Commendation Awarded to Peter Patterson - September 2024

On September 3^rd 2024 the Frankston Susono Friendship Association (FSFA) committee welcomed the Consul-General of Japan to a very special committee meeting held at Frankston City Council Chambers.

Consul-General Shimada, Peter & Margaret Patterson, and Mrs. Shimada

Consul-General Shimada attended FSFA’s committee meeting to present a special commendation award to Mr. Peter Patterson, former FSFA Chairperson. Peter was acknowledged for all his hard work promoting Japanese culture within the community, and for ensuring the relationship between Frankston and its sister-city, Susono, continued to thrive during his many years as Chairperson. Peter was also instrumental in re-writing the rule-book for sister-city relationships, as he was able to come up with innovative ways to ensure the sister-city relationship with Susono continued to flourish.

FSFA Committee with Patterson Family & Special Guests

Consul-General Shimada and Mrs. Shimada spent time mingling and chatting with members of the FSFA Committee, FSFA Life Members and members of Frankston Council. The refreshments provided by Frankston Council were enjoyed by all. After the formal presentation by Consul-General Shimada to Peter Patterson, the FSFA committee delivered a presentation to our special guests which included a brief history of FSFA, followed by current activities and plans and goals for the future.

Current Treasurer & Life Member Bev Hannan with Life Members Vic Walker and Rod Johnston

Currently the FSFA committee are supporting Taiko drumming lessons for members of the Frankston community and are planning to support a delegation from Frankston to attend the 2025 World Expo which is being held in Osaka. Connections between Frankston and Susono continue to grow as our short-term student exchange programs have recommenced following COVID. Members of FSFA and SOFA also meet quarterly via ZOOM to discuss upcoming plans for the future. At the most recent ZOOM meeting, our friends in Susono were delighted to hear of Peter Patterson’s special award and were suitably impressed to hear that the Consul-General of Japan had attended our FSFA meeting.

FSFA Committee Members with Consul-General and Mrs. Shimada

The evening concluded with the presentation to Consul-General Shimada and Mrs. Shimada of a Certificate of Honorary Membership to the Frankston Susono Friendship Association by current Chairperson Julie D’Arcy. Julie also acknowledged and thanked past and present committee members for all their hard work and dedication to FSFA and the sister city relationship, and congratulated Peter Patterson for all his achievements.

Peter Patterson with his Commendation Certificate and Consul-General Shimada

To read further on Peter Patterson's commendation by Japanese Consul-General Shimada, and his further accomplishments, please click this link.

2024 FSFA Japanese Speech Contest

The Frankston Susono Friendship Association held its annual Japanese Speech Contest at Monash Peninsula Campus on Friday 6^th September. The Association is a group of volunteer citizens who administer Frankston’s sister city relationship with Susono, Shizuoka in Japan on behalf of the Frankston City Council. FSFA have worked to promote Japanese culture, the study of Japanese language plus student and cultural exchanges since the sister city relationship was established in February 1982.

The Association invited students from local primary and secondary schools to this year’s contest and 54 entries were received. Contestants were required to recite a short self-introduction followed by a set piece based on the folktale story of Omusubi Kororin (The Rolling Riceball) and were judged by a panel of Japanese speakers. Contestants competed in Lower Primary, Upper Primary, Japanese Environment (Primary), Junior Secondary, Intermediate Secondary, Japanese Environment (Secondary) and Senior Secondary divisions.

Perpetual trophies and individual trophies for the 7 divisions

FSFA Chairperson Julie D’Arcy welcomed all contestants, their parents and teachers before explaining the work undertaken by the Association and the importance of the annual contest in promoting the teaching of Japanese language in our local schools.

The evening’s program started with the 3 primary divisions and 25 excited and nervous contestants presenting before the judging panel. Individual trophies were awarded to the top three students in each division, with the top contestant in each division also awarded a perpetual trophy which is displayed at their school for the next 12 months.

