Happenings at last weeks’ meeting
Geoff started this week’s meeting by expressing the Clubs best wishes to Greg and stating that he will keep the Club informed on Greg’s progress.
Geoff now welcomed our Guest Speakers Samantha Blair and Kelly World, who will be talking about the Dromana Community Garden. He also welcomed our In-Person Guest Carol Kidd, and our Zoom-Enabled Col Byatt.
This week’s Chair was Chris and he had an unruly bunch to get into line. However, with the vigorous use of the bell and a stern voice the meeting clamed and got underway.
Secretary Mark announced:
- The Agenda for the Club Meetings will be undergoing a rewrite, with the aims being to make the Zoom experience more interesting and also to make the “run time” more predictable;
- The voting on our Constitution changes is coming up on April 12 and the necessary summary and information has been sent out;
- Our Hand Over Dinner is scheduled for 21st June and the Governor and Deputy Governor have been “locked in”;
- Directors, for next year, must be voted in by the end of March;
- Board Meeting Minutes are on the Web (see below for instructions on how to find them) and the Board has agreed to finance club shirts; and
- The good news is that Tyrrell is back home.
Future President Mick said that all his Directors have been chosen and to please make themselves available.
It was with great sadness that it was announced that Tony and Sue had lost there 18 year old grandchild. A celebration of his life is due to be held on 23rd March.
Charles was back from his overseas jaunt and announced that the roster for the Easter Egg Hunt parking was looking good and that Geoff was going to be helping with the planning of the layout as there had been a change. As well as the actual Easter Egg Hunt (divided into age groups) there will be Monster Trucks and Fireworks so it looks like a big weekend. Samantha said that, if more hand were needed then she could approach the Sea Scouts/Rovers. Charles thanked her for the support and discussion ensued (which means there were many voices talking over each other – in a nice way – and I couldn’t keep up. Ed)
Chris now called on our Guest Speaker, Samantha, who started by giving us a brief history of the Garden.
The idea for the Garden came about during the Labour Day Weekend in 2013. It took 3 years for it to be approved and in 2015 the first posts were erected. The building progressed on paths, garden beds and general infrastructure through until 2020 with Rotary Dromana building the central rotunda.
The Garden is “owned” by the Council and Covid caused the area to be locked down. This meant that any maintenance could only be “covert” and was done by a small group of rebels (my term Ed.) from the Committee of 6. Partnerships and relationships with the local community have been broken by Covid and the Committee needs help in resurrecting these partnerships/relationships as well as the actual Garden.
The Garden is currently in survival mode. Dromana Community House are beginning to help, in partnership, and now is the time to talk with Rotary about a suitable project that our Club could undertake. Maintenance on the Garden boundary is if primary importance. If the boundary can be re-defined and the invasive weeds kept at bay then the community will see that they can come back and participate.
There are further infrastructure projects that need to be done but they are too big and it is too much for the Committee to put together the application/s for grants. If Rotary could also assist in this process then it would help get things moving. Also, if they could help in the Committee’s general administration and management, that would also be of great help.
The vision for the Garden is that of Social Inclusion and Education as well as the simple result of fresh food. The Committee is organising working bees to be held every second Sunday during each month and is asking for a voluntary donation of $10 per year to assist with getting insurance cover.
Corporate Sponsorship for the Garden, and other issues, were discussed before Chris thanked Samantha and Kelly for coming along and bringing us up to date.
Now it was Lotto time and Kelly (who also drew out the number, but there was no trickery there. Ed.) was the winner this week.
Chris read out the Apologies and then called for a TMG which Joseph volunteered to take on.
His topic was sombre but important. His daughter had just lost a school friend who was an innocent passenger in a senseless car accident. Joseph reminded all of us that these unpredictable things happen and that we should all “love your family and love your life”.
In closing the Meeting, Geoff thanked our Guests and all attendees. It was quickly mentioned that the Sea Scouts Committee also needs help with administration.
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 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 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).
