Minutes.

Attendance: Nooka reported that the door was ‘working beautifully’ and that ‘there was no money left in his phone betting account’, which he described as a complication of his vertigo.  I reckon I have met a lot of guys at the track with severe vertigo by the end of the day.  What this has to do with our attendance report is anyone’s guess.  Richie Benaud would have  been proud as we recorded twenty two members and two guests.  Our guests were Chris McEwan and Bim Affleck.  It was wonderful to have Chris in attendance on International Women’s Day and Oscar’s birthday.  Chris agreed to come because Robbo assured her there would be plenty of other women in attendance.

Happy International Women's Day to Chris, and as Lew said, EVERYDAY is Women's Day!

Meal: Our courageous chef went back to the fryer again this week.  If the horse bucks you off it is important to get straight back on.  Fried chicken on a bed of potato salad with a green salad.  If I was being hyper-critical, I would say that the chicken was a bit undercooked, but who could blame the chef for erring on the side of caution this week.  Excellent.

Bob introduced our President James and the ball was rolling.  In reports;

·       Matt has extended an invitation to us for the official opening of Loved and Shared.  Wednesday 29^th of March between 1.00 and 3.00pm.

·       James thanked Brendan for adding the necessary bling to the President’s chain. 

·       Bob reminded members that the Golden Community Raffle will be drawn next Wednesday.

·       Bob was able to report that the Myeloma Australia 38 Mate walk went well.  Over 100 people took part, including the CEO of Myeloma Australia.  About $5,000 was raised on the day.  Thanks to all those who walked or donated.  Bob also thanked Peter Headon, who generously donated 30 ads and did an interview with Bob prior to the event.  Bob made special mention of Robbo, who joined in the community walking event on his bike. 

·       Tim extended gratitude from Di for the club’s recent support of the Hospital Auxiliary.  Thanks were particularly extended to Bob and Trev.

·       Greg reminded us that Millie Barling will give her presentation at the Warrnambool Footy Club on Tuesday the 28^th of March.  This will replace our normal Wednesday meeting.  Please rsvp in the Stack App.

·       Malcolm reported that Peter McMahon was very happy with our efforts at the Francis Foundation.

·       Sam presented a short film on the Neil Porter Legacy Agricultural Open Night.

·       Nooka advised members that the footy tipping will start next week.  Tips can be emailed Nooka directly or possibly given to Bob next Wednesday.  Nooka was pleased to report that he has ’27, or 28, or 29’ members taking part. 

Brendan has the District Administrative Efficiency Award in the bag after

adding all the necessary and overdue bling to the presidential chain.

This week we were very pleased to induct James ‘Bim’ Affleck.  (We did not indict James as previously reported in the Central Spoke.)  James was introduced by Lew Officer.  Lew noted that James farmed at Minja Station for many years.  He played with the Hawkesdale Football Club and is a Vietnam Veteran.  Lew helpfully informed us that Bim survived the war, which came as a relief to those present.  Bim has written many books, often on topics related to veterans and soldier settlements.  He is married to Anna and has four daughters and sic grandsons.  He supports Geelong.  We welcome James into our club and hope Anna and he enjoy their time with us. 

The barrel was drawn and Gerald took home the medicinal bottle of tincture of grape.

Rotten returns.

Ron has been keeping an eye on former club member Eric Reed.  Eric and Sparky once visited our club as guest speakers.  It was a bit surprising to see Sparky dressed in green because I recall his act as being quite blue.  We thank Ron for the update.

Rotary Horse Racing report.

It has been a tough start to the season for Warrnambool Central Racing.  However, once again Sirileo Miss proved to be the cure for what ails you. 

On Saturday she lined up in the group 3 Matron Stakes at Flemington.  Not favoured by the punters, our steed had been perfectly prepared again by our friends at Wilde Racing.  Sirileo went out hard and took the lead from the get go.  She set a cracking pace over the journey before turning up the heat down the straight.  No one could stay with her and it was Sirileo first, daylight second, and the rest of the field a distant third.  To quote the race caller,

‘Sirileo Miss in front, she’d run through a brick wall, Sirileo Miss trots in, won it by three lengths.’

I don’t want to be pedantic, but four lengths actually.  Next stop; the group 2 Sunline at Mooney Valley apparently.  Happy days.

Syndicate Proposal.

Hutto has been in discussions with Wilde Racing about a share in another race horse.  One thing I have learnt about horse racing is that having five horses in five syndicates is five times as much work for the syndicate manager than one horse in one syndicate.  However, five horses in one syndicate is probably not much more work at all.  We currently have five horses in five syndicates.

I propose setting up a syndicate of like-minded friends with the clear intention of buying a share in one horse each year.  This would allow us to own shares in multiple horses in the one syndicate.  The size of the shares would be similar to the shares in horses that we have been buying.  Wilde Racing have been great supporters of our Rotary club and are good people to be involved in racing with, so the intention would be to stay with them.

It may not necessarily be a big syndicate, possibly just five or ten people depending on the interest.  Once this syndicate is set up, we would use this syndicate to bid on horses in charity auctions etc, as well as just buying shares directly from Wilde Racing.  I would not be setting up any new syndicates to purchase horses that came up at subsequent auctions etc. 

If you would be interested in joining this proposed syndicate, please contact me in the next few weeks to express your interest.  We can then have a conversation about the details.

email: anthony.davies@hotmail.com

text: 0418582024

Kind regards

Tony D.

Ten Years Ago.

Ten years ago, our Charter President went out in the Snoop Dog and caught himself a Shortfin Mako Shark (Isurus oxyrinchus).  This is an impressive feat, at least partly because they are rare and officially classified as an endangered species.    To be fair to Bruce, it was only classified as ‘vulnerable’ in 2013 and was subsequently upgraded to ‘endangered’ in 2019 due to overfishing.