Happenings at last weeks’ meeting
Geoff welcomed our In-Person Guests Carol Kidd and Sharron Judd then we had the Toast and Invocation.
This week’s Chair was Mark who, because of time constraints, invited our Guest Speaker, Adrian, to begin his talk now instead of waited till after the meal.
The topic of Adrian’s talk was The Art of Bonsai and he brought along a collection of plants to illustrate his talk. He began by pointing out that Bonsai has a tradition going back 3,000 years in China, Japan having adopted the practice only 900 years ago.
Bonsai isn’t just about growing small trees, it is an art in itself. Adrian himself has about 150 trees, which is down from a peak of about 500. The Mornington Peninsular Bonsai Society has a history going back some 45+ years and has invited international experts to visit and conduct workshops in Melbourne.
Here are some of the facts Adrian provided us with:
- Seasonal pruning is dependent on the tree variety;
- Copper and Aluminium wire can be used to train the branches;
- Grades of tools vary with the best stainless steel ones coming from Japan, but they “are not cheap”;
- Fruit produced by the trees remain the regular size;
- Training the branches is an acquired skill; and
- Conifers can take 3-5 years to establish.
Chair Mark called on Secretary Mark for his report (which saves time):
- The District Assembly is on 22nd April in Berwick, this is a Market day so attendance will require some discussion;
- The vote on the Constitution changes will be on 12th April;
- The handover dinner will be on 21st June;
- Directors “can” be elected if required;
- The new meeting Agenda was designed to speed things up and was accepted by the Meeting; and
- Hi-Vis vests and Club Polo Shirts are being organised.
Harry reported that RAWCS (Rotary Australia World Community Service) has announced that Jessica Mauboy has agreed to be the ambassador for the next year. She sets a strong example of RAWCS commitment to the community.
President Elect Mike thanked Rick for providing more Guest Speakers and felt that, in the new year, we need to get more ethnic groups involved in our talks and the Club in general.
Geoff gave a brief update on Greg and said that he had had a setback but was going well again and expects another 1-1.5 weeks in hospital.
Harry quickly announced that Tyrrell is back home and feeling better. Harry’s son is recovering and even though the radiation treatment had knocked him about, he is on the road to recovery.
Chris briefly said that the Market planning was going well and he hoped that the Rotary marquee would be publicising the Thursday Girls.
Charles gave an update on the Easter Egg Hunt situation. Ross , Geoff and Charles had been down to the new site to work out the new layout. This new layout should be finalised by Thursday. More volunteers will be needed and Charles has contacted the Sea Scouts, the Men’s Shed and the Netball Club to find 8 more people.
Mark now read out the apologies and we had “Part Two” of Adrian’s talk.
Nursery, Forestry and Art all combine in the practice of Bonsai. The Peninsular Bonsai Society is lacking numbers but still function.
Pruning must take into account the relationship between the plant and any rock formation in the presentation. To undertake this the conventions have shown that the expensive tools are not necessarily the best.
Another halt to the talk and the Lotto was drawn. Harry won, and there was no Fines session this week.
For the last part of his talk, Adrian gave us a demonstration of potting up a future Bonsai. The soil is special, with a mix of a dozen different ingredients including gravel and well rotted tan bark. Charles acted as the assistant.
After watching in fascination as the beginnings of the bonsai took shape the meeting came to a close. Mark thanked Adrian for illuminating talk and our Guests for attending.
The meeting finished around 8:00.
Not Just Pill Foils, Now Aluminium Cans
Don’t forget that Elaine and Rob are now collecting aluminium cans as well as your old pill foils.
Looking for the Board Minutes?
Currently the Board Minutes are on ClubRunner. I found it a tad difficult to run them down so here is where they are.
Once you have got into the ClubRunner “Rotary Club of Dromana” site then look for, and click on, the Organisation tab.
Once you’ve done that the Documents tab, as well as a bunch of others, will appear.
Click on Documents and a lengthy list of Folders will appear. Scroll (move your cursor down the screen) down until you see Board Minutes, below this are the Years of Minutes, select this year and the week you want and double click on it. The document will be displayed.
To begin to select a Year, (or any other folder) all you do is click on the triangular arrow. If it points to the right it is hiding “lower” files/folders, if it points down you can see the sub-folders/files. Click on those sub-folders or files.
