Welcome Back – Dinner in the Park.
After a brief break over the past Christmas / New Year festive season the Rotary Club of Mornington started the 2020 year off with our traditional informal Dinner in the Park last Wednesday evening. Our Club President, Ross Kilborn welcomed back, for another exciting and busy Rotary Year, all present and his well wishes was conveyed to the gathering and those who were unable to make the evening dinner. The weather was in our favour and the evening meal was laid out on our own “Long Table “, which saw a very good turnout of member’s and partners.
The focus of the evening was centred on conversation and tales of our families Christmas and New Year’s gatherings, and also the recent and ongoing events pertaining to the Bushfires, of which, some of our club members and families have been directly impacted. There was a small amount of Club Business to discuss and action, which involved a brief overview from John Renowden, of the status and tasks that lay ahead pertaining to the upcoming Art Show. Ross then informed all as to the proposed financial support (as convened at a recent online Board Meeting) that the Rotary Club of Mornington has earmarked for the Bushfire Relief support via our 9820 District. Details are contained in this Bulletin Issue within the Presidents Report, as below.
Art Show "Set Up"
After a brief interlude from our welcome back Dinner in the Park within the blink of an eye, is was all " hands on deck " for our Art Show Bump In. Sunday saw a vast array of cars, utes, 4X4 's and trailers, convey, from an early Sunday morning start witness transport movements in and around the town of Mornington. From Peter Jay's 4 x4 ' beast " to Laurie's small but feisty ute , gather up, collect and deliver the mass of frames and associated fixtures from their dusty annual hideaway's to arrive at the Mornington Community Theatre. Here an army of volunteers from our young and fit teenagers from the Mornington Secondary College to our mature and physically mindful good friends from the Mornington Mens Shed provide invaluable support to convey and assemble the many frames, supports and screens required to eventually mount and display all the wonderful art work scheduled to arrive the following day. From mid morning in a bare and empty Community Theartre Hall to late afternoon, we all witnessed a remarkable make over that transformed the hall into a very professional and appeasing Community Art Gallery.
Monday morning dawned, somewhat smokey, and the " big day" had arrived. The day commenced with the arrival of the artisians work, registering and documenting all the necessary " check-in " requirements. From here the art work was very carefully moved into the foyer for final ticketing and the label identification process to then be moved into the hall ready for mounting. As this was all happening there was a vast array of logistic tasks, too many to mention, ongoing in the background. Our community volunteers, from the Mornington Mens Shed to the lovely ladies and gents from the Bays Hospital all joined in, shortly after lunch, to commence the mammoth task of mounting some 850 pieces of art work. With many hands at work, within some four hours the art work had been mounted and we could see a wonderful Community Art Show unfold before our eyes. With the day coming to a close and a few final pieces art work arriving and registering, a fair few tired and weary bodies had earned a well deserved respite. Dinner was served accompanied with a refreshing drink. Our Art Show Chair, John, gave a brief overview of the past two days and a few tasks and front loading information on the next few days leading up to the Gala Opening. All of what we witnessed over the past few days could not have come to fruition if is wasn't for the wonderful volunteer spirit from our Rotary Club Members, the registration and associated computer/ IT work from the magnificent support crew provided by the our members partners and their friends, and the fantastic hands on labour intensive work from the the Mornington Mens Shed and the Bays Hospital, all of what we achieved could not have been possible. With so many hungry and thirsty bodies hard at work throughout the day the task of feeding and ' watering " could not have been possible without the catering support headed up by Eileen, duly supported by Fran and there kitchen helpers , well done and a big thanks.
As we are now only two days away from the Gala opening there are still many more " housekeeping ' tasks to finalise before the doors open to the public, but having seen the efforts over the past two days, not a problem !!!! We are on target for another great Art Show.
Rotary Club of Mornington
Bulletin Editor
