The 33rd Australian National Bonsai Convention
May 2020
Please see below a message from the President of the AABC Ltd, Dianne Boekhout.
The current COVID-19 pandemic and the actions mandated by Federal, State and Territory Governments and Health officials have resulted in it being necessary for us to cancel the forthcoming 33rd AABC National Convention hosted by Illawarra Bonsai Society.
The AABC Board and Illawarra Bonsai Society have taken this decision in the best interests of all participants. There is no likelihood of being able to reschedule the event in 2020.
The Illawarra Convention Committee will be contacting registrants regarding refunds.
The AABC Board express their great appreciation to the Illawarra Convention Committee for the enormous amount of work they have done to date organising the Convention. We are sad that the cancellation of the Convention will take some gloss of Illawarra’s celebration of their 50th year as a club but they can be proud of their efforts and can still proudly celebrate their Golden Anniversary.
There were several VTP events coming up over the next few months that have had to be cancelled but the Board has agreed that any approvals can be carried over to next financial year. The Visiting Tutor Program relies on funding from successful convention surpluses that will not be forthcoming this year. The Board will monitor the situation to ensure that we are not placing the organisation in financial jeopardy as there are still non-recoverable costs for the cancelled convention to be met by the AABC.
We hope this epidemic is overcome quickly and Australia returns to as normal a level of activity as we can. The focus for us is now on making the 9th World Bonsai Convention in Perth in October 2021 a success.
The current COVID-19 pandemic and the actions mandated by Federal, State and Territory Governments and Health officials have resulted in it being necessary for us to cancel the forthcoming 33rd AABC National Convention hosted by Illawarra Bonsai Society.
The AABC Board and Illawarra Bonsai Society have taken this decision in the best interests of all participants. There is no likelihood of being able to reschedule the event in 2020.
The Illawarra Convention Committee will be contacting registrants regarding refunds.
The AABC Board express their great appreciation to the Illawarra Convention Committee for the enormous amount of work they have done to date organising the Convention. We are sad that the cancellation of the Convention will take some gloss of Illawarra’s celebration of their 50th year as a club but they can be proud of their efforts and can still proudly celebrate their Golden Anniversary.
There were several VTP events coming up over the next few months that have had to be cancelled but the Board has agreed that any approvals can be carried over to next financial year. The Visiting Tutor Program relies on funding from successful convention surpluses that will not be forthcoming this year. The Board will monitor the situation to ensure that we are not placing the organisation in financial jeopardy as there are still non-recoverable costs for the cancelled convention to be met by the AABC.
We hope this epidemic is overcome quickly and Australia returns to as normal a level of activity as we can. The focus for us is now on making the 9th World Bonsai Convention in Perth in October 2021 a success.
