Past President Jason van Straalen opened the meeting at 6.30 pm.
Welcome to our speaker, Wesley Sim, ShelterBox WA representative and member of the Rotary Club of Perth.
The meeting was opened by singing the National Anthem. Despite having no melodious accompaniment, PP Jason rated us 8 out of 10!
QUESTION OF THE WEEK:
Where was the surfing held in the 2024 Paris Olympics?
Answer: Teahupoʻo reef pass, Tahiti, French Polynesia.
Correctly answered by John Bolto.
FAMILY AND FRIENDS:
John Bolto announced that Kim has won the last two weeks of golf and is playing off in the finals because she has played so well. Well done, and good luck to Kim.
BIRTHDAYS AND ANNIVERSARIES: The following birthday was announced by Susan Watson:
Partner’s birthday:
Helen Ilett on 10 September 2024.
CLUB AND COMMITTEE REPORTS:
Wine Club – Russell Hawkins reported that there is leftover wine for sale from the business lunch. There is a chardonnay for $170 per carton and a cabernet for $170. Russell also has his usual Shiraz selling for $140 per carton. Please contact Russell if you wish to buy these exceptionally good value and tasty wines. russell@chippenham.com.au
ROTARY MOMENTS:
Bicycles for Humanity – The Charitable Trust donated $5,000 to Bicycle for Humanity in May. In addition to a $5,000 donation from the Rotary of Crawley and the proceeds from a raffle held during the BlueSky Travel trip to Kakadu, the organisation had sufficient funds to ship the first container of bikes to the Rotary Bicycles for South Africa Project, which was due in Durban on 6 September. David Tucker, who is coming to speak to us next week about this project, passed on a message from Charlie Pandy, Past President of the Rotary Club of Chatsworth (Durban): “Thank You - these bicycles are changing mindsets here in South Africa and students are now getting to school on their own steam and also creating jobs for some people who undertake to repair some units.”
MetSO concert – A reminder of the MetSO concert this Sunday, 15 September, at the Churchlands Senior School, commencing at 3pm. A number of Club members will be attending. Please support the MetSO! Tickets are selling fast.
SERGEANT SESSION: Bob Davis introduced the Secret Sergeant, Jill Elias, who fined the following people:
Susan Watson thanked the Sergeant for reading her letter published in The Australian but asked her not to divulge it to the Sergeant so as not to get fined. Too late!
Geoff Cahif, Bruce Fiegert and Kent Warburton for being mentioned in The Post as excellent bowlers;
Being the 9th day of the 9th month, anyone whose birthday is in September, on the 9th or a multiple of 9, that is 18th or 27th of any month, or the 19th or 29th of any month, was fined, nine of them were fined - Michael Bisset, Steve Halbert, Lindsay Dry, John Bolto, Michael Snell, Peter Panek, David Ellis, Jock Laurie, Pek Goh. Happy birthday!
Tables were fined for not knowing that the Vuelta a Espana had been on for the past three weeks and that Jay Vine, an Australian, was the polka dot jersey winner, and Kaden Groves, an Australian, was the green jersey winner. The winner was known by the wine table, which got fined anyway for getting Question of the Week correct. Michael Bisset knew that Ben O’Connor from Perth was second overall at the Vuelta, so his table was exempt from a fine.
GUEST SPEAKER: Wesley Sim – introduced by John Lindquist.
Wesley spoke to us about the start of ShelterBox over twenty years ago in Cornwall, England, by a former Green Beret who was a Rotary Club member.
ShelterBox works in disaster areas and starts by asking what is the best response to the situation. It then contacts the local Rotarians who may have that insight. Also, what is best for the community is critical to the ShelterBox response.
Tents of varying sizes, mosquito nets, water bags, filter systems, lanterns with mobile phone chargers, saws, and nails may be given to the affected communities, depending on what is needed at that time of year. Sometimes, the charity returns to the original area when the season changes to provide extra shelter.
The charity purchases as much as possible from the local community and gives families cash so local shops can be supported. Also, giving cash gives the families dignity regarding what they spend it on. They can arrange and hire help to assist in rebuilding their homes. It gives them some control over the situation and boosts morale.
Over the years, ShelterBox has supported over 2.5 million people; in 2023, over 325,000 people were assisted.
The Rotary Club of Dalkeith is a gold medal donator to ShelterBox.
Thanks to Wesley for his wonderful work representing ShelterBox.
REMINDER OF NEXT ROSTER:
Monday 16 September 2024
Richard Ranshaw Welcoming members and guests
Michael Snell Table duty
Graeme Sansom Registrar 1
Peter Panek Registrar 2
John Murdoch Introduction of guest speaker
Kent Warbrton Pass the microphone
REMINDER OF COMING EVENTS:
Monday 16 September David Tucker, Bicycles for Humanity
Monday 23 September No meeting public holiday
Monday 30 September Erin Hurson, Australian Wildlife Conservancy
THANKS:
Thank you to the Staff of the Nedlands Golf Club, Claire and Anton, for their service tonight, and Chef Zamry for dinner.
WE RECOGNISE OUR VERY GENEROUS SPONSORS:
Lizzi Bee - supplier of flowers
Dry Kirkness Chartered Accountants (Butler Settineri) – Honorary Club Auditors
Accura Accounting & Advisory Services for providing Xero Accounting software and
Sharesight Portfolio reporting software to the Charitable Trust.
Dirk Vanderstruyf from Euroz Hartleys.
MEETING CLOSE:
President Hugh closed the meeting by recognising the new Rotary International presidential theme for 2024-2025: THE MAGIC OF ROTARY.
