In the absence of Sgt Vertical, Dillo stepped in. He can’t give up the role…Is his a voice for radio as well?...all a bit late Brian.
Brendan reported on his volunteering at the Great South Coast Science and Engineering Challenge out at Deakin Uni the day before. Put on by Newcastle University it was run purely by Rotarians. The other clubs provided greater numbers. Bono found the projects, and the whole show, very impressive. He’d thoroughly recommend more of us attend to help out next year.
A tasty and well-proportioned lunch of crumbed Fish’n’Chips was enjoyed by all 22 members, following which Tony Grace stepped up to conduct a “Parkinson” interview with James Affleck.
As always it’s fascinating to hear about the lives of other members. Bim had an older father, as a result of which he followed the great British tradition of being sent off from Minjah Homestead to go boarding at Geelong Grammar at the age of six. He spent 12 years there before going Jackarooing in NSW. He wasn’t sure of his next step, but his employer up there suggested the Army would be a good fit. I hope I’ve got this right, but this advice dove-tailed neatly with his number coming up and being drafted to Vietnam. Both his parents had passed away, and he could have been excused, but he went. Just when I thought we were going to get some details of his Vietnam experiences, Gracey seemed to allude to some incident in Tasmania?...Was I the only one getting the feeling Bim might have been attacking in somewhat the wrong part of the world? Whatever happened down there, Affleck didn’t seem keen to pursue it.
He was however very keen to record that in undertaking Ag Science at Glenormiston he was therefore a “graduate of Melbourne University”. It was at Glenormiston that he met Pip Ritchie….can one imagine a more challenging pair for the poor lecturers?
Bim farmed until 2004 when a serious health issue, and the fact that he and Anna had four daughters who weren’t looking to pursue farming, meant he sold Minjah after 110 years in the family, and retired to Peterborough where he pursued his interest in military history. It is an interest spawned in part by discovering the history of a pine tree he’d spent many hours lounging underneath at Geelong Grammar. Well after he’d left school he found out that tree grew from a seed from Gallipoli sent back in 1916 on the second anniversary of the outbreak of the Great War by Bill Winter Cooke of Murndal near Hamilton. It turns out Bim’s father was senior prefect in 1916, and had a role in the establishment of the tree. Bim is gobsmacked no-one had ever explained any of this to him, but he himself has since gone on the explain lots of other matters in the significant number of histories and publications he has now produced.
One final anecdote; amidst a countless number of farm accident injuries, Bim mangled a finger in the workings of a windmill. Upon attending his regular GP for some urgent attention, our very own Dr Gerald Irvine tested the very limits of the Hippocratic oath by telling Affleck, “Get out! You’re bleeding on my carpet!”
New Members
His Wednesday work arrangements permitting, we shall be inducting Paul Forbes as a member next week. He’ll be aiming to bring his daughter Lexi (our outbound exchange student to France) along as well, which is a lovely touch. Although we’ve got a few members going on holidays it’d be good to get a strong turn up.
There are a couple of other potential new members, who if not “in the pipeline”, then are at or near the pipe entrance. As always, have a think about people who might be good Rotarians in our club, and for whom our club would benefit them.
Robbo.
