Our Christmas lunch for 2020 took place last Wednesday we had the pleasure of our District Governor, Phil Beasley, and his wife Judy in attendance. Area Governor Peter Simons from Portland Rotary also made an appearance. DG Phil spoke about district goals which include member welfare (looking after each other), looking at community needs, reviewing our goals and projects, the “Big R” of Rotary to partner with local and district clubs and those outside the district, and financial support of the Rotary Foundation.
Judy Beasley also presented her project for 20/21 involving the improvement of literacy in remote indigenous locations through the provision of books in native language, which is similar to our project in providing books and toys to primary schools in the Philippines. DG Phil also showcased the R100 Baton that will be used in the baton relay between district 9780 clubs. We thank Phil and Judy for their presentations.
On Friday, the elves were in action again delivering gifts from the Sinclair Wilson wishing tree to Emma House, Vinnies and Brophy. Thanks to Greg Allison, T-Bone, Bomber, and the Wino for your presence.
That’s a wrap for 2020. We shall meet again in the new year on Wednesday 13th January 2021. On behalf of Felicity and myself, please have a safe and merry Christmas and a Happy New Year
Cheers
Ronnie
Hole in One.
The Hole in One competition is on again. Our club has been invited to provide volunteers for 4 hour shifts to man the event. The shifts would run between 10.00 and 2.00 and then 2.00 and 6.00. There will be training and information for volunteers. The idea is that the profits from the event would be shared with our club proportional to the number of volunteers from our club.
More information will follow, but please let Gerard know if you are able to help.
Minutes.
Attendance: Nooka reported 21 members and three guests present. Our guests were D.G. Phillip Beasley, his partner Judy Beasley, and ADG Peter Simons. Nooka also reported we were ‘a little bit short in the finances’, which is surprising because he billed Pip $80 for his meal.
Meal: Jason had advanced notice that Lindsay B. was not able to attend the meeting, so roast beef with all the trimmings, then plum pudding and custard for dessert. It was absolutely superb Lindsay.
Possibly some things happened at the start of the meeting, however Boré borrowed your correspondent’s pen to draw a cartoon and so these events are now lost to history. I think the cartoon was worth it.
Our District Governor Phillip Beasley was one of our guest speakers. Phillip spoke to our club about a few areas of focus for the year:
· Empathy for where we have been.
· Looking after members and their families. Be conscious of how people are travelling.
· Supporting front line agencies as we recover from the pandemic. Find out what they need.
· See this as a chance to re-evaluate what we do as a club. We can reset our goals and discuss these goals at a special club meeting.
· Work with other Rotary clubs in Warrnambool on projects, especially as we celebrate 100 years of Rotary in Australia.
Judy spoke persuasively and passionately about the Indigenous Literacy Foundation. Hopefully this is a project our club will be able to get involved in and support.
We thank Judy, Phillip and Peter for joining us.
Ronnie has already written his acceptance speech for the 2021 District Administrative Efficiency Award.
It tasted as good as it looked Lindsay.
Boré’s view.
This week we were very pleased to welcome our District Governor Phillip Beasley, his wife Judy, and ADG Peter Simons.
Phillip and our other guests arrived to witness Nooka put on a clinic in administrative efficiency at the front door. Surely this is the year when we can finally break our duck in the District Administrative Efficiency Award. Our guests then witnessed no director’s reports and only a single member’s report. Not all things can be polished. The DG then sat down to enjoy his roast beef and plum pudding – just like we do every week Phillip!
There is only one hard and fast rule when the District Governor comes to visit: don’t mention the Third Reich. The Wino might have mentioned it once but, Basil Fawlty style, I think he got away with it. We fondly remember a simpler time when Rob only used to tell visiting District Governors that the future of our club was death.
Every DG’s visit, and indeed every club meeting, has an unexpected highlight. This week it occurred when someone asked Phillip how many clubs there were in District 9780. The DG observed that there were ‘58 clubs and he had visited 40 via Zoom and 11 in person already’. The next few seconds, as everyone did the maths and worked out were we were in the pecking order, was just priceless. If I am being honest, I am surprised we were up as high as that.
