President Jill Elias opened the meeting at 6.30 pm.
Welcome to our guest speaker, Hilary Wallace, and guests Jeremy Wallace, Christine Smith, Mathilda Hontoir and Shelley Hilton.
John Thornton led the meeting in singing the National Anthem. We sang with gusto, though maybe not so tunefully…
QUESTION OF THE WEEK:
What is POTJIE?
Answer: A “potjiekos” (meaning “small pot food”) is a meal cooked in a cast-iron pot known as a “potjie” (pronounced “poi-kee”). It usually consists of meat and vegetables and is prepared outdoors and cooked slowly over an open fire.
Correctly answered by Ken Ilett, whose Afrikaans accent could not be faulted.
FAMILY AND FRIENDS:
Kevin Jackson spoke of visiting Italy in September and learning about Marconi. If any member is visiting Italy, Kevin highly recommends learning more about Marconi; he has literature and brochures to share.
It is fifty years since Craig James, David Miller, Barbara Chandler, Richard Gorham and Stephanie Fryer-Smith graduated from Law School together.
Congratulations to Carolyn and John Murdoch on becoming grandparents to their first grandchild, Wynton, born on 17 October.
Nigel Johnson was recently given a free lunch by HBF for his fifty years of membership. Congratulations to Nigel for his loyalty.
President Jill spoke of the fire at her parents’ apartment building in Hobart. Whilst their apartment is structurally sound and undamaged, the whole building is uninhabitable. It is rewired, damage assessed, and necessary repairs made to the building as fire ripped through the top floor and the fourth floor flooded. It will be some months before they can return, and do not currently know where they will live until then!
BIRTHDAYS AND ANNIVERSARIES:
Susan Watson announced this week’s birthdays and anniversaries:
Member’s birthdays
Mathilda Hontoir, our Rotary Exchange Student from Belgium, turns 18 on 31 October!
Partner birthdays:
Beth MacKinnon 26 October 2023.
Deborah Marfleet 27 October 2023.
Michelle Wilson 28 October 2023.
Robyn Chien 31 October 2023.
Anniversaries:
Steve and Debbie Halbert, 44 years, on 27 October 2023.
Michael and Vicki Snell, 13 years, on 30 October 2023.
CLUB AND COMMITTEE REPORTS:
Win Jones said that there will be a Melbourne Cup Sweep held at the Club next Monday evening, the eve of the Melbourne Cup, please bring along cash, $10 and $20 sweeps will be available. Please contact Win if you want to participate but cannot attend the meeting.
Anthony McGrath spoke about the Cans for Christmas collection, which will take place on Sunday, 3 December. There are still spaces to fill, if you can do extra, such as an extra collection, that would be wonderful, please let Anthony know.
Hugh Stowell asked all members to put the date of Monday, 11 December 2023, into their diaries for the Christmas party, which will be a sit-down dinner at the Weld Club.
Russell Hawkins spoke of the letters of thanks that the Charitable Foundation recently received, particularly from the Assisi Centre. Funds from the Charitable Trust were sent to Uganda to construct a fully functional latrine at Kimaanya Primary School. To quote the letter, “Our grateful thanks to Dalkeith Charitable Trust for financing this life changing intervention.”
The Charitable Trust contributed to the Nedlands Yacht Club, which was used to purchase youth life jackets and assist with sailing training. Here are photos of some of the jackets and the plaque at the yacht club.
ROTARY MOMENTS:
Cluster Groups – The Club has been notified that there is a two week extension for Clubs to nominate a cluster group, and we will discuss the Club’s submission next week at the Club forum.
Polio Dinner - Hugh Stowell spoke about the polio dinner and that the Club had a good representation in attendance at the World Polio Day dinner organised by the Rotary Club of Perth on Tuesday, 24 October, at the Parmelia Hilton. The guest speaker was a woman from Cambodia, Addheka, who contracted polio at age two. When Addheka was 14 years old, Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge took over and killed many Cambodians. She survived the regime, but most of her 23 siblings did not. Her one surviving sister was forced to keep working under the threat that her disabled sister, Addheka, would be killed. The school she attended is now a genocide museum. Addheka studied nursing and opened a school in Cambodia. She is an inspirational woman who embodies the mantra of creating hope in the world. At the dinner, a 1935 dedicated and signed photo of Paul Harris given to a West Australian Rotarian was auctioned, raising $1,200 for the polio cause.
Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner – Many thanks to Hugh Stowell for organising this entertaining event. There was careful planning that had to be done by Hugh, which was much appreciated by all who attended. Each dinner party was very successful; none finished earlier than 11:30 pm, and some participants were still nursing hangovers on Monday! Thanks to the hosts for their generous hospitality and the contributions made by the guests.
MetSO – MetSO’s next concert will be Sunday, 3 December at 3 pm at the Churchlands Senior High School, to which all members are invited, please book your ticket; details on the attached flyer.
SERGEANT SESSION:Jason van Straalen. Fines were dispensed as follows:
Graeme Sansom for being selected to play hockey at the Euro tournament in 2024 in Amsterdam;
John Murdoch for becoming a grandfather but didn’t celebrate with drinks all round;
Anyone who served seafood at the Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner event because it depletes our reserves;
Geoff Cahif, Bruce Fiegert and Win Jones for their wins at lawn bowls and being noted in the newspaper;
Bob Davis for not dobbing in anyone;
David Miller, Craig James and Stephanie Fryer-Smith for celebrating 50 years since graduating from Law School together;
Susan Watson for being published in The Australian newspaper again, which marks fifty years of letters written by her;
Michael Bisset for attending four weeks of meetings and dinners in a row.
Dr Hilary Wallace is a medical researcher. For most of her career, she has been at UWA and is now at Notre Dame. After receiving a fellowship from the Australian Government, Hilary spent some months in Nepal working on burn injury prevention and met Bir Bahadur Lama, a counsellor and psychologist with whom she has worked for the past twelve years. Bir Bahadur works with vulnerable women and children for Creative Didibatini Organization Nepal.
Hilary worked in Nepal after the 2015 earthquake, offering therapy training to help children cope with trauma. Nepal was also badly hit by the Covid pandemic.
Hilary aims to help single mothers who are shunned by society. Of particular vulnerability are women of low caste or with a disability. There are 135 different ethnicities in Nepal, but all consider marriage a ‘must’ in Nepalese society.
Single mothers encounter widespread social discrimination, emotional struggles, mental health issues and financial stress. They do not qualify for any financial assistance.
Hilary is setting up a programme that will provide microfinance for twenty-five single mothers, each given $1,000 to start a shop or for agricultural purposes, to receive counselling for the mothers and their children and to create a network of single mothers. The Rotary Club of Scarborough has donated $5,000 towards the programme.
Thanks to Hilary for the illuminating report.
REMINDER OF NEXT ROSTER:
Monday 6 November 2023
John Lindquist Welcoming members and guests.
Jock Laurie Table duty.
Win Jones Registrar 1.
Kevin Jackson Registrar 2.
Jock Laurie Pass the microphone.
REMINDER OF COMING EVENTS:
Monday 6 November Club Forum.
Monday 13 November Dr David Haig, 7cm per annum.
Monday 20 November District Governor visit with Freshwater Bay, West Perth, Western Endeavour, Mosman Park-Cottesloe Clubs.
Monday 27 November Jennifer Turner and Susan Morrow, Ronald McDonald House.
THANKS:
Thank you to the Nedlands Golf Club staff, Sean and Abbey, for their service and to Chef Zamry for dinner.
RECOGNISE OUR VERY GENEROUS SPONSORS:
Lizzi Bee - supplier of flowers
Dry Kirkness Chartered Accountants (Butler Settineri) – Hon Club Auditors
Accura Accounting & Advisory Services for providing Xero Accounting software and
Sharesight Portfolio reporting software to the Charitable Trust.
Dirk van der Struyf from Euroz Hartley’s.
MEETING CLOSE:
Recognise RI President Gordon McInally's Presidential theme for the year: Create Hope in the World.
Mathilda Hontoir, our Rotary Exchange Student from Belgium, turns 18 on 31 October!
