Tuesday’s meeting at the Warrnambool City Central Bowling Club was attended by 25 members, spouses and friends. A very enjoyable and social get-together.
Apologies: Svet Lineham, Sarah Wallace, David Brown, Judy Ross, Robbie Blackburn, Janet Blackley, Debbie Ferguson, Cathy Bligh, Kayla Biender & Margaret Ross
Rotary’s response to local disasters:
The news over the past few weeks has been about bush fires & flooding in our district - Glenormiston, Skipton, Gellibrand, Kennedy Creek, Horsham & Wyperfield National Park west of Ouyen
In response RAWCS have opened up a Bushfire Appeal and the 6 Rotary Clubs that run the Community Care Centre in Ballarat have appealed for household items or cash donations for particularly those that are now now homeless.
The RAWCS Drought Appeal - I was asked to contact 4 of the 6 local recipients of $500 debit cards to see whether they would accept an additional one or two cards. They all responded with a YES and are very grateful for the support Rotary has provided them.
Our Annual Second Hand Book Sales operated again on the weekend & so far over $3,000 has been raised. Well done, particularly Deb and Angela and the team lead by Tony that had to shift 40 boxes of books temporarily for a function.
Brooke has been in Canberra volunteering for the National Youth Science Forum. 226 year 12 students from around the country were experienced wide variety of stimulating science related activities and careers. Brooke says “thank you Canberra for the heatwave”. Thank you Brooke
Multi- District Conference:
This years Conference brings together three districts at Horsham on the 27th - 29th March. Guest speakers include Wayne Holdsworth, an activist against sexual extortion and suicide and Marc Ryan, a mental health advocate. A great opportunity to Connect, Share and Learn.
Melbourne to Warrnambool Bike Race
The organisers are again seeking our assistance in providing Marshalls for this event on Saturday 14th and Sunday 15th February. The Club will receive $70 per volunteer. If you can assist please contact Judy Ross on 0429 672 446
Next Meeting:
27th January
'Staying Safe Online' presentation from Rotarian Kayla.
6pm for a 6:15pm start
Warrnambool Bowls Club
Cnr Timor and Kelp St.
If you are now able to attend, please message David Brown via 0438 647 536
Meeting Jobs:
Sergeant:
Svet Lineham
Fellowship:
Angela Wheeler
Invocation:
Ann Donaldson
Property:
Terry O'Neill
If you are not able to complete the upcoming position, please let Leon know via 0439 945 656 or leon.devilliers65@gmail.com
Upcoming Speakers:
January
27th
Staying Safe on-line
February
3rd
Tour of the Hycel Research Facility at Deakin University
Social dinner at the flying horse
10th
17th
24th
Upcoming Events:
January
6th-14th
NYSF
February
March
April
12th-17th
RYLA
Aug '26
10th-11th
Science and Engineering Challenge
Volunteering
Date
Sergeant
Fellowship
Invocation
Property
Jan 27th
Svet Lineham
Angela Wheeler
Ann Donaldson
Terry O'Neill
Feb 3rd
Svet Lineham
Alan Bowes
Angela Wheeler
Rob McDonald
Feb 10th
Svet Lineham
Peter Smid
Alan Bowes
Glenn Brotchie
Feb 17th
Svet Lineham
Kayla Biender
Wendy Gosden
Terry O'Neill
Feb 24th
Svet Lineham
Wendy Gosden
Trevor Williams
Kayla Biender
Mar 3rd
Svet Lineham
Trevor Williams
Tony Austin
Greg Lee
Mar 10th
Svet Lineham
Tony Austin
Terry O'Neill
Terry O'Neill
Mar 17th
Svet Lineham
Terry O'Neill
Svetlana Lineham
Kayla Biender
Mar 24th
Svet Lineham
Svetlana Lineham
SharonKenny
John Hunt
Mar 31st
Svet Lineham
Sharon Kenny
Robbie Blackmore
Glenn Brotchie
Apr 7th
Svet Lineham
Robbie Blackmore
Rob McDonald
Greg Lee
Apr 14th
Svet Lineham
Rob McDonald
Rachel Furnell
Rob McDonald
Apr 21st
Svet Lineham
Rachel Furnell
Margaret Ross
Glenn Brotchie
Apr 28th
Svet Lineham
Margaret Ross
Leon de Villiers
Kayla Biender
Additions to the bulletin...
