Owing to the fact that we had a number of people unable to attend this week, Mike Smith was quickly delegated to act as Chair for the meeting.
After starting the meeting with the Toasts and Invocation, Greg’s first order of business was to present Ann Buchanan with her Club badge which had not been ready for her induction last week. Wear it with pride (and you won’t get fined).
Greg now announced that we have received a grant from the Federal Government and the Shire for work to be done at the Hillview Reserve. This was a long time in coming but will fund new Play Equipment, a new Car Park, new Walking Track and improved Disabled Access. Now things can move ahead and make it worth the wait.
Mike read out the apologies and welcomed our guest Trudy Ziegerink. He also welcomed our Speakers for tonight, Caroline Such and Kay McCauley who are to talk on Interplast.
Next, Secretary Mark was called up for his report.
Secretary Mark announced:
- The proposed new By-laws will be published and circulated next week for the members to peruse, discuss and review;
- A reminder of the two Conferences, local and international that are coming up in Cape Schanck and Melbourne; and
- There was an e-mail regarding a talk for the Lift The Lid project.
Mark also pointed out that the “marshmallow board” for Halloween is missing and if anyone finds it could they return it? (It was suggested that a new one wouldn’t be hard to make, but I’m not an engineer. Ed.)
Mike now called for Fines to be issued. This led to an entertaining exchange with Chris and Charles giving two versions of events around a visit, by Charles, to Office Works. Time and space and memory prohibits my retelling of the stories but it did result in fines all ‘round and money for the Club.
Now we had Lotto, which was won by Chris.
Mike now called for Pete to give the TMG. This turned out to be the fastest 3 minutes on record. Pete walked to the lectern. Fixed the meeting with a steely look, and stated his opinion. As a small business owner he felt that the new Covid rules were stupid. They put people, both staff and customers, in danger and are ill thought out. Thank you and goodnight.
Into the stunned, but appreciative, silence Mike now called for Directors reports.
Harry remarked on the changes to the attendance at District Assemblies and how more is needed. He also stated that DIK is now in the process of a name change.
Charles gave an update on the progress of the Dromana Australia Day preparations. The stored assets, such as the cut-outs, have sustained some water damage which is being further accessed. Charles is also looking for sponsors for the paint and received some, helpful, suggestions from the floor.
Mike now introduced our Guest Speakers, Caroline and Kay.
Caroline spoke about the loss of momentum that Interplast has sustained through Covid. These days it takes around $60,000 to get each Interplast team into country. Previous help from the likes of Qantas is no longer forthcoming so our Rotary cluster is hoping to band together to fund a new team. There is an upcoming dinner at Toorak College on the 8th November to raise pledges towards this effort. Each Club can obtain a table of 8 at $70 per ticket.
After a short video, Kay now spoke briefly about he initial time in PNG working in midwifery and the tremendous problems associated with that work. She told us that each Interplast team undertakes around 50 operations over 10 hour days. The satisfaction is seeing the delight generated by each successful operation.
Australian Rotary support for the program has suffered recently and has lost impetus. Now is the time and opportunity for us the improve and re-capture our support.
Greg thanked Caroline and Kay and says that this new cluster project is something that we are all hopeful of success.
Prior to closing the meeting Greg announced that the Regionalisation Vote was affirmative and the project was going ahead.
The meeting closed at 8:00.
World Polio Day
How are you going to spend World Polio Day?
Polio has been in the news a bit lately, now is a great time to be in our communities, telling everyone about how Rotary is working towards a Polio free world. Make sure you get the message out via your newsletters, put up social media posts, talk about it during your community projects and activities, get the message out there.
Get yourself and your club out there and visible during October.
Now that the weather is clearing up, and we are moving around again, why not get involved with ‘Walk with Us’ a Rotary project
- Create your own team, set a goal, and then go for it
- Are you a machine? Do your own walk and punch out the kilometres
- Unable to walk, you can sponsor others
Let's make a real difference this year
Rotary Friendship Exchange 2023
The International Convention is just around the corner.
As a lead-up, we are hosting a Rotary Friendship Exchange with District 7120, upper New York State.
They would like to spend some time in our District meeting with people, Clubs and be involved with a community project along the way.
How does it work?
They will arrive in our District about two weeks before Convention and spend about four nights in each location. We will host them in our homes, show them around our District and some of the great sites, take them to the occasional meeting, do a community project and then move them to the next part of the District. Rotary Friendship Exchange works both ways and after we host District 7120, they will invite us to their District in return.
We are looking at starting them in East Gippsland, they hosted Linda and I as part of the International Assembly Governors hosting program. East Gippsland was in the clutches of the fires. I am often asked how things are progressing and they would like to see the impact first hand, and do a project in the community.
Move to Central and South Gippsland, again see the sites, be involved with a project at Centenary house.
Last stop, Peninsula, Frankston, Melbourne South East, has plenty to do, golf, wineries, scenery, a project on the Bay Trail, and a farewell dinner. Everyone welcome.
What are we looking for:
- People to host. There will be 6 – 8 couples coming. Therefore 6 – 8 people in each area, about 4 nights.
- Ability to drive people to sites and activities.
- Clusters to help organize the community project
- Assist with transportation from Melbourne to East Gippsland
We have in place Pearl Finlay-James in East Gippsland, Janne Speirs in Central/South Gippsland and Linda Morris on the Peninsula who will be coordinating the hosting and activities in their areas.
Club Calendar
If you look below you’ll see that there is a new addition to the “Links” section the “What’s on this Month” link.
This exciting new addition takes you straight to the Calender on our web page which outlines what’s coming up. By using the < and > buttons on the page, you can move from month to month and see what’s in store for the Club. Take advantage of this exciting new feature and all Secretary Mark’s extra work will not be in vain.
