Minutes

Attendance: Glenn Marler stepped in very capably for Nooka this week.  Actually, too capably to be judged a like for like replacement.  Glenn reported twenty members, three visiting Rotarians and one guest in attendance.  Our visiting Rotarians were Barb Sheehan from the RC of Highton, Joyce Ogden from the RC of South Launceston and Phil Ogden also fron South Launceston.  Our guest was local pharmacist Fiona Gordon. 

Meal: Corned beef.

Sarg Dillo introduced our stand in president Robbo.  Our President was away this week and so we followed the standard Rotary protocol to appoint a replacement.  Our President suggested someone named Tony should be appointed.  Gracey was away so Robbo and yours truly tossed a coin for the honour.  Robbo won the toss and so I was nominated.  Robbo then forgot he won the coin toss, stepped up to the podium, and did a wonderful job. 

It is an aside, but many Rotary clubs, including our own, have a lot of trouble finding a president each year.  I feel we could adapt the above technique to choose each year’s president.  I would suggest a two-up game at the annual general meeting, with the overall winner selected as the President-elect.  Don’t tell me it couldn’t work.

In reports;

·       Robbo provided very positive feedback on the beach patrol Fitzroy River clean up and encouraged members to join the next effort.  Congratulations to Robbo, Bono, Jon, Paul, Chris, Matt and Les (and anyone we have forgotten) for pitching in.  congratulations to Les for organising the event.

·       Bob has asked members to bring a bottle of wine to the value of at least $20-30 to next week’s meeting.  The wine will be pooled as an auction item at the upcoming Thoroughbred Club Luncheon.  All proceeds returned to the club.

·       Greg invited members to volunteer at the eisteddfod debating competition.  Contact Greg if you are a le to help. 

·       Hutto advised that 165 people had accepted for the Thoroughbred Club’s luncheon.  The club will auction a number of items at the event, including the wine mentioned above, Brendan and David’s wonderful chess table and a labour working bee.  The good folk at Wilde Racing have also donated a share in another horse.  Have a quiet word to Hutto if you want to join the syndicate he is putting together to have a crack at snagging the nag.

·       Malcolm was selling ANZAC badges.

·       There will be no meeting during Race Week.  Instead, come down to the racecourse and join us collecting and consuming a few cans.

Our first guest speaker was Barb Sheehan.  Barb is a member of the RC of Highton in Geelong and the Chair of the District Environment Committee.  Barb spoke about the Environment as a key focus of Rotary and ESRAG (Environmental Sustainability Rotary Action Group) as the catalyst of Rotary’s environmental effort.  Barb encouraged members to consider joining ESRAG.  ESRAG is a great resource for expert guest speakers and have a host of other resources like the Green Events Handbook, Million Solar Panels project and the Every Club Climate Friendly project. 

Barb spoke about the work of the District Environment Committee.  She encouraged members to visit the environment page on the district website and look at the projects that other clubs in the district are doing.  Barb also spoke about the wonderful environmental projects her club, Highton, had been involved in.  This includes the blister pack recycling project that we have replicated here in Warrnambool. 

Brendan then introduced Joyce and Phil Ogden.  Joyce and Phil are riding a tandem bike unsupported from Adelaide to Sydney via Melbourne.  On their journey they will visit more than thirty Rotary Clubs with the aim of raising money for End Polio. 

Joyce and Phil spoke about the terror of polio and how feared it was in the 1950’s.  They spoke of the inspirational story of Paul Alexander who spent 72 years in an iron lung as a result of polio.  During that time Paul obtained a law degree and practiced as a solicitor.  This, as Robbo noted, defied the widely held belief that you couldn’t get a lawyer to work in an iron lung. 

Since Rotary launched its End Polio project in 1985 the number of annual cases world wide has fallen from 350,000 to a small handful.  It remains endemic in Pakistan and Afghanistan.  If we could eradicate polio the long term cost savings would be enormous.  However, every year that we fail to do so raises the risk that wars, pandemics and disinformation may loosen our grip on control of the virus. 

The Ogdens are asking Rotarians to ‘Hit Polio for Six’ by donating six dollars each to End Polio.  See the QR code below if you wish to donate.

The infectious diseases in humans we have eradicated.

Spoiler alert, it is a very short list.

1.     Small pox.  Small pox was eradicated through using a vaccine.  The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in 1977.  In the 100 years prior to its eradication, it is estimated to have killed 500,000,000 people and been responsible for a third of all cases of blindness.

2.     Influenza Beta Yamagata.  We traditionally receive a quadrivalent flu vaccine.  This is a quadrivalent vaccine because it is a vaccine against the four major strains of seasonal influenza; two Alpha strains and two Beta strains – Beta Yamagata and Beta Victoria.  An interesting thing happened during the Covid pandemic.  We took steps to avoid covid and mostly avoided getting the flu.  No case of influenza B/Yamagata has been diagnosed globally for two years.  The World Health Organisation has concluded that B/Yamagata went extinct during the Covid pandemic due public health measures.  Major health bodies are now recommending removing B/Yamagata from seasonal flu vaccines, so it will now be a trivalent vaccine.  It does appear that we accidentally eradicated one of the major stains of influenza during the Covid pandemic.

3.     There is no number three.  How good would it be for Rotary to make polio number three on this list?

More than ten years ago, specifically The Age newspaper August 11^th 1971.