GUEST SPEAKER

Rotarian Doug Maclean introduced guest speaker Ray "Scruffy" Henry from the Rotary Club of Darwin which he transferred to in 2007 from the Stuart Rotary Club Alice Springs where he was a member since 1980. He was one of the founding organisers for the famous Henley on Todd (HOT) Dry River Regatta, which has been running for 53 years. This extremely popular and hilarious event is held under the gum trees in a dry river bed in Alice Springs. It is a joint Rotary fund raiser which raises significant funds through sponsorship, stalls and entrance fees that are divided amongst the Clubs for their various community activities.

Ray provided an extremely interesting presentation showing pictures of the various events throughout the day, including a grand parade, bath tubs, kayak, maxi and mini yachts, boogie board (to name a few) which culminate in a "battle of the boats", quite a spectacular event! Ray built and captained the "Nauteus" for 25 years and has taken the boat on promotional trips to Melbourne and Perth and has had some interesting experiences along the way, in particular with the Police who didn't have a "procedure" for dealing with boats driving on the highway. The race was washed out once in 1993. Ray produced a book on the race, for which he won a Brolga award.

Ray was a two time President of the Stuart Rotary Club and was awarded a Paul Harris Fellow for his work on the HOT. Roy has been on the road travelling since 2004 and speaks to various clubs about the Henley on Todd Regatta, including Singapore, Hong Kong, Bali and many clubs throughout Australia. Roy also volunteeres for the Melbourne Grand Prix and has been responsible for keeping a check on the pits area, so was able to meet and talk to all the various drivers and crews!

Some photos are provided below, however for a lot more more information and photos, see the web site: Henley on Todd Dry River Regata