We thank Phillip, Judy, and Peter for taking the time to walk through our club’s door of opportunity.
We also thank Boré for another great cartoon.
And now for something different.
Enough talk of the Third Reich. Quick Pip, distract everyone with a joke.
Mary says hello.
G’day mates!!
It’s been quite a while, so I thought it would be a nice idea to give you an update. I was really pleased to see, that life in Australia is slowly but surely turning back to normal. Unfortunately this isn’t the case for Switzerland at all, the numbers of infections are still way too high (infact they’re not even really decreasing) and there are so many different restrictions everywhere, it is kinda hard keep up. We’re basically back on a semi-lockdown with all the restaurants, public places and shopes closed from December 23rd onwards. So Christmas is going to be really different without the family & friends gatherings. But luckily my family and friends are all well and healthy.
My dad had a scheduled surgery last week and is recovering quite quickly, he should be able to go back to work in January. My mum is super busy at work, her company produces a substance needed for the production of the Covid-vaccine. And I’m on Christmas break from school now, the past semester was actually really stressful with many exams and sacs counting towards my final results, as well as the normal classes I’m doing. Additionally the uncertinty of the whole situation and the quetion if we’ll be able to continue having classes at school was really exhausting, so we’re all glad to have 2 weeks off now. But in general we’re lucky to still have classes, my teachers and parents are very pleased with my results this semester (so am I) and we’ll just take every day as it comes!
A few weeks ago, I got up at 4am to watch the Emmanuel graduation on zoom. I almost fell asleep in school after that, but it was worth it. I’m glad I got to see it and support my friends, even over here from Switzerland. It is a bit weird to think about my friends going to uni now, when I still have three semesters of highschool to do, but eventually even I will graduate!
So now you’re basically up to date with what has been happening in my life. Finally I want to wish you and your families happy holidays, merry Christmas and a blessed New Year!! I hope you and your loved ones enjoy the celebrations together, you most definitely deserve it after that year. I’ll always appreciate you guys, Rotary and Australia and I really hope I’ll be able to return soon!!
Lots of love and don’t forget me too soon!!
Mary
Walter Drummond.
DG Phillip asked us to look up the story of Walter Drummond. Allow the Central Spoke to give you a brief summary.
Walter was born in Hamilton and became a Melbourne-based architect. He travelled to Chicago in 1913 to enquire about setting up a Rotary club in Australia. Walter visited the Rotary International headquarters and met Paul Harris. The war delayed his plans, but in 1921 renewed his contacts with R.I., and two delegates were sent from North America to charter clubs in Australia and New Zealand.
Thanks to the efforts of Walter Drummond, the Rotary Club of Melbourne was chartered as the first Rotary Club in Australia. Here is the bit I love. As you can imagine, Melbourne in 1921 was a very hierarchical society and there was definitely a pecking order within the professions. When the Rotary Club of Melbourne was finally chartered, they refused to admit Walter Drummond as a member, believing him to be an insufficiently senior member of society. The club did eventually relent and admit Walter into the club.
Walter died in 1930 at the age of 40. His grandson, Peter Schroder, is a Past President of the RC of Hamilton.
Philosophical dilemma of the week – If you help set up a club, does it automatically follow that this club ought to admit you as a member?
Ten Years Ago.
Ten years ago, Robbo reminded us that Christmas is really about family;
A six year old goes to the hospital with her grandmother to visit her Grandpa.
When they get to the hospital, she runs ahead of her Grandma and bursts into her Grandpa's room ...
"Grandpa, Grandpa," she says excitedly, "As soon as Grandma comes into the room, make a noise like a frog!"
"What?" said her Grandpa.
"Make a noise like a frog - because Grandma said that as soon as you croak,
we're all going to Disney Land!”
Interesting history.
Merry Christmas and Mary Christmas.
Here at the Central Spoke we wish everyone a safe and happy Christmas. We hope Santa visits you and no one from NSW does. Thank you to everyone who contributed to the Central Spoke in 2020. It is very much appreciated.
Our thoughts are very much summed up by submissions from two of our most regular contributors: Pip and Mary.
