President Anthony McGrath opened the Change-Over night meeting at 6.30 pm on 28 June 2021. This is my last official time as President of RCD and I am amazed how quickly the year has gone and also how much I enjoyed being President and hopefully I have lived up to the trust you have shown me. As per the year, it is good to see a little Covid restriction curveball right at the end to keep me on my toes!

 

John Thornton is not with us tonight hence we will have to go it alone in the singing of a chorus of Advance Australia Fair! Whilst the Club and guests gave it their best shot, without John’s guidance the club could only muster a poor start to their rendition but improved as they became more in tune.  At best, a 6/10 performance

 

We have a number of guests who have joined us from the Rotary Club of Crawley:

We also have;

 

We have several apologies & Honorary, 8 LOA plus 10 guests hence we anticipate around 40 people in attendance tonight.

 

 

 

 

 

 ATTENDANCE:

Kent advised that we have 31 members plus 11 guests present at our meeting plus we have 5 in attendance on Zoom.

 

The Paul Harris Fellow is named for Paul Harris, who founded Rotary with three business associates in Chicago in 1905. Paul Harris Fellow recognition was established in his honour in 1957 to express appreciation for a contribution by Rotarians to the humanitarian and educational programs of The Rotary Foundation. The Rotary Foundation Programs which are funded by donations from individuals and Rotary Clubs include an array of projects that save and invigorate the lives of people around the world and enhance international friendship and understanding. Foundation programs provide; educational opportunities, food, potable water, health care, immunizations, and shelter for millions of persons.

These activities are funded, implemented, and managed by Rotarians and Rotary clubs around the globe.

Rotary Clubs which have made donations to the Rotary Foundation are able to recommend a Paul Harris Fellowship to recognize a fellow Rotarian whose life demonstrates a shared purpose with the objectives and mission of The Rotary Foundation to build world understanding and peace.

It is with great pleasure that I can announce that the Board on behalf of the Club has determined that Bruce Adrian Jeanes should be so recognised tonight.

Bruce has been a quiet achiever since joining Rotary International in 2005. Tonight’s recognition is given to acknowledge Bruce’s contribution to Rotary and his diligent long service to the Rotary Club of Dalkeith. Bruce was invited up to the podium to address the Club.

Bruce stated that he was both amazed and shocked to be the recipient of this award and he hopes to live up to the high standards set by other recipients of this award and he thanked the Club for this honour.

 

Rotarians & guests 12 months have gone by in a flash. My time as President has been a very interesting, rewarding, worthwhile and fun time despite Covid.   We have achieved much. Last week I sent all members a flyer reminding us all of some of the things that we have achieved as a Club. It also reminds us that as a Club we can achieve vastly more than as an individual.   Thank you to all that have made this happen. I would like to highlight a few things from each committee that have occurred over the year.

This committee does all the little (& big) things to make our meetings and functions run so well.

 

Next year Peter will have a short break and the leadership goes to John Murdoch who is also our President-Elect.

 

Their main new project this year has been getting involved in the My Home Project. This will all come to fruition shortly. They are also putting together a raffle as a fund-raising venture which will be launched next week.

Their mainstay project “Cans for Xmas” ran again but was Covid affected but we managed to involve several other Rotary Clubs. Well done & special thanks to Tim & Nigel.

 

Next year Tim will have a short break from being Director. I will be taking over this role.

 

John Bolto continues as director of membership next year and also starts up an Environment Committee which is exciting. Membership during a Covid pandemic has been interesting and had some effects. Long-standing members;

Have decided to resign as members. We thank them very much for their years of service and hopefully catch up with them in the future.

 

Bruce McGeorge & Bob Davis have accepted honorary membership. However, both have said that whilst they are changing what they do they wish to still attend meetings reasonably frequently and remain involved. Also changing to Honorary membership are;

Brian English is currently seriously ill hence we wish him all the best.

