Minutes.

Attendance: Nooka apologised for ‘cracking it’ two weeks ago but reassured members that he is over it now.  He recorded four guests and either twenty or twenty-two members present.  Our guests were Ian ‘Surf’ McPhail, Annette McPhail, Kerry Bethune and Sandra Couch. 

Meal: Robbo predicted that the meal would be excellent.  Tony and Paul R. then looked up the Pavlov’s dog experiment to try to understand the feelings they were experiencing in expectation of the meal.  When the meal of tepid mac and cheese arrived, Robbo declared unconvincingly ‘I am happy with this’.  If Robbo was happy, then we will declare the meal a success.

Sgt Bob opened the meeting and introduced our illustrious president, James.  In reports;

·       Boré updated us on the clothes donated for Ukraine.  The clothes area in Melbourne and the plan is to send them to Czechoslovakia as a first step.  Rotary also has a Ukraine Fund, which Boré is looking into.

·       Robbo advised that ‘Bim’ Affleck has gone to Tassie.  He will be indicted as a member apon his return.

·       Lew updated members on our past exchange student, Cecilia from Denmark.  Cecilia is now a psychologist.  According to Lew, her career choice was inspired by spending time with us.

·       Robbo advised that another past exchange student, Yanick, also from Denmark, may be heading down under in May.  Hopefully he will find time to visit us.

·       Brendan is about to order some more Rotary polo tops.  If you do not have one or would like a new one please let Brendan know.

·       Malcolm reports that the working bee auctioned at the Merri School’s action is likely to occur at St Francis’ in Cramer Street.  Stay tuned.

·       Bob advised members that Paul O’Brien has now completed his treatment ‘ and hopefully will return to club meetings soon.

·       Bob also reminded members that the Hospital Auxillary fundraiser is on Friday 10^th February, 4.00pm-8.00pm.  Bring your own grog.

·       James noted that the RC of East Warrnambool was grateful for the golf day last week.  Thanks to everyone who helped out.  We are invited back next year.

 

James then had the pleasure of inducting Ian ‘Surf’ McPhail into the club.  Ian’s sponsor Stu was sick so his cousin, Bob, said a few words.  Ian is 68 years old and a retired ambulance paramedic.  In his childhood he used to pinch Bob toys.  His parents, David and Nola, were well known tennis players.  He has a brother and a sister; Tony and Susan.  Ian was a champion surf life saver and once came second in the National Ironman Championships.  He has sailed in two Melbourne to Hobart yacht races, completing one of them without falling off the boat.  Aside from being closely related to Bob McMillan, Ian is more distantly related to David Jellie.  Our club is starting to resemble the Royal Family.

We welcome Ian and Annette into our club and hope that they enjoy their time with us.

The meeting concluded with our Charter President conducting an interesting fines session partly based on the career prize money won by our race horses.  I am glad that one of the questions was not 'how much prize money have our horses won this year?'

Boré’s View.

This week we welcomed Ian ‘Surf’ McPhail into our club.  Ian is a very welcome addition.  Ian is a former Iron Man champion who brings some much needed genuine athletic capability into our club.  We welcome Ian and Annette and look forward to their involvement in our Rotary club.  As always, Boré was on hand to document Ian’s arrival. 

We once again thank Boré for a fantastic cartoon.

 

 

The prisons and psychiatric hospitals of Ararat were aflutter this week in excited expectation of Dirty Angels’ debut in the D. A. Dalgleish Maiden Plate in the town on Sunday.  The race was possibly named after D. A. ‘Dirty Angel’ Dalgleish, one of Ararat’s favourite sons.  The Age newspaper had jumped on the bandwagon early, tipping Dirty Angel for the win.  Given it was the horse’s first race, I assume the Age’s tip was based solely on her connection to the highly successful Warrnambool Central Racing stables.

Dirty Angel’s main rival in the race was a horse called All Hell.  Unfortunately, another horse named Quick Fingers was scratched, so we didn’t get to hear the race caller say something like ‘Its Dirty Angel with Quick Fingers, and now All Hell has broken loose.’  Pity.

By the time the race started punters had backed Dirty Angel into the clear favourite at very short odds.  Horse racing gamblers are clear thinking people who really understand horse racing and invest their money wisely, and Dirty Angel vindicated their prediction by winning the race.

I am joking of course.  The D.A. never looked likely and finished tenth out of twelve.  The jockey noted after the race that the horse 'didn't have the speed that we would have liked her to have'.  This seems like a non-trivial problem in a race horse.

Dirty Angel, far left of screen.

Interesting fact.

Nothing is a palindrome.  Nothing spelled backwards is Gnihton, which also spells nothing.

Fifty-eight Years Ago.

Fifty-eight years ago, the great man Sir Winston Churchill died.  Ron Mcleod respectfully marked the solemn occasion by going for a surf.  We all grieve in different ways.  

If members have any old newspaper clippings featuring themselves or other club members, we would be most grateful to receive a copy.

 

 Rotary International's statement of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

https://my.rotary.org/en/guiding-principles