Results:

Lower Primary (Prep to Year 3):

1^st           Acacia C (Dromana Primary School)

2^nd          Charlie J (Derinya Primary School)

3^rd           Annie B (Overport Primary School)

 

Upper Primary (Years 4 to 6):

1^st           Ojas P (Overport Primary School)

2^nd          Luciana D (Dromana Primary School)

3^rd           Matilda H (Dromana Primary School)

 

Japanese Environment (Primary):

1^st           Hannah F (Overport Primary School)

2^nd          Taidgh F (Overport Primary School)

3^rd           Kai D (Overport Primary School)

Primary Division Winners Ojas, Acacia and Hannah with Therese and Julie

The secondary schools followed with students presenting a more detailed self-introduction and set piece or Japanese themed topic in each of the 4 divisions. At the conclusion of these speeches Committee member and winner of last year’s Senior Division Jorden Lancaster commented on the impressive standard of all contestants and recognized the enormous challenge of memorizing and presenting a speech in the Japanese language, especially given that the senior division students are required to write, memorize and present a 3-to-5-minute speech on a topic of their choice.

Results:

Junior (Years 7 & 8):

1^st           Lucas P (Nazareth College)

2^nd          Annabelle E (Nazareth College)

3^rd           Santhana R (Hillcrest Christian College)

 

Intermediate (Years 9 & 10):

1^st           Lakeesha H (Hillcrest Christian College)

2^nd          Sohan N (Nossal High School)

3^rd           Charlie R (Nossal High School)

 

Japanese Environment (Secondary):

1^st           Riku K (Frankston High School)

2^nd          Kohane T (Frankston High School)

3^rd           Sara A (Hillcrest Christian College)

 

Senior (Years 11 & 12):

1^st           Ayaan K (Nossal High School)

2^nd          Katokakala L (Frankston High School)

3^rd           Flynn R (Frankston High School)

 

Secondary Division Winners Riku, Ayaan, Lucas and Lakeesha

A special thank you to our panel of judges for assisting at this year’s contest; the teachers for their hours of hard work preparing their students; and the parents and families for their attendance, encouragement and support. Finally, our appreciation to Monash Peninsula Campus for making such a wonderful venue available to our Association and the hard-working members of the FSFA Committee for organising and running another successful Japanese Speech Contest.

Gifts for our wonderful judges presented by the Senior Division Winners

Come 'N' Try Taiko at Frankston Bunnings Store

On Sunday 14th July 2024 our Frankston Taiko Drumming group held a fantastic Come 'N' Try Taiko event at the Bunnings Frankston store! There were lots of enthusiastic participants willing to have a go and learn Japanese drumming during the event.

The workshop started with a performance by members of our drumming group using our recently acquired taiko drums in public for the first time! We played the piece taught to the group by teacher Toshi Sakamoto at our June taiko lesson a number of times to an appreciative audience.

We then invited members of the audience to join us and try Japanese taiko drumming. Instructions on how to hold the bachi (drumming sticks) and how to stand were given before a short warm-up. This was followed by the participants repeating a number of basic drumming patterns given by our Vice-Chairperson and instructor Simon.

Participants were then taught the performance piece our group had given at the beginning of the workshop, making sure to break down the piece into short and easy to follow segments. As each segment was learnt, we added more until we were playing the whole piece. We were even joined by a number of the Bunnings staff members who were keen to have a try during their break from work duties!

This part of the workshop concluded with a number of performances of the piece our participants had just learnt before we invited more people to have a turn. There were so many willing participants that we needed all our taiko drums, plus our gomi daiko (plastic rubbish bin practice drums), and our 5 mini taiko drums being played by the toddlers!

How cute were these participants?

Our shutterbug Peter said there were 24 people drumming at one stage in a large circle using the biggest and smallest taiko drums to play together! We had 40-50 people of all ages participating during the 2-hour workshop.

A huge thank you to our FSFA team who made the day possible - "teamwork makes the dream work!", the participants who came along and joined in during the workshop, and to Frankston Bunnings Activities Organiser Lyn Kellow for providing the great venue and her and Bunnings support for FSFA and our Frankston Taiko Drumming group. Lyn said she would love to have us back to run another workshop.