R 100 celebration.

Minutes.

Attendance: Sam recorded 30 members and two guests.  David Jellie put his hand up as a visiting Rotarian and then introduced his guest, David Blaxlane.  Yann Fiedler also joined us.

Meal: Lindsay Bullivant was in attendance, so a pile of mince, a clump of thawed vegies and a slice of cheesy bread.  Lindsay has probably grown tired of the joke, but I never do.

Penno opened the meeting with a tasteful crocodile joke before introducing our President.  President Gerard announced it was International Paul Blain Day before reporting;

·       Rob Coffey has left hospital and travelled straight to the Barossa for some post-op rehap.  Great news, we wish Rob a speedy recovery from both the wine and his surgery.

·       Our thoughts are with Steve with the unexpected passing of his niece’s husband.

·       The four Warrnambool Rotary clubs will celebrate our 100^th anniversary in Australia with a lunch on the 24^th April.  12.30 for 1.00pm, the Carmichael Room, City Memorial Bowls Club, tables of ten, $25 each.

In other reports;

·       Garry joined a ROMP Zoom meeting recently.  Caps will be available for #438 each to fundraise and raise awareness for the cause.  Garry will talk to the Myeloma nurse in due course to see how we can help.

·       Garry reported that Robbo got 9 in the footy tipping.  However, Robbo was not present so his winnings went back into general revenue.

·       Brendan announced that the Golden Community Raffle will proceed in a few months and be drawn towards the middle of the year.  We will then run another raffle at the usual time next summer.

·       Bob reminded members to bring a bottle of wine.  Sladjana and Christian Fiedler very kindly donated a bottle of wine to our cause.

·       Macca passed on a message from M Power.  They are looking for volunteers to drive people with special needs in cars provided by M Power.  Talk to Mark if you are able to help.

·       Malcolm informed us Wilde Racing have very generously made available a 10% share in the Scissor Kick x Hussy Miss horse.  See below for details, talk to Macca or myself if you would like to join us in a syndicate.

·       Paul brought us the great news that the ramp is now completed.  Thanks to everyone who contributed.  His father should be out of hospital and back home within a few weeks.  We wish him all the best.

Yann gave us an excellent presentation on his exchange year in Germany.  It was great to see Yann again and hear about his exchange year.  His presentation certainly seemed to reinforce the value of the Rotary exchange program.

Brendan conducted a very good fines session based on the principal that members of our club tell the truth about two thirds of the time.  Well done Brendan, although he was let down a bit by the fact that many Rotarians are not particularly convincing liars. 

Paul announced that the winner of the ‘Look like Paul Blain’ competition was Brendan.  Well done Brendan.  Ronnie then closed proceedings and we drifted out into another perfect Autumn day.

 

Boré’s view.

Your correspondent has known Yann Fiedler since his was in primary school.  Never the less, I have been butchering both the spelling and pronunciation of his name all year, as has been kindly pointed out to me by his student counsellor Greg.  If I butcher Yann’s name any further, we are going to have to elect him president.  Apparently, my pronunciation of his surname is the common US pronunciation of Fiedler (and, knowing people who know Sladjana and Christian, the common Warrnambool version I would suggest).  However, Greg’s ‘Fidler’ (i.e. rhymes with Bette Midler) is the correct German pronunciation. 

Fortunately, Boré has once again stepped in to clear up any confusion about the spelling and pronunciation of the name of our excellent recent outbound exchange student.  Take it away Boré.

We again thank Boré for his cartoon.  As Maxwell Smart used to say, ‘Missed it by that much!’

Ramp project complete.

Paul Blain has very kindly sent us these snaps.  His father should be home very soon and we wish him all the best.  Well done to everyone who contributed to this very successful project.

Members admire the first-class result.

Peter and Malcolm improvise an impression of the Essendon vs St Kilda game.  Note that it is only the Essendon men who are prepared to do the hard work and get their hands dirty.

The problem with ashtrays in cars.

Back in the day cars came standard with cigarette lighters and ash trays.  I can still remember when BMW started selling a car in Australia that you could option without an ash tray and cigarette lighter.  Very futuristic.  The great thing about being able to smoke in your car was that Mum and Dad could smoke in the front seat and the kids could smoke in the back at no extra cost.  The ash trays were removable, so you could periodically lean out the driver’s door at public car parks and dump a huge pile of ash and cigarette buts on the ground next to your car.  Even though there seemed no down to having an ash tray in your car, Pip has found one.

"Turns out it was a marble in the ashtray."

Maths update.

The Central Spoke solves this classic geometry question.