President Anthony McGrath opened the meeting at 6.30 pm with an invitation to John Thornton OAM to lead us all in a rousing attempt to sing the national anthem, Advance Australia Fair. Following John’s valuable input the club’s efforts scored a solid 7/10.
The meeting is still being streamed on Zoom so that members may engage in that manner should they so wish.
WELCOME GUESTS & SPEAKER:
President Anthony welcomed tonight’s guest speaker who is our own Jason van Straalen who will be giving his life talk tonight.
We also have Barbara Chandler & Stephanie Fryer-Smith. Welcome to you both once again. Great to see you.
VISITING ROTARIANS AND GUESTS:
Barbara Chandler
Stephanie Fryer-Smith
APOLOGIES & LOA:
Apologies and LOAs at 26, with 2 guests hence we are expecting around 37 people tonight.
QUESTION OF THE WEEK:
Question: What is the land area of WA and how many times can the UK fit into it?
Answer: WA 2.646 million km2. UK 242,495 km2 hence roughly 11 times (10.91).
Neil Wilkie got the answer approximately correct and was awarded the prize. This just goes to prove that you cannot believe everything you read on the internet.
FAMILY AND FRIENDS:
Members were advised the Funeral for PDG John Hollingshead will be held on Wednesday 16th September starting at 10:30 am. John was remembered as a great individual and Rotarian.
Russel Hawkins advised that he had bumped into Roger Davis, a past member of this club. Roger is looking for assistance to find suitable accommodation for his sick son.
Peter Panek informed the Club that our own member Pek Goh has been admitted into Hollywood hospital suffering from Pneumonia.
Bruce McGeorge informed the Club that his wife has fortunately returned to home having recovered in hospital from Pneumonia.
BIRTHDAYS AND ANNIVERSARIES: ( Bob Davis)
Member’s Birthdays
Chris Cole 15 Sep 20 aged 76 years
Stuart McCoubrie 17 Sep 20 setting the pace at 79 years
Steve Halbert 20 Sep 20 bringing up the rear at a young 62 years
Partner’s Birthdays
"Pushpa" Pushpalingam 15 Sep 20, Bob confirmed he still can not bring himself to provide a flower for the husbands.
Rebecca Robertson 18 Sep 20, so Peter will receive a flower to take home for Rebecca.
ATTENDANCE:
Kent confirmed the final numbers in attendance was 35 members and 2 guests, exactly as predicted.
CLUB AND COMMITTEE REPORTS:
Charitable Trust: (Russell Hawkins)
The Trust will be distributing $20-30k shortly and is seeking members suggestions for worthy Charities.
Russell also invited members to purchase some wonderful wines as part of our ongoing fundraising effort.
Secretary: (Craig James)
Craig reminded members of the upcoming Board Meeting next Monday night.
Treasurer: (Leon Lorenzen)
No Report
Club Service: (Peter Panek)
Peter advised that the Guess Who is Coming to Dinner event will remain open for registration until next weekend.
Peter re-welcomed Jason Van Straalen into the Club and as part of being one of us, he obviously requires a Rotary Shirt.
Community Service: (Tim Humphry)
Tim handed over to Nigel Johnson who advised that the planning is going well for the Cans for Xmas.
Vocational Service: (Trevor Gorey)
No Report.
International Service: (Michael Bissett)
No Report.
Public Image: (Kevin Jackson)
Kevin informed the club that approximately 100 Rotarians.?
Membership and New Members: ( John Bolto)
No Report.
Youth: ( Kim Smith)
No Report.
OTHER ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Footy Tipping winner Round 16 Pek Goh with 7 wins and a margin of 4. Craig James is still the current overall leader by 3 from John Hopkins with Kim Smith third.
Unfortunately, Pek is in hospital now being treated for pneumonia caused by a respiratory tract infection that has not got better. We wish him a speedy recovery.
Jason van Straalen has provided a bottle of wine on each table for the enjoyment of the members and as a greeting from Jason. Thank you, Jason, you really did not need to do that.
PRESIDENTS REPORT: ( Pres Anthony McGrath)
- Please note that 24 October is World Polio Day. It is a time across the globe to raise awareness about Rotary’s great work over several decades. If we stay committed to making progress, polio will be the second human disease ever to be eradicated. Recently Africa was certified free of wild polio. Only wild Polio exists in Afghanistan & Pakistan.
Our Club has and still supports Rotary Polio Plus which feeds into these eradication programs in conjunction with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
- Next week will NOT be meeting here at the NGC. Instead, we will be having an informal fellowship meeting at the Showground’s Community Men’s Shed. In addition to looking around, the Men’s Shed Catering group will be supplying Finger food, canapes, snacks, wine beer and soft drink for your entry price of $35. Same time at 6 pm for 6:30 pm ‘till around 8 pm.
