Central Spoke 24.04.2023 (Apr 23, 2023)

Jungle Jim's coconut wireless.

I SAW THE SOLDIERS MARCHING

- A. LAWRENCE VAINCOURT

I saw the soldiers marching, one drear November day,
Those heroes bold, from wars of old, in countries far away.
I heard the drums like thunder, the sound of marching feet,
As men of ancient valor marched down our little street.

I heard the skirl of bagpipes, the blare of brasses bold,
As heroes from another time relived the days of old.
The old, the halt, the lame, the slow, they marched with solemn pace,
To honour comrades fallen at another time and place.

I felt the tightness in my throat, the tears that burned my eyes,
As I watched the quiet dignity of old men marching by.
The fine young men, and women too, in battles long ago,
Who gave their youth and some, their lives, to fight our country’s foe.

On this day will be remembered by comrades who remain,
And by the heavens, weeping, with softly falling rain.
The medals softly jingling on every passing chest,
In memory of companions who’ve long been laid to rest.

There are some unfit, and some who sit, in wheelchairs, row on row,
While they recall what price was paid to turn our country’s foe.
And some will stand with tear-dimmed eyes, and some with faces grim,
While all repeat the solemn vow,
"WE WILL REMEMBER THEM."

Lest We Forget.

- Corporal James 'Jungle Jim' Mepham

Australian Army Public Relations (AAPRS) Military Photographer 1999-2005.

Roster

Members who are on the roster and are unable to attend the meeting are asked to find a human or deep learning narrow artificial intelligence algorithm to replace them.

Welcome to our Club!

Imagine Rotary

Wednesdays at 1:00 PM

Warrnambool Bowls Club

75 Timor St
Warrnambool, VIC 3280
Australia

Phone:

0434 600 114

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Please join us for lunch at the Warrnambool Bowls Club.

District Site

Venue Map

Minutes.

Attendance: Nooka skillfully presented his attendance report this week while simultaneously doing an excellent impression of Dr Tobias Fünke from Arrested Development. He seems to have gotten on top of his vertigo, but is clearly still struggling with his ‘never nude.’ * Nooka launched into a spirited attack on yours truly claiming that I had given him a hard time about the Bombers beating the Dees. Oddly enough, I hadn’t mentioned the game to Nooka at all, but he was feeling so defensive about it that he just assumed I had. Nooka is certainly a lot more fun to be around when the Demons are playing poorly.

Nooka reported ‘about 27’ members were in attendance, which seems to be the way accountants say 28. We had a visiting Rotarian in the form of Brooke Jensen from the Rotary Club of Warrnambool.

Nooka presents his attendance report.

Dr Tobias Fünke, qualified psychiatric analyst and therapist, and fellow never nude sufferer.

Meal: Fish and chips with salad. Perfect.

Bob and James pulled up the anchor and we set off from shore for another week. In reports;

· Bob is organising a tour of the Warrnambool cemetery for May 10^th. Doug Hazelwood will be sharing with us some of the history of local veterans.

· Hutto informed members there are 141 confirmed attendees for the Thoroughbred Luncheon on May 1^st. The club will be auctioning a 40-hour working bee, with all proceeds being returned to the club.

· Lynchie reminded members that we need to organise a wreath to be laid on ANZAC day.

· Rob announced that he has been appointed as an Assistant District Governor. Congratulations Rob. He also asked members to consider attending the District Assembly at Hall’s Gap on April 30^th.

· Nooka informed us that T Bone was leading the tipping with 33, Gracey was second, and Dillo and Nooka were now in third place. I am thinking some people tipped Essendon and some people tipped Melbourne.

· Les described being attacked by a wombat in his sleep, which he fought off bravely if somewhat alarmingly.

Brooke Jensen is a member of the Rotary Club of Warrnambool. She is also a science graduate who is training to be a science teacher. She has a keen interest in STEM and science communication. Brooke spoke to us about the importance of science, technology, engineering and mathematics in the modern world. Of particular interest was her presentation on artificial intelligence. Some members noted that artificial intelligence was able to produce a better Rotary newsletter than our normal editor. We thank Brooke for her insight.

After Brooke’s engaging presentation we were out of time. James tied the boat back up to the dock and we were done for another week.

*Apologies to readers who have not seen Arrested Development, but do yourself a favour and watch it.

Rotten Returns.

MY MEETING

Health

I'm on a health kick so sitting between two health professionals at the meeting I figured I couldn't go wrong. Then Gracie and the Doc both poured salt all over their fish & chips!!!!

Fashion

Gracie arrived late - so far situation normal - wearing pink jeans, which somebody made mention of, only to be corrected by Gracie "salmon, not pink". I googled the colour salmon and it came up pink. Nooka looked resplendent as usual in his 1990's denim shorts. First time since the 1980's I've been in a room with two people wearing corduroy trousers. The more observant among you will know who they were. Trevor's choice of shirt suggests his mind is already in Queensland.

Football

Matt was at our table talking up the Saints recent successes and why wouldn't he after only one premiership in 150 years. Melbourne supporters were talking about everything except football after their shock loss to the Bombers which cost me 9 winners last week. For once the Bomber supporters weren't turning on each other and Paul O'Brien pleaded with me to get off the Blues bandwagon which I am more than happy to do. I will now turn my attention to the Crows, not because they are winning but because I went to primary school in Robe with captain Jordan Dawson's grandmother. Some unkind person at our table suggested it was his great-grandmother.

Guest Speaker

The guest speaker announced she was going to talk about AI and I thought where's Bill Quinlan when you need him. Turns out I was on the wrong track, but I must have nodded off for a while and only woke up when I thought I heard my number drawn out for the bottle of wine. Obviously I was dreaming as there was no draw, just when I was feeling lucky. Can someone check to see if number 55 is in the barrel.

Rotary Horse Racing report.

The good news is that we have been paid for Sirileo Miss’ thirteenth place in the Queen of the Turf at Randwick. I would give you a breakdown of the figures but I am worried about being lynched by the other syndicate members. Suffice to say the prize money represented less than 1% of the late entry fee for the race, and there were further costs in getting to her to Sydney for the race. Wilde Racing have now put Sirileo out to spell and will look to the spring carnival in Melbourne.

With Sirileo Miss putting the cue in the rack until spring, our attention has turned to Power of Song. PoS ran in the Carlton Draught Handicap at Ararat on Thursday. Carlton Draught sponsoring a race in a town where half the residents are incarcerated in institutions where alcohol is not allowed may seem cruel, but I suppose prison guards and psychiatric orderlies are entitled to their fun like everyone else. Power of Song was heavily backed by punters in the lead up to the race, which is normally a sure sign that the horse will run poorly. She was expertly ridden on the day by Jarrod Fry.

Jarrod got PoS out of the gates well, sat nicely behind the leaders for the journey before pressing the pedal to the metal as they hit the line. It was a terrific win after a series of somewhat frustrating runs for Power of Song. No doubt half the residents of Ararat raised a metal cup of water to toast her victory. Our Charter President tells us that the telecast revealed that only one of PoS’s owners was present trackside on the day. There may have been more owners in Ararat at the time but only one bloke was able to get day release to attend the races. Power’s next run may be at the May carnival here in Warrnambool.

Ten Years Ago.

Ten years ago, Les McGrath transferred out of one of the Ballarat Rotary clubs into our club. At the time we didn’t know much about Les, other than that he had been a star in the Ballarat mid-week ladies’ tennis comp. It was great to welcome Les on board.

Our Club and Community Fundraiser 2023 NOV-APRIL

Building on 2021/2022 - Supporting ROMP

December 3^rd 10:00 AM leaving from The Pavillion.

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