President John Bolto welcomed Rotarians and guests to the meeting.
The national anthem was sung in a reasonable manner because John Thornton OAM kept everyone together.
A special welcome to Bill Charlton tonight as he will be giving his Life Talk.
The Charitable Trust sent out an email recently inviting members to donate to the RAWCS Bushfire appeal (or any other) through the trust if you wish to do so.
Currently, RAWCS has raised a total of $750k for this cause.
Good news! John Hopkins and John MacKinnon have managed to secure a top-notch guest speaker and the Royal Perth Golf Club for the Business Lunch on 10 Nov 2020. Dr Craig Challan (Aust of the year 2018) is speaking. He was one of the Australian Cave Divers who rescued the Thai Soccer Team. Should be a sell-out!
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Visiting Rotarians and Guests:
Our guest Jason van Straalen was in attendance.
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Apologies and LOA: 4 LOA & 16 Apologies and Hon. 2 late apologies, 40 members were in attendance.
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Question of the Week:
Q: What is the Rotary "International Assembly?
A: An event to educate, motivate and inspire
District Governors-elect and their spouses.
Answered first up by Neil Wilkie.
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Family & Friends Announcements:
Tim Humphry noted that his Daughter, Alex has just given birth to her second child, Sydney. This is Tim’s 8th Grandchild !! (ed: Congratulations.)
Other Announcements:
Pek Goh mentioned The Fellowship Dinner being held next Tuesday evening 25 Feb 2020 at Prego Restaurant, Cambridge Street Floreat. Note that there will NOT be a Monday Rotary meeting on 24 Feb 2020. Currently, we have 59 people confirmed. We really need a few more. Please contact Pek if you wish to go. (ed: Prego is a wonderful restaurant - great food)
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Birthdays & Anniversaries: Bob Davis
Bob announced the following birthdays and anniversaries:
Member’s Birthdays;
Partners Birthdays
Anniversaries
None
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Members Attendance: 40 members at 63% attendance rate.
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Committee Reports and Announcements:
Charitable Trust (Russell Hawkins)
No report
Secretary (Craig James)
No report
Treasury (Leon Lorenzen)
No report
Club Service: (Anthony McGrath)
No report
Community Service: (Tim Humphry)
Committee meeting this Wednesday at Little Way Café, Nedlands.
Vocational Service:
No report
Rotary Foundation & International Service: (Peter Webb)
No Report
Public Image: (Kevin Jackson)
No News - a world first !!
Membership: ( Peter Panek)
No report
Youth Service: (Kim Smith)
No report
President’s Report: Pres John Bolto
- Bushfire Appeal – Notice from Charitable Trust was sent out recently. Please donate if you wish to.
- Response to Survey. The Board decided to pursue the Greenbatch Foundation and hold off on other commitments so we are not overloaded. More information will be provided over the near future. However, if we have a champion for another cause please make yourself known.
- Bingo - RC Freshwater Bay every Tuesday
- Foreign Coil Collection being run by the RC Wanneroo to aid Rotary against Malaria. Please give your coins to the treasurer.
- Cambodia Family Support. They raised a total of $150k. RCD put in a small amount. They did a large amount of work with these funds.
- Note that the District Conference is on in April at the Wembley Golf Club. Please book as directed in the DG email newsletter.
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Sergeant:
Tony Chien conducted the Sergeant’s session. The Fines included;
- Those who haven’t recently caught Public Transport.
- Mis-placing car keys - very few.
- People with more than 2 bikes (PP wasn’t here tonight)
- Those who didn’t do something special for their special person in their life. Again surprisingly few!
- Neil Wilkie / John Hopkins. Neil had a bottle of one of the best white wines in the world. John guessed what it was hence Neil had to pay up !!
- Makes - No Rotary Badge.
- Peter Webb – Did NOT pay for dinner !!
- Chris Cole - an ex-banker but still smiling (ed: maybe smiling because he is an ex-banker).
- Club Golfers - Some did not complete their game !!
- John Thornton - Beautiful tie but forgot his whistle.
- Tim Humphry - 8 Grandchildren
- Lindsay Dry – using a smartphone during our meeting.
- The Wilkie Wine Table.
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Guest Speaker: Bill Charlton - Life Talk
Bill was introduced by Lindsay Dry.
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Bill gave a wonderful talk about his life. Highlights and points to note are detailed below;
- Bill grew up in Melbourne where his schooling took place near East Kew.
- He caddied at the local Golf Club from a very early age for a little pocket money.
- He went to Box Hill High School
- Times were pretty tough it was during WWII. His father was in the RAAF and stationed up North. His Mother looked after everyone and somehow made ends meet.
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- On advice from the school principal, Bill went to RMIT and did a night course in accounting.
- He started as a clerk with RM Gibson Pty Ltd whilst still studying.
- In his first year at RMIT Bill failed everything. He resolved to do much better and changed things around to ensure this happened. It did.
- From Gibson’s, he went to a “real” accounting firm - Fuller King. He worked with Les King who was a very skilled Tax Accountant. From Les, Bill learned a great deal and became very skilled himself.
- When Fuller King was taken over by Arthur Anderson, Bill resigned because he didn’t / wouldn’t “work for Americans”.
- He joined Man Judge Roberts & co.
- Following his time with Man Judge, he joined Mitchell Cox (Aust) as their accountant. They had a lot to do with building heavy mining plants, especially in WA with our Iron Ore industry.
- To supplement income Bill bought into a couple of investments. He still owns an office building in Terrigal NSW.
- His first wife was Helen.
- Finally, Bill bought a small accounting practise in Melbourne CBD - William street. He loves working in a private practise and deals fairly with clients and the ATO alike.
- He categorises tax clients thus; Prime - always organised, 2nd Group - reactive but ok, 3rd group - no-hopers (late lodgers and always get fined).
- He sold this last practice when he was 88 years young.
- He always played it straight with Clients and the ATO - one should pay the correct amount of Tax - not a penny more or less !!
Pres John thanked Bill for his wonderful life talk.
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Future Events: President John Bolto
- February 25th – Fellowship Dinner – Prego in Floreat Note, not 24th
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- March 3rd – Public Holiday
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- March 9th – Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra / International Women’s Day
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- March 16th – Tales from Clontarf – Ross Kelly
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THANK YOU
President John thanked;
NGC staff Denise & Staff
On Par Caterers.
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.
He called on members to recognise RI President Mark Maloney’s Presidential theme for the year, Rotary Connects The World, and to Acknowledge the Flag.