During this week I will register you as attending (unless otherwise advised) and forward you a Map as to where it is. Basically you enter the Showground from Aston Ave Gate 8 and swing around to the left, about 400m park and walk up to the Shed. This is a great opportunity to see the fruits of our labour as our Club has been instrumental in getting this community facility up and running.
SERGEANT: ( Jon Steward)
The Sergeant aided by John Bolto served to extract the following fines from members:
- Wine Table: for obvious reasons
- Win Jones; seeking clarification with regards to his statement regarding Ladies, Gentlemen and Rotarians
- Mahes; in celebration of Pushpa’s Birthday
- Steve Halbert; for celebrating his birthday
- Craig James; for boasting about winning the footy tipping competition
- Kevin Jackson; during the trip to Kalgoorlie he went off in the night to frequent several hotels including the Exchange, where he brought the average age of the drinkers up significantly and managed to be feeling rather unwell the next day.
- President Anthony; for rushing the Sergeant.
GUEST SPEAKER: ( Jason van Straalen - Life Talk)
The speaker was introduced by Steve Halbert who summarised Jason’s life in a few sentences so as not to steal Jason’s thunder.
Jason is approaching his 50th Birthday having been born in 1970. He attended Cottesloe Primary before moving to Wesley college for high school.
Jason’s biggest role models included his Grandfather, Father and Stepfather.
His Stepfather had several businesses which he developed and sold on, including a Video Store which Jason remembers fondly.
His Grandfather received an Order of Australia for services to Industry.
Jason has a strong love of HiFi, and this led to him working for Douglas HiFi for many years, where he practised his selling skills on the unwary public. Jason spent considerable time listening to motivational speakers which helped to shape him into the person he is today.
When Jason was with Brushes, he sold cameras and accessories and often competed with his workmates to see who could sell the most accessories.
Jason had an early dabble in Real Estate and managed to successfully develop a 2 property development in Scarborough and had to resort to some pretty creative financing methods to get the project done.
Jason started a Hi-Fi shop in Mandurah. After 5 years he had to move to a much larger store as he had outgrown the initial building. In the larger store, which he developed, he sold plasma and LCD TVs to an ever-hungry public.
He then expanded into Tanning salons. This went very well until Tanning Salons became taboo overnight, at great expense to the owners, e.g. Jason.
Never one to hold back, Jason expanded into IPL Hair removal salons. Using Groupon marketing techniques, Jason ended up offering 1000 treatments for free. A valuable lesson.
Jason ended up with 3 salons across Perth with 16 staff and carrying out 400 treatments a day.
Jason was struck by a car whilst riding his bike in 2017, which left him with a long 3 month recovery period.
Upon c recovering, Jason took up a Purple Bricks franchise. They were a Start-Up out of England which eventually pulled out of the Australia market.
Jason has recently changed his real estate’s companies name to Milestone Realty.
Jason believes we are in a very strange real estate market right now. It is a very strong rental market and a strong sales market. He believes this is a great time to sell as there are lots of buyers at the moment.
Jason’s Son and Daughter live with their mother.
Jason and his second wife, Aisha, have recently welcomed Alexander into their family.
Finally, Jason is proud to be a member of this club and is very happy to be here.
President Anthony thanked Jason for an informative and entertaining talk.
REMINDER OF COMING EVENTS: (Pres Anthony McGrath)
- 21st September – Meeting at The Showgrounds Community Men’s Shed
- 24th September - Dracula Ballet
- 26th September - Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner?
- 28th September - No Meeting Public Holiday
- 5th October - Alan Briggs - Rotary’s Tree Mission
THANKS TO:
|
NGC staff Denise, and Staff; and On Par Caterers.
Thank you to our Guests who attended this evening.
- Barbara Chandler
- Stephanie Fryer-Smith
|
|
RECOGNISE OUR VERY GENEROUS SPONSORS:
- Lizzy Bee-supplier of flowers
- Butler Settineri – Hon Club Auditors
- Paragon Consultants -Our Foundation’s Auditors
- PSZ Accounting for providing Xero Accounting software and
Sharesight Portfolio reporting software to the Charitable Trust.
|
|
MEETING CLOSE:
Recognise RI President’s Holger Knaack Presidential theme for the year
"Rotary Opens Opportunities" and Acknowledge the Flag.
Minutes: Peter Panek
Q of W: Peter Panek
Editor: Tom Langley
|
