Daylesford Trip
This will take place on 5th -6th August. There are currently 14 Going from our club. Robbie will need to finalise this very soon. Please let Robbie know if you wish to go. We will be travelling in private cars. A $50 deposit is required for booking.
 

Dinner Auction
Tables are filling quickly. There are 19 Tables available and 16 of these have now been booked. Tickets are available from Robbie for $40 per head. Includes 3 course meal and wine on every table. Please book quickly to avoid disappointment.
 

Barrow Raffle.
Anne is looking for donations for the barrow for the dinner auction. Start bringing them next week. Anne will look after them
 

Science and Engineering Challenge
Tuesday 20th June. Help required, either full day or half-day sessions for volunteers. A good group of helpers will be required. Anne is coordinating this event so please see Anne to offer your services.

Louise
Next Week we will have the presentation evening for our 3 exchange students. All clubs are coming together for this. If you have had friends or family members who have been involved in the students lives over the time please invite them to come along. Please let Louise know by Friday if you are not coming or if you are bringing guests. The meal will be catered with alternate drop.

Dinner Auction
You have heard about the wheel barrow auction. Please bring along donations next week or drop in at BBQ's Galore. Wine bottles are also required for the Wine Cellar.

Thank you to those who have brought in their corporate donations. We have not asked Rotarians for Auction donations however, if you are intending to give a personal donation of goods please let Michael know before Friday so that they can be added to the lotting to be done on Saturday.
 

Dinner Auction Volunteers
Volunteers are needed for the Dinner Auction - set-up and evening duties. 9:30-12:30 for set-up. People for loading at Harris Scarf & to unload at City Memorial and other small jobs. Then we will have lunch.

Various roles needed throughout the evening. Please let Judy know if you are attending the dinner auction so that she can allocate duties for the evening.

Changeover Night
Tuesday, 13th June. All members who have been recognised with a Paul Harris Fellow please wear your medallion on the night as we are going to honour some important people on that night.

Progressive Dinner
Tuesday, 27th June. Usual cost $22. Bring your own drinks. Please advise Judy if you are going so that we can be sure we have enough hosts. If you have not done this already please do so as soon as possible.

Robbie's Swindle
$98 in the pot tonight. Marie Bennett held the winning ticket and drew a 7.

Anne Adams introduced our Guest Speaker, Felicity Melican.  A brief outline of Felicity's speech follows.

We live in Warrnambool, Western District, Great South Coast Region, Victoria, Australia, the World - we need to stand up and protect what is ours.

The value of being involved in foundations in our community is that we can direct funding to areas that the government may not necessarily consider important.

How parochial can we be as part of the Great South Coast Region? Do we need to identify as a region rather than just the city in which we live - thinking about the wider population of about 120,000 throughout the region?

Many matters impact the whole region, not just Warrnambool - Roads, Rail, Digital Access, Suicide & Suicide Prevention, Mental Health, Health Services, Education - Pre-school to Post University - equitable access to education, Family Violence, Indigenous Community including tourism and sustainability.

There is strength in numbers and by thinking about the entire region we add numbers to the voice.

How does all this apply to SW TAFE?

The training sector has been facing a lot of challenges in recent days with another training operator having shut down last Friday.

SWTAFE is one of the smaller TAFES but covers a large geographical area. We have four campuses across the region but we have a thin market, that is not a large number of people to draw from.

State Government understands our community obligations but require that we become financially viable. We need, therefore, to ensure that we are providing courses that industry wants.

To this end SWTAFE established "Industry Connect" about 18 months ago to engage with industry to discover what they need and what they think they will need in 5-10 years time. This also requires Workforce Planning. We are pushing to get statistics around what our region specifically needs.

We work with Brophy Family and Youth Services to help young people who are disengaging from school and provide them a way to access education and training.

State & Fed Gov'ts have education as a high priority but are seeking an "end result" for the money they are putting into education - either a job or a pathway to further education.

Aged Care is another area in which SW TAFE have a strong engagement with industry. Students are getting work or going on to Deakin to do further study.

Following her talk Felicity responded to a number of questions from Rotarians, particulary in relation to training provision for the Dairy industry.

Anne thanked Felicity for her talk.