At our first meeting for 2020 Simon Brook was at the door, Richard Smith was Chairman and Ian Mayberry was Sergeant. We had apologies from Adrian Crowe, Ray Higgs, Paul Seymour and Chris Thurtell.
President Mario Fairlie welcomed all members and our visitors, his partner Sylvia and our YE student Ayana, David Baguley (RC of Gold Coast) and 'Honorary Queenslander' Ross Augustine (RC of Frankston Sunrise). Mario briefly elaborated on the upcoming Chinese New Year dinner (see separate article), as well as on the situation of grant moneys applied for: we have one pending with the Federal Government for $15,000 (we'll have to raise $5,000 to qualify) and we may get $5,000 from Runaway Bay Rotary to build 20 Sleeping Sanctuaries. The issue with the latter is for Rosie's to find an area where they can be put. We also will apply for a Global Grant with The Rotary Foundation, in addition to the District Grant, for our Vanuatu project. Next step is to produce a Bill of Materials.
Wheelchairs Trust Chairman Larry Murray elaborated on the future of what we'll do at the Project Shed. Whilst Donations In Kind has picked up a load of wheelchairs before Christmas and is expected to pick up more next month, we still have plenty more.
David Baguley, in charge of the Gold Coast Ramble organizing committee, briefly outlined the details of that event. It will be held on 22nd March 2020, this year starting and ending on MacIntosh Island. We have a new App for the competitors, as well as a new Registration System. We need 100 teams to compete, so in essence, every member of the two clubs should come up with a team. We are associated with seven Charities. Download a PDF from the Download Section on the right for details about the event and how to submit an application for a team.
Richard Smith announced the Excellence in Workmanship event (see separate article), Treasurer Doug Lipp advised that the half yearly Membership Subs will be invoiced shortly, and Youth Service Director PDG Darrell Brown asssured us that we'll have the two RYTS (Rotary Youth Transition Seminar) attendees we sponsored coming to our club sometimes in the future, and he is still receptive for nominations for RYLA (Rotary Youth Leadership Camp) - see separate article.
The meeting was concluded by what has become a rare event, a Sergeant's session: Sergeant Ian Mayberry clobbered a number of members: John Chirio scored two free coffees... Andy Bell, Mr Grumpy on Facebook... Simon Brook: simply because I can... Franz Huber: that car you sold me some 4 years ago: the brakes already needed replacing! Richard Smith must have been door-to-door singing, with all that shrapnel you carry in your pocket? Larry Murray, have you recovered from your house renovations? Gerald East was last in, Doug Lipp accused your editor of having named Karen Holland Karen Thomas (yes, but that was weeks ago! Ed.) and Angus Miller made the top of the list: bought a new hat recently and had to remove the lining to make it fit onto his big head!