were many new faces, like Allan (next to Sherman) and Amy L. (holding up a cute pen/pencil case above). Amy joined our club a while ago, but attended her first meeting that night and ditto for Christopher T. (wearing a tan cap, back turned to camera, talking to Paul in the background).
Francis (at the table, wearing a light grey cap) and Anson (next to Francis) both "officially" joined our club recently, and Christina (far right of photo) joined this Spring, but there were many attendees at the meeting who weren't in our pen club. If you're one of those folks and want to join our club, please email us at: vancouverpenclub@gmail.com (we're a casual & friendly bunch 😁)!
Everyone knows Shannon, the hard-working manager of the Vancouver Pen Shop! (that's newer VPS staff member Dee in the background) Many thanks to the Pen Shop staff for their patience and ever-helpful service during a very busy/hectic evening!
Above: (left to right) Rumi, Leo (who I hadn't seen since prior to the pandemic!) and Mohammad.
(Left to right) Longtime VPC member Tristan (who I hadn't seen since 2020), me (Maja), Vladan and Trevor.
Above: Anson (in the white hoodie) looks on as Amy H. inspects some of the lovely handmade fountain pens he produces under his Springfield Pens brand. That's Amy's friend Anna next to her, and Daryl in the background...
Left to right: David C, Collin, Mark, Jerred, Rene, Trevor and Christopher T, who joined our club at the start of 2024 and attended his first meeting tonight!.
That's David L. (far left) talking to Francis. Charles (far right) brought his fountain pen fan friend Rick (standing to Charles' right) to his first VPC meeting ... and Rick wound up winning a door prize!
That's longtime VPCer (and loyal Vancouver Pen Shop customer) Stuart strolling into the main part of the store. The store's foyer has a whole wall of inks for sale, calligraphy supplies, discounted pens and Galen Leather products, while the main area has lots of wonderful writing instruments (fountain pens, rollerballs, ballpoints, pencils) at every price point, and many pen- and ink-related accessories.
The Pen Shop had several raffle prize draws that evening -- that's Shannon in the middle of the photo above, drawing the winning numbers.
Above: VPCer (and talented nib repair guy) Jerred, picking up his raffle prize (a bottle of Sailor Shiki-Ori ink)...
...and a very happy Rumi picking up hers (a turquoise Caran d'Ache '849' mechanical pencil)!
And last, but not least, Sherman and his pencil collection!
The evening's theme (chosen by Shannon from the Pen Shop) was "Pencils---any kind" and we saw lots of wonderful examples (which you'll also see in part 2 of the August meetup photos--the photos I snapped that night)
Sherman was kind enough to send in this photo of the pencils he brought (seen above), along with this caption:
"These are all the pencils in my collection. I am so fond of those Staedtler Pencils from the University of Ottawa. The 4 élysée Parthenon (10 Line) Bi-Colour Platinum & 18K Gold Plated pens are a set, so I minded as well showcasing the fountain, rolling ball & ballpoint pens together. Another impressive item was the Kuru Toga Advance White Mechanical Pencil. The Vancouver Pen Shop should have this available in the very near future. My young son bought it online, and gifted it to impress me, wohahaha…. The pencil can rotate the lead itself while writing, so the tip on the lead is always in round shape… no more sharp edges…. Isn’t it so sick???🤣🤣🤣"
Many thanks to the Vancouver Pen Shop for a fun get-together, all the wonderful raffle prizes, snacks and goody bags, and thanks to Sherman for his great photos!😊
Part 2 of the evening's photos will be posted tomorrow night or Monday, so watch for that soon! (** Update **--Part 2 posted here!)
Cheers,
~Maja
2 comments:
I adore the Caran d'Ache mechanical pencil! I was in fact admiring them in the back of the store and thought "these are quite nice!"
Hi Esther! Congratulations on your raffle prize! Use it in good health, as we say :) I saw Rumi's prize and saw it was a pencil, but wasn't sure if yours was, as well. Thanks for letting me know.
~Maja
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