Rotary meeting at St Brigid’s Hall, Crossly.

 

President Michael welcomed members and our many guests to tonight’s meeting at the hall.

 

Andrea Vallance,        J and B Van de Camp,             Bore Hoekstra,            John Maddock

Maggie Dwyer,           Mary Bouwman,                     Ian Robertson,             Philip Ross

Joan Austin,                 Kaye Slater,                             Margaret Stalker        Vicki Johnson

Marion Brotchie

 

Michael thanked Brian Trenery for stepping in last week in his absence.

 

 

- What a fantastic effort we have had from our Club members during January – we have been involved in the Quilt Show, helped out with the Hole in One Competition, help with the Homeless Project and sold lots of raffle tickets. Thank you to everyone for your participation and thanks to Andrea and Ann for their leadership of the Quilt Show and Terry and Louise for organising the raffle.

- Tonight we are here to support the Friends of St Brigid’s who are trying to keep this community Hall in operation. We will also enjoy hearing from the Clog Wog, John Beks about his passage through time.

- Rotaract re-establishment at 6.30 pm at Seanchai, invite young folk (18 – 30) to attend.

- Robbie has organised a Saturday morning catch-up for morning tea at 10:30am at Macs Snacks.

- Dinner Auction meeting at 5pm prior to next week’s Rotary meeting.

- Those interested in visiting the Lotus Garden to meet Delia after the meeting to set a date. Delia will contact all people who indicated they were interested to see if the date is OK.

- We received a beautiful card from Iris Bickley’s family.

 

 

Tonight is a buffet meal of Baked potato with a variety of different salads and some yummy deserts including mini pavs, cheese cake, trifle and apple crumble.

 

 

Denis Bushell from Friends of St Brigid’s talked about their group and some of the ‘battles’ they have gone through to get the Church to the condition it is in today and how they have an amazingly dedicated group that do all the work. If you would like more information about the Friends of St Brigid’s, The Mens Shed, The Community or the History, please visit their very informative website at https://www.stbrigidscrossley.org.au/ .

 

 

John gave a wonderful presentation on the history of his Dutch family as they immigrated to Australia. John has provided an electronic copy of his speech. (see below) It is a great read if you missed his presentation.

 

 

 

 

 

Thank you to the Friends of St Brigid’s for their hospitality tonight. There was a presentation of an $800 cheque and $5 cash.

If we consider our fellow Rotarians friends, do we spend time at our meetings to celebrate their lives? Do we walk back to their cars asking them how they are doing? Do we bother to find out their children’s names? Do we ask for their opinions? Do we really listen when someone says they are having a difficult time and do we follow up with them?

 

We are not only talking about the President or the Director of membership, but every member of our clubs. It should be the duty of each and every one of us to look out for each other and extend that care to those in our communities.

 

Friendship is contagious, so is kindness and so is courtesy. Build our club on these foundations and who wouldn’t want to join?

 

For the past couple of years a team of Rotarians, predominately from District 9800, but also including representatives from 9780, 9790, 9810 and 9820 have been working together to place a bid for the 2023 Rotary International Convention. PDG Stephen Lamont has represented 9780 as a member of the “Bid Team”.

In August 2018 the DG’s of the 5 “Victorian” District were approached by the Bid Team to ascertain if we would support the bid, a no brainer of course, early in September 2018, the five DG’s, DGE’s and DGN’s all co-signed a letter of support, this was added to the bid documentation.

Later in September 2018 we were advised that Melbourne had been shortlisted along with London to host the Convention. We were also advised that an “Appraisal panel” would be visiting Melbourne in November 2018 to have a look around. An evening was planned for the appraisal team to meet with a number of key people, included on the invitation list were the DG’s, DGE’s and DGN’s  and some other Rotarians from each District. Rosanne, Phil and I along with PDG Jessie Harman represented 9780.

On the evening we spoke with the appraisal team and reinforced how we, 9780 were right behind the Bid Team and were looking forward to being in someway part of the Convention.

 

Well the rest is as we say history.

