President Judy Ross opened the meeting and welcomed District Governor Elect Peter Freuh and his wife, Ann. Peter will be the District Governor of District 9800 next year. Visiting Rotarian Ray Henry (Scruffy) from RC Darwin; Graeme Ross’ guests Nancye Irving, Doug Irving, Alistair Ross, Petra Ross, Elissa Ross, Coral Kilvington, Robert Kilvington, Nicholas Kilvington and Margaret Ross; former Rotarian Gordon Curran; and Philip Ross. A special welcome back to John Stuckey.
The D9800 District Conference will be held in Warrnambool on 16-18th March 2018. This is a large event with over 600 delegates expected. Venues will be Flagstaff Hill, the Lighthouse Theatre and the Village Green. Peter will be working with all Warrnambool Rotary clubs on arrangements for this event. He has asked clubs to come up with a “Service Project” and ideas are welcome, so please contact Peter or Brian Trenery if you have any suggestions for a service project.
Sunday 5 March at the City Memorial Bowls Club, Cramer Street – 12:00 for a 12:30 start. Cost $30 per head. Please confirm your attendance with Judy asap – numbers are needed by next Monday.
NO MEETING ON 7 MARCH – due to this Rotary function being held on a Sunday.
Rotary Peace Concert – Thursday 9 March 2017
Karina has sold 10 of 40 tickets, so please remember to ask you family and friends to come along to this concert. Cost $30 per person if purchased through Karina, and $35 if purchased on the night. All funds raised go to Rotary Foundation Peace Scholars.
Mathilde’s Fundraiser – Autism Awareness Australia
Next Tuesday and for the following three meetings, Mathilde will be selling lasagne for $5.00 per serve, so if you don’t want to cook the following night and have a delicious meal, bring along some money for one of Mathilde’s home made lasagnes. For every purchase you will be eligible for the travel voucher draw which will be held at the District Conference.
Port Fairy Folkie Weekend 11-13 March.
Those Rotarians interested in participating in the opportunity to qualify for a Folkie ticket by completing 2 x 5 hour shifts as an usher at the event should contact David Brown 0438 647 536 or david@swcredit.com.au
There are now only eight (7) opportunities available the majority being late shifts when the best acts are performing.
Friends of Rotary as always are welcome to participate..please think about friends who may enjoy the opportunity of a folkie ticket worth $400.
This is a great fund raiser for the Club and good fun for those that participate.
Swindle
Ron Rauert won the substantial sum of $8.00. Well done Ron.
Chair, Graeme Ross introduced his son-in-law, Doug Irving to provide a summary of his very interesting life. Doug lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico and is visiting relatives in Australia.
Doug grew up in British Columbia, Canada. His parents grew up in the depression and war years in the 1930’s. His father purchased a 40-50 acre farm with a log cabin in the wilderness, where supplies were brought in by paddle steam boats. There was no electricity and Doug and his brother said their lives were like Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. The winters were “brutal” and the family needed to be self-sufficient.
The school was a 1 room schoolhouse with 1 teacher and very few kids went beyond Year 8. Following the government improving roads and consolidating other schools, the school became a year 1-12 school. Doug was interested in rocks and geology and at the age of 14 decided he wanted to study geology at the University at Vancouver, British Columbia. During his first year he had no money and the big city scared him, so he stayed in the dormitory studying. He went on to engineering school and in 1960 graduated as a Geological Engineer.
Since then, his work has taken him all over the world including the Arctic Circle at a uranium mine to supply the US Atomic Commission for their weapons program. He has worked in Northern Canada, Vancouver, Europe, Africa, Ghana, Madagascar, South America and all over Australia and throughout his career he has been involved in the mining of most industrial minerals. In the last few years there has been huge change in the industry with new rules and regulations making it difficult to get a permit to put a spade in the ground. But minerals are needed and Doug stated that “if you don’t grow it, you have to mine it”, for instance, a cell phone has 40 different minerals in it.
Doug stated that he has learned a lot from his travels and other cultures and had a lot of great experiences, particularly travelling through Central/South America. He always found people away from civilization very hospitable. He also spoke of his extensive travels in Australia from 1964-1968 where he went all over the country with his work. This is where he met Nancye whom he married in 1968. Although, some of his experiences were not so good, i.e. being caught up in an ambush where people were shot, and being chased by a bear. Doug stated that he has most likely used up his 9 lives.
Doug and Nancye moved in New Mexico shortly after their marriage and have lived there ever since.
Rotarian Graeme Ross leads the club in question time with Guest Doug Irving.
Guest Doug Irving, Nancye, and members of the Ross family who were able to join us for this special night.
Warrnambool City Council residents are encouraged to take advantage of the opportunity to rid their homes of unwanted household chemicals for free.
Organised by the Warrnambool City Council and Moyne Shire Council in partnership with Sustainability Victoria, the Detox Your Home program helps residents dispose of their old and unwanted chemicals in an environmentally responsible way.
Warrnambool’s next Household Chemical Collection will be held on :
Saturday 4th March 2017
8am-4pm
Warrnambool Saleyards, Caramut Rd, Warrnambool
(Editor's Note: Due to the copied image of the flyer being unreadable, this information has been taken from https://www.warrnambool.vic.gov.au/detox-your-home-0 (Accessed 16/02/2017))
The National Park Rangers are advising hikers in Glacier National Park and other Rocky Mountain parks to be alert for bears and take extra precautions to avoid an encounter.
They advise park visitors to wear little bells on their clothes so they make noise when hiking. The bell noise allows bears to hear them coming from a distance and not be startled by a hiker accidentally sneaking up on them. This might cause a bear to charge.
Visitors should also carry a pepper spray can just in case a bear is encountered. Spraying the pepper into the air will irritate the bear's sensitive nose and it will run away.
It is also a good idea to keep an eye out for fresh bear scat so you have an idea if bears are in the area. People should be able to recognize the difference between black bear and grizzly bear scat.
Black bear droppings are smaller and often contain berries, leaves, and possibly bits of fur. Grizzly bear droppings tend to contain small bells and smell of pepper.
Guest Doug Irving, Nancye, and members of the Ross family who were able to join us for this special night.
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