Minutes.

Attendance: Last week we wrote ‘Unlike Nooka, Sam continues to make an easy job look easy.’  Nooka, it turns out, was offended by our implication that he was making a difficult job look easy.  We apologise to Nooka unreservedly.  Nooka has been doing a great job on the door for years, and we are grateful.  Nooka reported this week that we had 27 members and, after some hesitation to check the figures, two guests in attendance.  

Meal:  Jason delivered an excellent open-topped beef pie (technically a tart in some parts of the world), topped with melted cheese and ham.  So, a beef tart parmigiana without the tomato sauce.  Coupled with peas, carrots, pumpkin and roast potatoes the beef tart parmigianas were a triumph.   This excellent meal was augmented by another wonderful fruit platter from the Fiedlers.

 

Penno opened proceedings with a Dr Seuss style joke before introducing our president.  Ronnie wished everyone a happy St Patrick’s day before introducing our guest speaker, Mark Power from WRAD.  If there is one day that celebrates the responsible consumption of alcohol it would be St Patrick’s day.  Jann Fiedler was also welcomed as a guest.  In reports;

·       Garry advised us that we are looking for candidates for RYLA in September this year.  If you know of a suitable candidate please let Garry know.  See the eligibility criteria listed below.

·       Garry also advised us that he is running a footy tipping contest for the club through the AFL app.  Download the app, go to ‘tipping’ and choose ‘join a comp’.  Our password is RZWLL2KN.  $20 to enter, due next week.

·       Garry also informed us that the Timboon ramp is all done thanks to Tim and Rowan and is now just waiting for the concreter.  Once Garry knows what day that will be he will ask for volunteers to assist the concreter. 

·       Tony asked members to think about what they might want the club to do or not do next year and provide that feedback to him or another incoming board member.  A very short survey form will be provided for members to fill out at a meeting in the next week or two.

·       James informed us that he is looking to refresh our website.  Look forward to seeing it James.

·       Matt advised that we will be having a membership day on the 7^th of April.  Please consider inviting anyone who you think might enjoy Rotary.

·       Bob asked members to bring a bottle of wine for the auction next week.

·       Malcolm announced the very exciting news that Hutto has organised for a share in a horse to be sold at our auction.  There was some disappointment when it was discovered that this was not a plan to buy back Vassa Blue, but it is certainly an exciting development.  We thank Hutto for organising it and, if it is appropriate, we once again thank Wilde Racing for their support of our club. 

·       Lew reports that our auction numbers a sitting at about 65 with 65 guests.  Please remember to invite those people you have told Lew you will bring as guests.

·       Jann said hello and announced he will present to the club a report of his exchange year in two weeks.  We look forward to it Jann.  His parents once again kindly provided us with an excellent fruit platter to enjoy with our lunch.

·       Adam Kent announced that his nickname is ‘Boof’.  Pity, because he does have a bit of Clark Kent/Superman about him.

 

Mark Power is the Clinical Services Manager of WRAD.  Mark spoke about the amazing work that WRAD does in our area and some of the challenges the service faced during the pandemic.  Mark spoke about how the pandemic has significantly increased alcohol consumption in the community and its associated problems.  He also spoke about how the move to telehealth consultations has actually been a good thing for many of WRAD’s clients. 

We thank Mark for his excellent presentation.

Boré’s view.

Last Tuesday night we had a club board meeting.  The following Wednesday at lunch Mark spoke to us about the hazards of excessive alcohol consumption.  Mark’s presentation was very informative, but he may have been preaching to the converted to some degree.  Certainly, few people appreciate the hazards of excessive alcohol consumption more than the board members of our club the morning after a board meeting.

Mark may well have introduced us to a new Rotary Four Way Test;

1.     Is your drinking at Rotary board meetings harming your liver?

2.     Is your drinking at Rotary board meetings harming your lover?

3.     Is your drinking at Rotary board meetings affecting your livelihood?

4.     Is your drinking at Rotary board meetings getting you in trouble with the law?

Of course, your correspondent is the son of tea-totalling Methodist wowsers and I grew up in that odd sliver or Eastern Melbourne that prohibited all licenced venues.  You should certainly take anything I write about alcohol with a big grain of salt.  This is a point not entirely lost on our esteemed cartoonist.

We thank Boré for another wonderful cartoon.

 

 

 

Ronnie mows his nature strip, although admittedly not that often judging by the photo.  However, he is damned if he is going to have pedestrians walk on the nature strip he mowed three months ago.  Brendan sent us this snap of Ronnie's head-high pedestrian trap.

 

Noah went to a lot of trouble to build his boat, so it is a bit of a mystery as to why he only sailed it once.  I always assumed the motor and toilet were broken.  However, Pip Ritchie informs us that Noah's cruise line went out of business after the first cruise got bad reviews on Yelp.

 

 

Sorry Robbo and KY, you know we can resist for only so long.  Brendan sent us this.

 

 

Titus.

Bob McMillan brings us this update from Titus.

 

Footy is a passion, not some cold hearted, spread sheet dominated rational exercise. 

On a Monday, you want irrational reaction. You want emotion to trump reason.

What you really want is idiotic hysteria.

You’ve come to the right place.

Thursday

Richmond (105) v Carlton (80)

After 537 days of no football at the MCG, suddenly it was back, like Jesus emerging from the cave, but this had reliable witnesses.

You could almost feel the excitement across Victoria that finally, something not horrendously awful was occurring.

In the lead-up, I just hoped there wouldn’t be an outbreak, and for once there wasn’t and it quickly became apparent that there would be an actual game of football in front of fans at the MCG.

Even more exciting was the fact it would be between the reigning premiers and Carlton, who have earnt this opening slot by losing it eight years in a row.

It’s always good to see consistency rewarded.

At least this time, Carlton was not that bad. In fact, by their standards, they were positively amazing. They did enough to give their fans the false hope they’ve come to crave.

Their strategy of constantly kicking the ball to Noah Balta probably won’t work against other teams though.

The Blues did manage to make some history, by having Jack Silvagni become the first player medically substituted out of a game. The new rule seemed to work smoothly, after all, the teams had almost 48 hours to get across how it would work.

You all know I follow the game very closely, and therefore have insights that elude others, and here’s mine for this game; Richmond’s victory was a result of a player by the name of Dustin Martin.

If you go back and watch the replay, you’ll notice some of the little things he did just to help out the team.

Mark my words, you’ll be hearing that name a lot in the future.

Friday

Collingwood (53) v Adam Treloar (69)

Collingwood fans booed Adam Treloar for having the temerity to be traded when he didn’t want to be.

It was an odd moment, as Treloar seemed to be the sort of player the Pies could have used on the night.

In fairness, later on, the Pies fans cheered him, perhaps the earlier booing was more directed at their own club, who somehow manoeuvred themselves into a position where they couldn’t afford to keep their good players 

The Pies had two major issues on the night, an inability to get the ball, and then no one to kick goals in those occasional moments when they did touch it.

Darcy Moore was the main reason the Pies remained close for much of the game. He was so good I’m amazed Collingwood didn’t trade him in the offseason.

The Bulldogs biggest concern was that despite having 149 more disposals than Collingwood, they couldn’t put them away until late in the game.

That’s probably reflective of Collingwood this season. They’re a lot like me at a party, able to hang around for a long time, without really making an impact on anyone.