Attendance: Nooka returned to declare he spent the last portion of the footy season at the now.  He counted 20 members and one guest in attendance, our former exchange student Mary.  Astute members noticed that we actually had 21 members in attendance, supporting our theory that Nooka always forgets to count himself.   Now I know what you are thinking dear reader; how do I know that Nooka is forgetting to count himself rather than forgetting to count you or I, for example.  Think about it.  Whenever Nooka is away, the count is always acurate.

Meal: Yes.

Bono stepped in as sergeant and guest speaker this week.  He introduced President Matt and we were underway.

In reports;

·       Greg advises that four applicants for the National Youth Science Forum will present to us during the upcoming school holidays.

·       Tony D. asked members to give him any feedback on the Merri River tree planting in preparation for planning the next project.

·       Ian noted that we have some good guest speakers coming up.

·       Surf also advised us we will have a ten pin bowling and pizza night on Thursday 19^th of September.  Bowling will start at 6.00pm.  We will retire to Bojangles for dinner.  $16 each for two games of bowling.  Members, family and friends all welcome.

·       Gerald advised that we will be assisting the Neil Porter Legacy Maths and Science Forum in Terang tomorrow.

·       Boré informed us the Rotating Dinner will be on Saturday 26^th of October.  Glenn and Boré are putting together ‘The Matrix.’  If you want to take the blue pill and remain in the matrix, rsvp on the Stack App.

·       Lew called for volunteers to assist Legacy Badge Day on Friday 6^th of September.  Talk to Lew if you can help.

·       Brendan advised us he is working with an engineer on designs for new container sorting tables.  More info to follow.

·       Nooka informed us he has no idea who won the footy tipping competition.

 

It was great to see Mary again.  Mary gave us an update on her current travels in Australia and life in general.  She returns to study medicine in Bern shortly. Safe travels Mary.

Mary is going to freak out when she notices that picture of Brendan looking at her.

Yep, there it is.

Brendan introduced himself as guest speaker, then gave us an excellent presentation on observations from his trip to Europe.  Brendan and Linda took 10,000 photos on their 90-day trip across the continent.   Amongst Brendan’s observations were that smoking and vaping were rife.  Clearly keen to enjoy the culinary delights of Europe, Brendan had trouble finding dips, salt and vinegar chips, and different flavoured soft drinks.  This might have been fortunate however, because Brendan discovered that he often had to pay to go to the toilet.  He noted that dogs could go everywhere, but not so some people, with disabled access often poor.  Occupational health and safety and road safety was very poor, but nobody cares because alcohol is cheap and readily available, as are cigarettes.  We thank Brendan for his excellent presentation, and apologise to him for interrupting it to watch a horse race. 

What can I say Brendan, I was under a lot of peer group pressure to take this photo.

The meeting concluded with the triumphant return of our barrel draw.  President Matt explained that the winner receives a voucher for a free lunch at Rotary, with the voucher being valid for the lifetime of the recipient.  Bill Quinlan noted that this may only give him a few weeks to redeem it.  The barrel was drawn and Bim Affleck took home the coveted free lunch voucher.

Last week, during our Wednesday lunch meeting, Chipilly had her second run in the Senet Gambling Law Experts handicap at Sandown.  Chipilly, as you may recall, was the most recent horse kindly donated by Wilde Racing, with proceeds from the sale of the share going to Myeloma Australia.  Chipilly had originally been entered into another race several days earlier, but when the experts at Wilde Racing noticed that only five horses had been entered into this race, they decided on a change of plan.  With the first eight finishes guaranteed a slice of the prize purse in Victoria, six horse races are always appealing.  Even if the ambulance beat us home, we were still going to walk away with some cabbage.  This is why our friends at Wilde Racing are the experts.

 

Firstly, a word from the race’s sponsor. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thank you, Senet Gambling Law Experts, now on with the race.

 

Chipilly started the race at the second-longest odds of the six runners.  We didn’t care because we just needed her to finish in the top eight.  Chipilly got away reasonably and got into a good position around the bend.  David Jellie pointed out the that the race caller described the horses running in ‘pairs of two around the back.’  Pairs of different numbers traditionally being less common in horse racing.  The favourate proved too good, but Chipilly came home nicely down the straight to pick up a very respectable second place and some handy prize money.  Congratulations to Wilde Racing, Hutto and all the syndicate members.