 

On the plus side, we have inducted Barbara Chandler, Stephanie Fryer-Smith and Susan Watson as members to add to our ranks. Stephanie is currently working in Tasmania but will return when her contract is over and wishes to remain with our Club.

 

Kevin Jackson has done an absolutely brilliant job in forming a relationship with The Post newspaper amongst other things. There was hardly a week that went by when we did not have an article in the paper. Thanks, Kevin. Kevin is having a break and handing the reigns to Peter Robertson.

 

A great committee that has done great things and ably lead by Michael Bisset. Anita Bourke enthusiastically led the raising of over $10,000 for the Nokor Tep Cambodia Hospital, mostly from the famous Claremont Quarter weekend stall.

 

Also, we have supported the John Fawcett Foundation saving peoples sight in Bali. David Miller ran two golf days which raised  $6,000. Very much welcomed in a year where fundraising was difficult.

 

Michael Bisset started and ran his PNG educational book drive for primary school children. He eventually collected 1,100kg of books. So much so that we could donate 400 books to communities in the Goldfields region as well. Well done.

 

Tony Chien is building a link between our club and METSO so we can assist each over.

 

The committee has said they are looking to do more next year. More power to them - watch this space.

 

Again, a very active committee. We had a Rotary Youth Exchange Student, Daniel Laurance return to Perth from Norway. However, the RYE has since been suspended for obvious reasons.

 

They ran a very successful Rotary Global Citizenship Award pilot program. This included mentoring 5 people who presented to our Club about their Culture & work experience.

 

In conjunction with RC Nedlands, we agreed to work in a joint venture to support Shenton College. This included;

 

As a Club, we also sponsored 4 youth to attend the RYLA camp in January. One of the four Tanya Boer has subsequently applied and was accepted for the RYLEAP camp in July this year.

 

This year as part of our ongoing support of Dalkeith Primary School we are sponsoring a Rotary Peace Pole which is a centenary project.

 

The major highlight, for me, was the Science & Engineering Challenge. 40 schools, 1200 year 10 students over a week-long event. We raised $35,000 from industry sponsorship. The University of Newcastle who runs the science program expressed their thanks and stated it was the best-organised event in Australia and largest outside of Sydney. Great stuff and congratulations to Kim, Richard, Michael and all other helpers and participants.

 

Thanks to Secretary Craig & Treasurer Leon who do all the things that may not be very glamorous but are absolutely vital in maintaining a properly functioning Club.

 

Our Charitable Trust is a hair’s width away from going above $1mil. It has made distributions to worthwhile charities in excess of $70k. Thanks to Russell, Ken, & Tony for outstanding stewardship. I would also like to thank our generous donors from this Club. It is a remarkable effort and a wonderful result.

 

This wrap-up has not included all that we have done as a club. From me, I would like to thank you for being such a wonderful and enjoyable Club. Thank you for your faith in me and I look forward to next year in a different role. One where I may be able to have a meal at a normal pace.

 

Thank you again for all the work, fun, and fellowship we have enjoyed this year.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thank you to Denise & Staff and the Nedlands Golf Club. Thanks to on-Par Catering for a fine meal.

RECOGNISE OUR VERY GENEROUS SPONSORS: Lizzy Bee-supplier of flowers Butler Settineri – Hon Club Auditors Paragon Consultants -Our Foundation’s Auditors Accura Accounting & Advisory Services for providing Xero Accounting software and Sharesight Portfolio reporting software to the Charitable Trust.   Thank you to our guest(s) who attended tonight. Karin Cable Sam Hardy Yvonne Hart Don Newman Jaap Poll Blake Burton Leah Granucci Shelley McGrath Pushpa Pushpalingam Jeremy Wood

MEETING CLOSE:   Recognise RI President’s Shekhar Mehta Presidential theme for the new year.      ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Minutes: for the last time by Peter Panek Photographer: Peter Robertson Q of W: Peter Panek Editor: Tom Langley