President Rohan opened the meeting. After the Acknowledgement to Country Chair Roy Garrett toasted Rotary International. President Rohan welcomed guests Kerry Hicks and Patricia Poynton. Roy made the following announcements:
Member’s Birthdays
Member’s Birthdays
- Darren PARK, 24 Feb
- Steve HALLIS, 27 Feb
Partner Birthdays
- Maria Fragomeni, partner of Ignacio INCHAUSTI, 24 Feb
Wedding Anniversaries
- Russell & Heather ROLLS, together for 55 years, since 24 Feb 1968
- Roger & Pippa THORNTON, together for 52 years, since 26 Feb 1971
Date Joined Rotary
- Allan DRIVER, Rotarian for 27 years, since 28 Feb 1996
Roy Introduced Past District Governor, Dennis Shore who gave a presentation on the upcoming District Convention in Melbourne on 27 – 31 May. He made the following observations:
- Conventions have been part of Rotary since 1910, and we held in USA until June 1924 when a convention was held in Canada. The first convention held outside mainland America was in Belgium in in 1927. The largest convention was held in Osaka, Japan om 2004 with 43,381attendees.
- Melbourne last hosted a convention in May 1993 and Sydney held one in 2014. Australia has also hosted conventions in Sydney in 1971 and in Brisbane in 2003.
- Melbourne beat London in the bid for the convention in 2016 – 2017, Neville John was Governor, however the event is a collaboration between all 5 District in Victoria.
- There are currently 20 members of the convention team in Melbourne, fine tuning the event.
- The opening and closing ceremonies will be held at Rod Laver Arena, as will the plenary sessions. The Melbourne Convention Centre will host the House of Friendship and Break sessions as well as various luncheons. The house of friendship is an exciting place to be as it will be a gathering place for Rotarian from around the world and there will be plenty of entertainment to keep everyone occupied.
- A shuttlebus will be available from hotels and there will be extra shuttle trams between the two major venues. Public transport will also be free for convention attendees.
- There are a number of people involved in the Host Organising Committee (HOC) from all 5 districts, with Mary Barry from RC Melbourne being the Chair of the committee.
- Sponsorship opportunities are still available through Murray Verso, who can be contacted via the following link: verson@netspace.net.au
For visitors from interstate and overseas there are a number of tours and experiences which have been organised plus there are a number of events planned for attendees of the convention, including a golf day, visits to the home of the Melbourne Cup in Flemington and an opening dinner at the Melbourne Museum. There will also be home hosted and club hosted events.
Prior to the event there has been significant promotion, particularly at the Rotary Convention in Houston, the International Assembly In Orlando and the Zone Conference in Canberra.
There are still opportunities to register to volunteer at the Convention through https://ricon23.volunteerlocal.com/volunteer/?id=54179 and now is a good time to register for the conference, before the cost and exchange rate goes up.
Announcements
- Campbell announced that the Port Melbourne Bunnings BBQ raised a record $2,300, which in part was thanks to some drinks stocks being used and the donation of 30 loaves of Bread. He also thanked the volunteers on the day.
- He also announced the next raffle, which will be drawn at our meeting on 28 March and proceeds will go to Medical Aid for Ukraine, an organisation which supplies much needed medical supplies via Germany.
President Rohan made the following announcements:
- On Saturday 25th February there was a working bee at RIMEN and he thanked the volunteers Nev and Bec, Ignacio and Allan Driver. The next opportunity to volunteer will be Saturday March 25th. If any club members has goods to donate contact him and he will give information on collection or delivery of those goods.
- There is also an opportunity for members to volunteer at the Melbourne Flower Show to help Travellers Aid to assist people with mobility issues. The Show will be held between 29th March and 1st April.
- A raffle will be held for 5 tickets for the Rotary convention (if you have already registered you will get a refund) Entry to the raffle will be via donating amounts to the Rotary Foundation over the next month – one raffle ticket for every $20 donated.
- Similarly, there will be a competition for anyone under 40 who would like to attend the convention (can be a non-Rotarian) To enter the person needs to submit an essay and details are on the following link
https://rotarydistrict9800.org.au/Stories/district-9800-sponsoring-five-rotarians-rotaractors-aged-under-40-to-attend-international-convention
Anne King
Reporter
28 February 2022