PEN VIEWS

 

 

PEN VIEWS

February 2011

The Pleasures of a Pen Club

As a member of the Vancouver Pen Club, I attend every meeting that I can, and enjoy the monthly get together where fellow members show their newest acquisitions as well as hear a presentation on a selected topic.

The new acquisitions is a great regular part of the meeting. I particular enjoy that for two reasons. I get to see some pens that I would not and, its is always nice to know there are people other than myself who just can't stop buying pens!

It was a pleasurable surprise to open up on the February edition of Pen World . It included an article by Jil McIntosh, a freelance writer and pen collector from Oshawa, Ontario, about the variety of pen clubs across the United States and Canada. Bird of a Feather is a pretty good title that captures the spirit of a group of people, interested in pens, who flock together on a regular basis through a local pen club.

The Vancouver Pen Club has regular meetings, the third Thursday of each month, with the exception of December. Meeting details are available on their web site.

I am into the second year of going the meetings and over the time I have attended I have enjoyed not only the meeting and chatting that goes on, but to hear about what individual pens mean to each person. It is not uncommon to hear that "... my father gave me this pen..." or "... I remember going with my father to pick my first pen... " or "... it was a gift from a friend...". There are just a few but the theme is always how the pen means something to the person.

The connection between a pen and a person's valued memories is something that those who use disposable pens will never have. The Grand and Toy stick pen is tossed when it is dry, or left behind with little care as there is a box of them in the office stationary section.

At the meetings we get together and see each other for a couple of hours. Some weeks individuals even bring some beer to drink! Nice touch. And at some meetings we have visitors from other pen clubs who just happen to be in Vancouver on the night of one of our meetings. That is especially nice. It is something all the pen clubs should try to build on.

While the Vancouver Pen Club made the Pen World article along with information on American pen clubs, there are others in Canada. Just an out-of-town guest is a treat at our meetings, when travelling across Canada you may want to consider the following clubs as potential great evening events:

Vancouver Pen Club
www.vancouverpenclub.com
3rd Thursday of each month (Except December); 6:30 pm
Check the web site for meeting information
Perks Pen Store
5844 Cambie Street
Vancouver, BC
Take the Canada Line sky-train from downtown Vancouver to the Oakridge Stop, Perks is located just across the street from the Oakrdige Shopping Centre. A short ten minute or so ride.

Calgary Pen Club
www.calgarypenclub.com
2nd Monday of each month from 7 - 9 pm
Check the web site for meeting information or drop them an email.
Their February 2011 meeting included Snorkel repairs!

London Pen Club
www.londonpenclub.com
Saturday mornings, 9:30 - noon
William's On Wonderland
3030 Wonderland Road at Southdale
London, Ontario
Location information on the web site.

Ottawa Pen Society
www.ottawafountainpensociety.org
last Tuesday of the month, except for July, August and December
Check web site for information. When I checked the last entry on the site was a while ago so send an email to confirm date and location.

 

Enjoy your pens. 

Your pen, an expression of you.