Queensland News

Just like all of those going to Peterborough, Dragons Abreast Brisbane are VERY excited that members of Missabittatitti will be joining many other participants from around the globe for the Internal Dragon Boat Festival for breast cancer survivors! Following the festival a group of us will be heading to New York and beyond! We will be posting our group adventures on a Blog so we can share with our family and friends, as well as the members who were not able to join us in Canada. If you would like to follow and ‘join is on our adventure’ just go to the following link: http://www.mbtcanadiantrip2010.blogspot.com/

Latest newsletter: Titti Tattler June 2009

Brisbane newsletter October 2008

April 2005, Misssabittatitti, along with 2 boats, and supporters from the Gold Coast, Cooloola and Brisbane River Dragons, set out to St George, travelling over 1,000kms, to honour a long standing commitment, help promote Dragons Abreast with a view to getting started in that area. On arrival, we headed down to the Balonne River for a warm -up paddle, inviting the locals to “try it out”. The weekend was a great success, and we welcomed new comers to the mystery of paddling a dragon boat and Dragons Abreast. It was an impressive sight, with an extravagance of pink – in the form of pink hats, plaits, mini-titti dragons and feather boas.

Fellow Missabittatitti paddler, Corina Bradley, and I were recently granted scholarships, courtesy of American Breast Cancer groups, Young Survivors Coalition ( www.youngsurvival.org) and Living with Breast Cancer ( www.lbbc.org) to attend the 6^th Annual Conference for Younger Women Affected by Breast Cancer held in Denver, Colorado, USA in late February 2006. read more

We were unfortunate to lose one of our paddlers Margaret Griffin on 7 September, after several weeks in the Wesley hospital. This was the first time we have lost one of our girls, and it affected the whole team deeply.

A "Flowers on the Water" ceremony was held on the Saturday following Margie's funeral, as a tribute to all the wonderful people we lose to this dreadful illness.

We have been donated a wonderful trailer to transport the two dragon boats to regattas etc by the very generous employer of one of our paddlers, Sylvia Walker. PPG has had this trailer constructed for us and we are now the envy of other clubs in the South East region. We will be having the official hand over of the trailer in December when we co-host the Comslie Regatta with Te Waka and Brisbane River Dragons.

More good news is that we were granted funds from the Gaming Community Benefit Fund to purchase a safety boat. We have a Mako IRB with a 50hp Suzuki motor to follow us up and down the river to ensure the safety of our paddlers. This indeed is comforting, as we have sighted one shark, and a dolphin on our morning sessions recently.

Sponsors

We are very pleased to welcome aboard new sponsors Motorama and PPG Industries Australia Pty Ltd as well as Metro Refinish Supplies, who have donated shirts and singlets for the local girls so we look even more beautiful when we travel to Canberra next month for the Masters Games.

South Bank Regatta March 9 2003

Sunday was a typical sunny autumn day in beautiful down town Brisbane for the second annual South Bank Dragonboat Regatta, jointly hosted by Brisbane River Dragons and Dragons Abreast Qld.

The twelve corporate teams had been in training on the Bulimba reach of the river for the past few weeks, under the guidance of our sweep Steve along with fellow sweeps from the Gold Coast Dragons Gary and Dallas. Many of the paddlers from Brisbane River Dragons and Dragons Abreast's pink ladies helped out by training with the newcomers.

A Buddhist blessing was bestowed upon the fleet with the eyes of the dragon being opened by the monks for the duration of the day. This ceremony was absolutely wonderful and set the mood for this traditionally Chinese sporting event.

Soon after the course was laid out by our safety officers Blair, Les and Scott the first heat was ready to launch the day's activities. We had teams from Energex, the DPI, Prince Charles and St Andrew's Hospitals as well as the teams from the South Bank precinct such as Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre, Ridges Hotel and South Bank itself. Sporting teams from Brisbane and the Gold Coast joined us too, and it was great for the crowd to witness crews paddling as it should be done in perfect time and measured strokes powering through the water. The Gold Coast team will be one of the Qld teams competing in the Australian Titles to be held in Adelaide in April, and hope to go on to Shanghai in August.

The word for the day was "fun", and everyone who came certainly had fun! The South Bank team, last year's winners managed to swamp their boat - not once but twice! They had seconded a few extra paddlers from Brisbane River Dragons and Dragons Abreast too for their last effort, so Leonie, Bernie and Sue had their first taste of a rollover in the river. All was well as we had the muscle men from Qld Lifesaving on hand for just such an eventuality.

