Newsletter 16: Sunday 19 April 2026

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Centre's roadside display cabinet, which is very hard to use. will be replaced with a new, easier to operate model.

 Annual Reports for Charity Commission and our AGM will be produced once all relevant material has been collated by Angela (secretary). 

Financial report  March 2026 (EOY).  Income at 96% and expenses at 101% of budget gave us a DEFICIT of $1,300 for the year. Overall a reasonable result considering that there are still members who have not replied to appeals or financially contributed to the branch in time to be counted.

Preliminary budget predictions for the next financial year indicate a larger deficit if members’ contributions do not increase.

Robin B. will offer a series of introductory talks for people new to Anthroposophy during the month of June.

The Festival Group will ask for help with the Winter Festival via the newsletter.

One of the boards outside the front entrance is rotten and needs replacing.
Any handymen keen to help? Please contact Angela.  angela@concordia.co.nz

The hedge on the fence to the School carpark needs a good prune. Any volunteers please contact Angela to coordinate a suitable time.

Robin to contact Christian Mission Fellowship International Group again about their enquiry to rent the main room on an ongoing basis.

Robin to collect and collate all volunteer hours performed by members activities in and care for the Centre over the last financial year – for the Charity Commission Report.  If you contributed voluntary (unpaid) hours  in categories: committee; trust; library; preparing for events or festivals; creating displays, etc. please give category and estimate of hours for each category to Robin: robin@bacchus.co.nz

 A big Thank You to Diana, Bernie, Robin and Gerrit for rearranging and improving the storage areas in the Centre.

Our insurance costs will increase significantly this year due to a request by the insurance company to provide a rebuild valuation and an electrical report on the wiring.

Gerrit Raichle

For the ASHB Committee

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Exploring Anthroposophy

Do you want to know more about the ideas of Rudolf Steiner that gave rise to Waldorf Steiner Education and Biodynamic agriculture and a number of other social impulses?

As one of the founding teachers of the Taikura High School, a Class teacher and international teacher educator, I would like to offer people who are curious an opportunity to ask questions, discuss and have conversations about Anthroposophy and its relevance today.

Rudolf Steiner worked very intensively in the first quarter of the 20^th century and many things have outwardly changed since, and humanity has evolved, but has also created some challenging social and global situations.  Rudolf Steiner has interesting insights into the stages of human development in a lifetime but also socially.  Are they still relevant today?  I think so.

I would like to set up a series of regular weekly meetings during June, and possibly after, for those who are curious to bring their questions, listen, discuss, explore ….

Before setting days or times – over which I can be quite flexible – can I hear from anyone interested what days/times work best for them and similarly what does not.

Please contact me, Robin Bacchus, on robin@bacchus.co.nz or 022-3982805.

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Introduction to the First Class of the School of Spiritual Science with David Urieli

We start in the new term with Lesson 5 on Wed 22nd April at 7:30 am.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

An Early English and Chaucer Evening

Tania Diedericks (school parent) is in her final year of a speech and drama training and will perform 3 early English ballads arising from oral tradition; as well as five characters (pilgrims) from "The Canterbury Tales" by Geoffrey Chaucer. There will also be early music and song contributing to a rich evening, celebrating the beginnings of English literature.

This will be on Friday 24th April at 7pm. 

Presentation

On the Saturday 16^th of May, after doing his first Taruna Waldorf Teacher Training Course,

Matthew Frear will also do a presentation for the End of his first year of the Speech and Drama Training.

You are warmly invited to this event, at 3:30 pm, at the Rudolf Steiner Centre, Hastings.  DETAILS

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Meditation Seminar with Norbert Mulholland 

Please register for the 3 seminars in May with Norbert directly with him (see poster for details).

RSVP: norbertmulholland@gmail.com   022 042804

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Art of Curative Eurythmy Seminar

and talk by Dr. Richard Drexel on "Sleep".  Click for DETAILS.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Study Course

Free anthro-related study course are starting up again. I’m hosting the one on Refined Breathing, Wednesday’s at 8:30pm, so that’s convenient for NZ.

 https://mystech.org/study-group-courses/#myst-sc-courses

 "MysTech is devoted to cultivating a "mechanical occultism" that supports human evolution in fitting with the divine plan as understood from Anthroposophy. Our study groups meet weekly via Zoom and are open to anyone seeking a deeper understanding of the spiritual forces at work in modern technology.”

 Regards,

Herman Veluwenkamp

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Musings on Arithmetic 3

Click on links for last week's musings as PowerPoint presentations Arithmetic 1 Counting and some thoughts on Number recognition.

•Counting out loud is verbal and momentary and not visual.

•Often we want to show a number visually or tactilely using our hands.

•For small numbers, we can count on the fingers of both hands.

•If each digit (finger or thumb) represents ‘one’ 1, we can get up to 10.

Below is an Abacus with 100 beads arranged on ten slide wires with 10 beads on each sliders.

It can be used to represent numbers - leaving your hands free - and to perform simple calculations, such as adding and subtracting:

•The Japanese Soroban abacus has a central “value” bar with four slider beads below and one above.

•You only count the sliders against the central value bar.

•The one pictured below can show all the numbers up to a quintillion, using powers of 10.

•It can be used for the four basic Arithmetic operations: +, -, x, / 

For children it gives an excellent 'hands on' experience of numbers and calculation.

The visible part of the soroban represents the number 1,234,567,890, each column indicating one digit, with the lower beads representing "ones" and the upper beads "fives".

•The soroban is still taught in some Japanese primary schools as a way to visualize and grapple with mathematical concepts.

•The practice of soroban includes the teacher reciting a string of numbers (addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division) in a song-like manner where at the end, the answer is given by the teacher.

•This helps train the ability to follow the tempo given by the teacher while remaining calm and accurate.

•In this way, it reflects on a fundamental aspect of Japanese culture of practicing meditative repetition in every aspect of life.

The numbers are visible but not written.

Using our hands like this is not very convenient when we need our hands for other things, then we need to find another way, such as making marks on something like a tablet or a sheet of paper.  Numerals have been derived from counting upwards from one:

Each row shows the symbol from the previous row with a mark added.

Each column shows symbols becoming more condensed.
Note how the Tallying result for 5 looks like a hand with the thumb laid across the fingers, which becomes the V of Roman numerals.  Then the two Vs become X (one up and the other down!)

However, the later Roman numerals introduce a new element: If a smaller symbol is placed after a larger symbol (VI = 5+1 = 6), it is added;
But if it is placed in front (IV = 5-1 = 4), it is subtracted, so position becomes important.

•The Roman system is similar to the Japanese Soroban using decimal multiplies of 1 and 5, but did not go to very large numbers.  100 was Centum, 1,000 was Mille.

I=1, V=5, X=10, L=50, C=100, D=500, M=1,000.

•There was no zero because no-one found it useful to count nothing.

•Larger numbers were later written by using a vinculum, that is a bar written over a number to multiply it by 1,000; a double bar by 1,000,000.  So 5,000 is V ̅, and 10,000 is X ̅    (sorry, this symbol won't show properly on this editor)

The Hindu-Arabic numeric system, (that includes zero, 0), which is used worldwide today, was introduced only in the 10^th century AD, which is relatively recent historically.

The above plus some more is shown in a PowerPoint: Arithmetic 3 Number Representation 

Some more next week.

Robin