Minutes

Attendance: It was a terrific yarding on the day with Glenn noting 25 members in attendance or, as Nooka would say, 24.  Glenn, in a moment that would have made Nooka so proud, also counted one guest.  Our guest was Lexi Forbes and her father, Paul Forbes.

Meal: Guinea pig schnitzel.  It tasted like chicken.

Sarg Jon got the show on the road.  He was a bit toey and was trying to rush us through the meeting agenda so he watch his horse, Galloping Guru, run in the third and Bendigo.

Matt reported that;

·       A certificate of appreciation will be sent to the Midfield Group as a thanks for hosting us at the Cooramook Dairy.

·       Our $2,000 donation to the SEC proved timely and extremely helpful.  A well-publicised and tragic road accident that involved a scene contaminated with asbestos resulted in the SES needing to acquire HAZMAT suits at short notice.  Great to know we could be of some assistance.

·       Members are invited to the Framlingham Golf Club next Wednesday night for a round of golf.  $20 each.  Talk to Matt if you are interested.

In other reports;

·       Greg advised that Bailey Else has recently been selected as one of the 75 students nationally to attend the National Maths Summer School.  Bailey will be attending this instead of the NYSF.  As we have already paid for Baily to attend NYSF, Greg is proposing that we simply reallocate these funds towards assisting a young woman in Warracknabeal attend the NYSF.  Greg’s proposal seemed to be universally supported.

·       Greg has applied for a $25,000 grant to assist the National Youth Science Challenge next year.

·       Paul reminded members that their membership is now due.

·       Brendan advised that David and Louise have now returned from Peru.  David was seriouisly ill after eating the guinea pig but is slowly recovering.

·       Brendan criticized the Central Spoke for its incredibly inaccurate reporting.  Our President-elect makes a compelling argument.  It will be an abysmal failure of duty if Brendan does not sack the current editor and appoint a replacement as soon as he assumes office.  Anyhow, Brendan also asked members not to vote for him in the upcoming presidential ballot.  However, this proposal, unlike his presidential candidacy, received no support.

·       Brendan also noted that Boré’s rotating dinner on Saturday at Madala was excellent, even though nobody rotated.  Congratulations Boré.

·       Lew advised that Nick Bolden is back in business next to the dive shop.  Nick is a past member of our club and long time supporter of the raffle.  If you are looking to go away on holidays talk to Nick and he will look after you.

·       Malcolm is selling remembrance day poppies and pins.  Talk to Malcolm if you would like to support the RSL again this year.

·       Sam has his daughters wonderful calendars available now.

·       Greg has raised the prospect of us hosting a Brazilian exchange student next year, from January until December, possibly in cooperation with other Rotary clubs.  Stay tuned.

Matt asked us twenty questions as a fines session, and we failed year ten miserably if quite profitably for the club.  Galloping Guru ran like a horse partly owned by our members.  The barrel was drawn and Bob McMillan snagged the free lunch voucher.  Matt will organise a $5 Melbourne Cup Sweep.  Involvement is voluntary unless you don’t want to take part, in which case it isn’t.

Members strolled out into a beautiful spring day wondering why we can’t count two guests, why the rotating dinner didn’t rotate, why all our race horses are so bad, why David ate a guinea pig when he must have known it would make him violently ill, and why is the country with the greatest life expectancy Hong Kong when Hong Kong isn’t even a country, or for that matter why is the jaw the strongest muscle when it isn’t even a muscle?  These are the key questions we would worry about if the day was so nice and the company too good to worry about such trifles.

Jon is seen here in a poker machine venue watching the horse races while conducting a barrel draw.  Before we had ‘chances are you’re about to lose’ the government's anti-gambling slogan was ‘gamble responsibly’.  The problem was many Australians interpreted ‘gamble responsibly’ as the government advising them to gamble. 

 

Adam Kent continues the good work.  This time I understand he has been raising money for veterans on a bike ride with former Prime Minister Tony Abbott.  Well done Adam.

 

Apologies to the person who sent us this - I can't remember who it was.  Thank you.

 

Pip Ritchie fondly recalls his time in Nam; Nederladse Aordole Maatschappij B.V, the Dutch half of Shell I believe. 

  

 

One of the curious problems with electric cars is that you need to put very quiet components into them.  Internal combustion engine cars have a giant white noise generator under the bonnet, so if your air-conditioning fan or coolant pump is a  bit noisy nobody notices.  People notice in electric cars and complain.  As a result, car makers have to fit quieter components into electric cars, and quiet components cost more money.  Lew understands the problem and has sent us this report.

 

Your correspondent's wife has started her Christmas shopping.  She has made a good start with a perfect gift for that person who is hard to shop for.  

Rotary Horse Racing Report

Last Thursday Matrooshi had her second outing here in Warrnambool.  Your correspondent ducked down to the race track with his father-in-law, also a Matrooshi syndicate member.  When my good wife rang me that night to ask me what I had done during the day, I did not say that I slacked of work and went down to the track.  Instead, I said I had been spending quality family time with her father.  The messaging is important.

The stables were not overly confident going into the race; the quality of the field was good, the track conditions didn’t suit Matrooshi, and neither did the distance.  They were mainly running her to help her education and preparation.  Pundits agreed, and Matrooshi started at long odds.  We were more optimistic and thought Matrooshi was worthy of a cheeky little each way bet. 

Matrooshi had a bit of a tough run but still nearly came through for us, only being beaten out of third place by a very narrow margin.  While it was disappointing not to be taking some cabbage off the bookie, it was still a very encouraging run from Matrooshi. 

Our friends at Wilde Racing have been very patient with Matrooshi.  Hopefully their persistence and hard work is about to pay off.   Her next run should be a 1400m maiden in Warrnambool on Remembrance Day under conditions that suit her much better.  Consult your bookmaker to explore your investment opportunities. 

More exciting updates as they come to hand.