Many of the corporate teams went to quite a lot of bother to make their costumes stand out from the crowd. The team to take the prize was "Wacky Racers" and they had Bob the Builder hard hats with various tools attached - still not enough help to take out the winner's trophy in the racing. St Andrew's team called themselves "Brave Hearts" and wore striking blue and white face paint to some advantage! Their tartan kilts were of great interest to those wanting to know if the rumour about kilts was true!

Our announcer Kelli did a fantastic job keeping the crowd informed throughout the day, and will no doubt be called upon to use those skills again very soon.

Dragons Abreast held a raffle, which was well supported with great prizes on offer from our generous sponsors. We had a wheelbarrow full of "boys toys" donated by Bunnings of Castledine, there were two 6 month memberships at HealthWorks gym at Everton Park, and a grocery hamper donated by our team members.

We also received generous support from the QCF which donated 2 large containers of sunscreen for the participants to use, Farmer Joe's Country Market donated a case of oranges which were cut up and offered to the paddlers as they came off the water, and the paddlers wore brand new pfd's (life jackets) many donated by Lockwood, one of our newest supporters.

There were many many people involved in making this day such fun, so thanks to all involved
and we hope to make next year's event even bigger and better.

Last Saturday saw 6 new ladies arrive to try Dragonboating with our team. All totally enjoyed the experience and intend to return.

Next Sunday we have a demonstration day at Southbank. The Southbank Corporation (our sponsors) donated our 2 boats. A great way to reach out to the public and thank our supporters.

Edith , Sue B, Sue L and Tiger were among the Cleveland Silent Walk and Mini Field of Women on Sunday which Edith had done a great job of organizing.

Later in the week all are looking forward to a gala fashion parade with Breast Cancer survivors from The Wesley Hospital Support Groups as models. All monies raised from that event will go to the Kim Walters Choices Programme. If last year's results are repeated it will be an event not to be missed. Even the amateur models who started the event shaking in their shoes finished as total professionals and loved every minute. All models are chosen from the ranks of Survivors.

Madeleine Luck and Kay Taaffe hosted the official opening of "Shirl's Place", a cottage with a warm, welcoming feeling for women (and men for that matter) Breast Cancer survivors who struggle to afford a much needed break. It allows time to reflect and rethink their life and reunite with themselves while regaining energy to face the busy world.

South Bank Dragon Boat Regatta - 17^th March 2002

6.30am Several zombie like members of Brisbane River Dragons and Dragons Abreast hauled our three boats into the murky waters of the Brisbane River in preparation for them to be towed behind Damian & Tara's Zodiac up to South Bank Beach. After celebrating Tara's birthday the evening before, things were moving slowly.

7.00am With the fantastic Queensland sunshine warming us to the task, paddlers were swarming all over South Bank marking out the twelve team areas, and setting up Registration tents, loading pontoons with paddles life jackets etc

9.55am By now our teams had registered and the locals were somewhat amused to see the Energex One team wandering around in green tutus and tiaras, and the St Andrew's Bravehearts in blue faced warpaint. How the Wackie Racers didn't win the best dressed with their red sparkling wigs and black cloaks, witch hat and cackling is surprising.

10.00am The Chinese Dragon leaped out in front of the crowd and with much beating of drums ensured there were no evil spirits to spoil the day. Master Tom Lo gave a Buddhist blessing to the fleet and with the traditional dotting of the eyes, our new pink boat, Moggill was launched on her maiden voyage.

3.30pm Hundreds gathered on the lawns at Riverside Green for the prize presentations and drawing of the BCNA/Dragons Abreast raffle by Bill Grant, CEO of South Bank. Every paddler was given a certificate, and the Trophies and Medals looked fantastic. Celebrations continued with live music from the band from O.R.G.A.N. while the weary Brisbane River Dragons gathered together to congratulate ourselves back at the 18' Sailing Club on having run such a successful regatta.

Twelve corporate teams contested 12 heats Sunday's regatta, and included entries from Bakers Delight - a major sponsor of Breast Cancer Network Australia / Dragons Abreast, Energex, and a couple of the local hospitals - St Andrews and Prince Charles.