Please contact Debra or Brooke via debferg61@icloud.com or brookeemmajensen@gmail.com
Wisecrack of the week
from Rotarian John Beks
"You Gotta Love Old Men"
I was at the mall the other day eating at the food court.
I noticed an old man watching a teenager sitting next to him.
The teenager had spiked hair in all different colour: green, red, orange and blue.
The old man kept staring at him. The teenager would look and find the old man staring every time.
When the teenager had enough, he sarcastically asked: "what's the matter, old man? Never done anything wild in your life?"
The old man did not bat an eye in his response: "Got drunk once, and had sex with a peacock. I was just wondering, if you were my son."
National Youth Science Forum 2026!
Rotarian Brooke recently ventured up to Canberra to volunteer at the National Youth Science Forum with 226 year 12 students from across the country. Even with a heatwave with 5 consecutive days in the 30s, students had a great time with minimal problems.
Students had many visits including CSIRO research laboratories, various laboratories across the ASN campus, UNSW tours at the ADFA campus (Duntroon), Navy Drone Racing, Canberra Zoo conservation, Snowy Hydro tour and more! Students also had a live video call to teams from the CERN research facility and the ITER facility.
Throughout the program, I was mostly shadowing this constellation group 'Larawag'
Our sponsored student Nekoda had a great time and is looking forward to presenting to the club about his experience. Nekoda is in the photo below.
Rotary and Non-Rotary volunteers are a key part of the program, and this year we had a wonderful team to help behind the scenes. Rotarian Nathan and Rotarian Stacey are from Port Augusta, Rotarian Rochelle is from Perth, Rotarian Wendy is from just outside of Canberra and volunteers Claire and Leela are STEM students from Geelong and Canberra.
Our job as volunteers is to be extra adults as needed. Things like pastoral care, helping with first aid, supporting students who need to sit out of an activity, helping to fix behind the scene problems and more. The red shirt staffies are a very high energy and busy bunch of people, so it is easy to have us step in and support students who need it when the staffies are not able to provide the attention for it.
If you have questions, or would like to see more photos of the program, please ask Rotarian Brooke!
MSO and Find Your Voice Collective SONDER
at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl Melbourne
Rotarians are invited to attend the free event hosting the local choir. You can also register to watch the live stream via youtube.
Date: 13th Feb
For details, CLICK HERE
Congratulations to Rotary Warrnambool Central for their new machine to help sorting of cans at the racecourse!
For those who are unaware, Rotary Warrnambool Central members have a relationship with the Warrnambool Race Course to help collect cans. Previously, the race course was not separating the recycling from their waste, which is where the opportunity came from.
For roughly 2 years now, the club spreads their special marked bins across the grounds on event days and manually sorts through these bins collecting the 10c bottles. To date, they have collected $18,242.70 for their club.
Recently, they upgraded their equipment to physically help their efforts. They have nick named it the 'Bonomatic 2000' after their current president Bono. This machine is able to lift the bins for them and distribute the contents on a conveyor belt so members can collect the cans. You can see images below.
Last weekend at the music festival, they collected 19,513 bottles/cans to be deposited. Congratulations Central!
Reminder! We are collecting 10c bottles for our projects. This is a really easy way of earning 100% profit for out club. You can utilise the app, or Brooke has business cards with the barcode on it (please ask for one). All you need to do is scan the barcode at the machine, then put the bottles in.
Alternatively, you can put your bottles in the bucket at each Rotary meeting, or drop them to Brooke and George's house on Kelp St.
Ever wonder what happens to your 10c cans after donation?
The Bendigo Advertiser has written a fantastic article about the process behind the Container Deposit Scheme.
The article talks about the processes towards collection and recycling of the materials, and post consumerism. It's a great read, click the button below to be taken there.
Thank you Brooke