 

Now I realise you have probably read about this on Facebook or in your Club Bulletin but below is the Official Press Release from the organising committee. Please read the “What happens next” section below and note that the “Host Organising Committee” will be at our District Conference in Maryborough on the 22^nd – 24^thMarch 2019 looking for Rotarians wanting to be involved particularly to volunteer as a Rotary Ambassador, another reason to attend our District Conference.

  

 

 

It is with great excitement that we announce Melbourne as the host city for the 2023 Rotary International Convention, the largest conference secured this century for Victoria.

 

Melbourne is a Big Events City! Set to deliver over $88 million to the Victorian economy, the Convention is the most valuable conference ever won for the state, with the four-day event anticipated to attract more than 20,000 Rotarians from around the world. The global spotlight will be on Melbourne and how we present ourselves to the world.

 

The Convention will take place 27-31 May 2023 using superb venues; Rod Laver Arena and the Melbourne Convention & Exhibition Centre. All activities and events are within the Heart and Soul of Melbourne. Over 7000 hotel rooms over 50 properties across Melbourne. Our transport plan uses our famous trams, ferries and buses to quickly and easily move delegates between venues, hotels, event and restaurants. And of course, Melbourne is a very walkable city with many interesting routes and laneways to tantalise visitors.

 In addition, the Victorian visitor economy will be bolstered with expenditure from thousands of visiting Rotarians utilising transport, hospitality, entertainment, venues, attractions, tourism services, event planning, freight customs broker services, technology rental, security and various other members of the local business event and tourism supply chain, as well as the flow on benefits across regional Victoria for pre and post touring. Rotary has a business heritage as well as community service. We are proud to make an impact on local business and create jobs.

 

The effort to secure this exceptional event was no small feat. Our approach was tenacious, going that extra mile to demonstrate Melbourne’s ability to meet the stringent bid regulations and strategically demonstrate our capacity to accommodate the specific needs of Rotarian delegates and Convention format. This was all made possible by a unified approach between the Melbourne Convention Bureau, Rotary Club of Melbourne, Rotarians from 5 local Districts, Melbourne City Council, State Government and Team Melbourne partners. They have come up with a package that is bound to thrill delegates.

 

This win is everyone’s and demonstrates what can be achieved when we collaborate and work together. The sublime benefits for local Rotarians include

Our local Host Organising Committee is shovel ready. Team members are drawn from 5 local Districts, RC Melbourne, the Rotary Foundation and the 2014 Sydney RI Convention. We will work with an International Convention Committee and staff from Rotary International based in Evanston, USA to deliver the best possible Convention. The focus of the Host Organisation Committee is on Promotion, Publicity, Welcome, House of Friendship, Events, Customer Experience, Finance and Volunteers. The current team will be expanded in coming months to add more horsepower with a broader talent pool.

 

Melbourne has previously hosted this Convention in 1993. And the 2014 Sydney RI Convention has fast tracked our ability to create a wonderful event. Our Sydney colleagues have shared their experiences and systems to give us a flying start.

 

A vital part of hosting is to have an engaged and energised volunteer team to assist all visitors during the Convention. We wish to include volunteers from all ages - so be a Rotary Ambassador for Melbourne by registering to volunteer at the Convention in 2023! Recruitment starts immediately at multiple District Conferences to be held in Melbourne and Maryborough in February and March.

 

In the meantime – “Save The Date” 27-31 May 2023.

 

In the future a dedicated website is planned for volunteer registration and other Convention information - until then please connect to www.rotaryclubofmelbourne.org.au for progress updates.

Two weeks ago, I mentioned the opportunity to attend a Rotary International Convention in Hawaii in 2020. Yesterday (Tuesday) it was announced by Rotary International that the 2023 Convention will be held in MELBOURNE.

 

Not only will you be able to attend the convention but there will be ample opportunity to volunteer your services throughout the four-day convention.

 

This event is the work for the combined Rotary Districts of Victoria.

 

Make an entry in your diaries now.

 

Brian