Chair for the day was Cameron Gibson, who opened the meeting with toasts and grace before inviting President Chris Muir to deliver his weekly address. Details from the address are in the report above. Chris welcomed guests DG Wendy Protheroe, AG Lisa Bateson, Colleen Middlemas, Rose and Con O'Brien, Johanna Pidik from PNG, Nicholas Alfaro from Chile and our RYLA Alumnus, Rhys Williams.
An important event for the day was the presentation of 8 Paul Harris Fellowships for meritorious service, to John Smerdon, Graeme Whitmore, Michael Stephens, Wal Bishop, James Delahunty, Keith Watts, and in his absence, Stan Francis. District Governor Wendy Protheroe did the honours presenting the awards.
District Governor Wendy Protheroe presents PHF awards to Wal Bishop, Graeme Whitmore and Denise Schellbach
The only spot was from Denise Schellbach, who reported on her visit 2 days before to Rotarian Don O'Donoghue. She also reported that she had received a thank you letter from Brigadier Bruce Scott of the Rotary Club of Townsville in relation to our recent sponsorship of 2000 kits 4 kids in Timor-Leste. A full report on that activity can be found in the story below.
RCoB's RYLA almnus, Rhys Williams was in attendance at the meeting. It took us a few months to arrange for Rhys' attendance, since he attended the RYLA camp in May this year. Rhys suggested it may be a good thing that there was a delay in his report to the club, because after 6 months he can tell us what really stuck and changed his outlook on life about the RYLA camp. There were a few of these aspects, but Rhys concentrated on one particular address which impressed on attendees that every situation you find yourself in life involves a personal choice by you. Rhys said that at first he thought that was rubbish. You cannot control all the circumstances of your life. However, as time goes by, he has discovered that no matter where he has found himself, a choice of more or less difficulty could have changed that. You can be in control of your life if you are willing to make choices. If life gives you lemons, consider moving out from under the lemon tree.
Our guest speaker for the meeting was District Governor Wendy Protheroe on her annual visit to the club. Wendy's speech covered a lot of ground, from the benefits of RYLA through the 5 Rotary core values of Leadership, Fellowship, Integrity, Diversity and Service to some amazing stories from her recent trip with DGE Daryl Iseppi to PNG. Wendy also talked about the recent outbreak of Polio in Papua New Guinea and the ongoing process of consolidating Rotary districts 9600, 9630 and 9640 into a new district 9620 to commence on July 1st, 2021.
At the end of a very busy meeting, there was just time to draw the raffle. Your correspondent does not recall who was lucky enough to have the "winning" ticket, but he does recall very clearly that the joker was not snagged.
President Chris closed the meeting with the singing of the national anthem just after 13:45.
