2021 First meeting 

Great to see a good turnout on what is traditionally a slow start to the year, for our first meeting of the year on a not very nice morning at Alex Beach. Welcome to regular visitors Charmaine and Karen, and apologies received from Wallis (WA) and Graeme (trying to get to Tassie) while Sean took advantage of the school holidays to grab a brekky wrap. 
 
Not quite sure what is going on in Wendy's apartment block but clearly some high jinks among the "oldies" involving balloons and mysterious visitors to bathrooms. (??) and our amazing President took full advantage of the occasion to relate an Engineers joke involving a frog and the monastic habits of engineers. Unfortunately this led a certain scribe to riposte with a risqué joke involving a Current and Past US President and wife, the image of which is regrettably stuck in my brain. 
 
Also the sergeants session was a bit of a revelation with sergeant Craig emptying a lot of pockets. Looks like January is going to be expensive month! 

The Statue

Much of the discussion was around the 100th Anniversary celebration of Rotary in Australia and preparations for recognising the anniversary via a gala dinner and a statue. 
 
We are very fortunate to have in the club a member who not only is a great guy, but an amazing designer and enthusiastic Rotarian.
So Steve has put together this concept that has been accepted by the club and is being shown to District and other Rotary Clubs in the area as a suggestion for placement in a public space to acknowledge all teh great Rotary clubs in the area and their achievements.
The club has had some preliminary discussions with the Council's public art department, and will be lodging an application for a statue in a Sunshine Coast public park soon.
 
 
The statue shape and components all have significance to ALL Sunshine Coast Rotary clubs, which Steve is covering in an architectural brief.
 
The base is the Rotary wheel. 

Quiz time is coming up 

Alex Rotary are two time ROMAC trivia quiz champions so the editor thought he'd get those quiz neurons firing by offering a free Alex SLSC breakfast to the first person to get this simple traffic test quiz correct...
 
"What 2 things must a learner driver not touch before starting the car?"
 
"What does the RED signal mean at traffic lights?"
 
Answers by email or on Friday at the club meeting.

WorkLife

During the break we were delighted to hear from D9800 in Victoria Rotary who are develop a Vocational Services   “Project Ideas Bank” to assist Clubs to identify, assess and implement new Vocational Projects.
 
They wrote to the club after hearing about "The worklife program" and are putting it in their District plans.
 
The Program has now been "exported" to all states in Australia through "Rotary Down Under" as well as UK, and Alaska.
 
Its got some great stories on how Rotarians got their job, and great suggestions on what to expect and prepare for at work.
 

Rotary around the world

The events around the world and last week in the US remind us of how lucky we are in Australia in regards to health and peace.
Many in our community maybe aware of the work that Rotary does in regards to health, (polio, Malaria etc.) but would not be aware of the equally valuable work that Rotary does with respect to peace, and promoting healthy (not divisive) communities.
 
Here's a snip from Rotary International, and not forgetting the world renowned, Rotary Peace Fellowship at the University of Queensland.