Happenings at the 2 September meeting

 

Once again our Zoom meeting was attacked by the Technology Gremlins. We’ve had Zoom meetings now “forever” but, no matter how many times you set up a meeting, Murphy’s Law will always catch you out. Anyway, this week it meant that we had a smaller number of attendees than usual but still enough for an interesting discussion. The meeting commenced with a touch of chaos which was reminiscent of an Abbott and Costello skit.

 

 

After the usual preliminaries, Chris handed the meeting to Greg who gave us an introduction to a video that covers the Rotary’s commitment to habitat and the environment. This has been topical because of Greg’s approach to our Board regarding joining with the Dromana Association and Peninsular Mountain Park Committee in an application to the State government to take on the management of Pat’s Paddocks, which is around 100 acres of grazing land next to the Hillview Reserve. This management committee would be put in place instead of the Shire as it would be more agile in beginning the rehabilitation of the Paddocks in accordance with a master plan which was created some time earlier. This plan envisions various paths (walking, cycling and BMX) as well as facilities such as a music bowl, BBQs and a club house all of which adds up to a large community project which seems to dovetail with Rotary’s thinking.

 

Greg also spoke on the Bay Trail Project. It seems that the best contribution we can make to the Project, and the 100^th anniversary, is to site some picnic tables on the Safety Beach foreshore. Dromana Foreshore committee have rejected anymore “furniture” on their part of the foreshore but the Safety Beach area is in need. It was suggested that we approach the Dromana Men’s Shed to see if they would make the tables for us or provide us with their blueprints. We could do the installations.

 

 

The video had been distributed to some of the club members but it was replayed to the meeting. It was entitled as “District 8910 and the Environment”

 

 

The new area of focus was introduced as having a bearing on all the other areas that Rotary focuses on.

 

 

As an example of how Rotary can assist in both helping communities and the environment, a project which was conducted in Timor Leste was spoken about.

 

 

 

As the club does not currently have a directorate specific to the environment Greg saw the responsibilities being shared by Community and International.

 

While this subject is in the future Greg spoke of the immediate work that is required up at Hillview Reserve. There have been thousands of trees planted already but more are ready to go and it is only waiting on the lockdown to be raised and work can proceed on continuing to improve the parkland and bush before the “traffic” increases. The mix of trees and undergrowth needs to be improved to try and draw the environment back to its natural best.

 

 

 

Greg is currently getting a prototype of the stove built for testing. He says we will have to do more research on the cooking methods with Timor Leste and Papua New Guinea. The stoves from America are designed to cook on a hotplate (torteas) whereas the people in New Guinea tend to boil large pots. There is more thinking and talking to the locals needed before a viable solution can be rolled out. There is a Rotary club in Dili, which is under the auspices of Darwin, which would provide a handy connection.

 

 

 

Chris thanked Greg for his thoughts and presentation and pointed out that future does look interesting and exciting for our club. We may be restricted at the moment but this gives us the opportunity to plan.

 

Bob announced that we already have a student application for international exchange in 2023. It will be interesting to see what effect the global shutdowns have on the future of this program.

 

The meeting ended smoothly in marked contrast to the start.