Attendance: Nooka returned to his traditional position by the door and welcomed 23 members and our guest, Pierre. Nooka noted that the Geelong Cats were in town but fortunately none turned up to our meeting.
Meal: Pasta Carbonara. Interestingly, pasta carbonara is not a traditional Italian recipe, and only first appeared in cookbooks after the second world war. There is debate about its origins, but it is commonly believed to have originated as a sauce made with ingredients available to American soldiers fighting in Italy during the war, namely spam canned ham and powdered eggs.
Sergeant David got us underway with another lawyer joke. Both the lawyer joke and the pasta carbonara were excellent but a bit wasted in Robbo’s absence. Our president was introduced and Bono reported;
- We have two proposed joint Rotary meetings. Thursday March 5th at the RSL will have several guest speakers talking about teaching resilience in schools and family violence. There will be a second meeting in April to hear from Nekoda Ballinger about his NYSF experience.
- The Bonomatic 2000 has now received some upgrades following out recent beta testing at the Red Hot Summer Tour. Improvements include some toolboxes to store our container sorting supplies, sides on the tipper to reduce spillage, an esky, a drip tray, some trays to drain half full containers, new bag holders, and 8-10 comfy chairs. The plan is to trial it again before the May races. Brendan also plans to put some suitable signage on it. The total cost came to $16,120, $10,000 of which was very generously donated by the Lane Foundation. To put that in perspective, we have so far recycled $18,255 worth of containers, excluding matching funding we have received from a philanthropic trust.
- 5,000 pieces of litter were cleaned up at the recent Beach Patrol working bee at the breakwater.
Brendan used the smallest font possible to write 'Bonomatic 2000'.
This not something we you will ever find us guilty of in the Central Spoke.
In other reports;
- Members were pleased to see Rob Harris back and looking well.
- Greg shared a message from Maria, who is back at school and trying to get her driver’s licence. We miss Maria and wish her well.
- Surf updated us on the Trivia Night. He really needs us to recruit people to come and indicate our attendance in the Stack App. He is still looking for gifts of quality wine. A ‘Chablis from the 1960’s’ that would pair well with crayfish would be ideal. Ian will also need help setting up the morning of and packing up afterwards. The Fools on Stools will be playing so it should be a great night. Bone up on The Compass’ middle name.
- Gerald advised that Dean Dwyer from the Neil Porter Legacy is asking for our assistance on Tuesday 3rd of March at the Dishlickers running a barbecue as we have previously.
- Gerald also gave us some advice on the Bega Koroit visit. Long sleeves, long pants, enclosed leather shoes, no watches and no rings will be the order of the day.
- Boré is recovering from knee surgery. He gave us an update and thanked those members who had reached out to him.
- David Jellie gave us an update on Ron. We continue to wish Ron well.
- Trev informed us the Hospital Auxiliary will be holding another fundraiser down near Lake Pertobe in March. We have once again been asked to run a barbecue at the event.
Our guest speaker was Pierre. Pierre grew up in Cambrai, the famous site of the First Battle of Cambrai, often regarded as the first use of tanks in warfare. (More accurately, is was the first successful use of tanks). Pierre spoke about growing up in Cambrai, his life in Australia and his future plans. We thank Pierre for taking the time to speak to us and wish him well for the future, whether that be in France or Oz.
We had some fines from the floor before the barrel was drawn and, in what can only be described as a merciful act of God, Bishop Lowrey won the coveted free meal voucher.
