Meeting Minutes:
The 2023 Annual Presidents Changeover Dinner was held at the Lady Bay Resort on Saturday night. It was very well attended despite the wild weather and the footy at home being a much better idea for many that came anyway.
Gracie was the Master of Ceremony and kicked the night off on time and in fine form.
Members and Guests were welcomed, including President Noel and his wide Rose Howard from the RC of Hamilton, Steve and Pam Mepham, Billy Kent and Elliott Reeves and Adian Nicolson.
KY and Bob gave the invocation and club toast, then Bruce Luderman gave the Toast to Rotary International - it was a fantastic toast, which we will post in the bulletin next week. Robbo responded to the RI Toast, which was an impromptu reply that certainly backed up the wonderful statements from Bruce.
SGT at Arms Bob McMillan was welcomed to the mic to introduce Pres. James one last time, in his usual enthusiastic manner. James thanked Bob and commented that Bob is the best SGT the club has ever had (or sentiments to that effect!), and in all seriousness really has appreciated Bob's wonderfully full-filled role as club SGT, Club Service Director, Golden Ticket. Raffle organiser and Myeloma activities lead.
Pres. James gave his final address to the club. Amongst the good work of the Directors and members he noted, it is clear that the impact the club has has on the community is fantastic, with more than 514 volunteer hours to the community and banked tens of thousands via the Myeloma Australia activities, Walk for Brain Cancer and the Golden Community Raffle. He thanked every member of the club and their partners for supporting what was the first full year back since Covid. James requested the club back Rob and his wife Caz in another excellent year to come. He forgot to actually read is speech so missed a bit, but yada yada words to that effect....
There were no recognition awards to present as all of the recipients were unable to make the meeting.
Dinner was Crumbed Slow Cooked Lamb Shoulder with mash and beans, or, Stuffed Crumbed Chicken Breast with mash and beans. We thanks the Lady Bay Resort for a lovey dinner.
Boré then inducted President Rob Harris. He gave us some background information on the new president and facilitated the passing of the Presidents "Chains" Necklace from IPP James to President Rob.
Please read Pres. Rob's Speech above.
Pres. Rob introduced his new Board, which didn't take long since half were away.
Next up was local Comedian and Director of the Dirty Angle Comedy Club, Aidan Nicolson who started with a series of targeted Real Estate jokes, then into digital identity theft - saying if someone wanted to steal his mid-life mortgage, two kids and back bay, they were welcome to it - and after about 15 minutes Ron and Bev regretted their front row seat having been picked on. The jokes about the vasectomy might have missed the target audience.
It was a first to have a professional comedian at a dinner, but the Fines Masters really stole the show with a fantastic session. They decided that they would choose a cricket team side. Each member was considered on team suitability based on a trait - for example, Jimmy was the Wicket Keeper since he was small and his knees still work - see the Board photo below for who made the team. Elliott collected the fines and had an over-flowing box! Thanks Pip and Robbo for a fantastic and hilarious fines session.
Sweets were Double Choc Brownie with Ice Cream and Lemon Tart.
With that, two last jobs needed to be done; some famous Quince Paste was gifted to Adian and the wine barrel draw was won by Robbo, making that his first of the new year, or three in one year, depending on which ends of the calendar you want to look at.
The meeting was closed and we officially began a brand new year "Creating Hope in the World" together.
Thanks Sam for running the payments at the door, Elliott and Pam for assisting with table decorations and Steve for the dinner music. Thanks to Gracie for being MC and KY, Bruce and Robbo for their offical duties, and Pip and Robbo for the fines session.
Brendan wasn't at the changeover but a huge thanks to Club Sec. Bonno for puling together the RSVPs and Annual Report content.
