FANTASTIC work for Loved and Shared! The shed is looking amazing and it was brilliant to see members getting involved, learning new skills (bad habits too1), loads of laughs and some mateship being rekindled.
This week the Club has voted YES to the Regionalisation Trail to move forward to next steps, which is planning and consultation.
Congratulations to the combined efforts of the Rotary Clubs and Boré for a very successful Polio movie fundraiser last week.
Tonight the board is meeting and we'll have some projects to put to you all at lunch tomorrow to gauge your interest.
FUNDRAISING.... word of the month! We have the Bunning sausage sizzle coming up, Matt is off the smokes and the Bool Music and Wine is going ahead. But we need a few smaller cashies before the big event, keep thinking up ideas and put them forward.
Safe and happy travels to all of you still away on holidays!
Attendance: There was a fairly relaxed attitude to reporting our numbers this week. However, right at the end of the meeting Robbo observed that we had seventeen members and one guest in attendance. Our guest was Wei Lin Mai from the Warrnambool Multicultural Society.
Meal: Rigatoni pasta bake with sausages. The perfect meal for teenagers but also went down very well with our members.
Sgt Bob opened the meeting and Matt gave a rousing toast to our new king. President James stepped to the microphone and invited reports;
· Boré informed the club that we had sold about 100 tickets to the movie. This represented about $1400 raised for End Polio, which will be matched by funding by Bill Gates. (Editors note; Bill Gates will actually triple this donation – so our movie night will result in $4,200 being raised for End Polio.)
· Matt thanked Brendan, Gracey, Dillo, Francis, Macca and Haysey for helping to complete the painting at Loved and Shared. Matt then declared this project complete. Congratulations to Matt on organising a great project.
· Matt informed members we should be out at the Merri School planting trees in late September or early October. Stay tuned.
· Rob asked members to keep Wednesday the 19th of October free for a vocational visit to various sites in the industrial estate. Or possibly Saturday the 22nd of October. Stay tuned.
· Bob reminded members that the Myeloma Scholarship is fully funded and applications will open shortly.
· Brendan informed us that we will have visiting Rotarians from the Rotary Club of Langwarrin nest week.
· Brendan reminded us that the Walk for Brain Cancer will be on later this year and more details will follow.
· Brendan again invited members to the Halls Gap weekend from the 25th to the 27th of November. Talk to Brendan if you are interested.
· Lew announce an exciting new fundraiser for the club. Members are invited to sponsor Matt to stay off the lung biscuits between the day after the AFL Grand Final and our next change-over dinner. Members can pledge an amount that they will donate to the club if Matt is successful in this endeavor. The motion received sixteen votes for and only one against, and so was carried. Of course, it will then be incumbent on members to encourage Matt to take up smoking again after the change-over so we can run the fundraiser again next year. More details to follow about how you can sign up.
· Bob gave us an interesting report on his visit to Government House to receive his Order of Australia medal. He reported it was a genuinely great service despite recipients being warned that there would be ‘no ad-libbing’. Award recipients retired to the garden afterwards for champaign and sandwiches with the Governor. Bob also noted that his award came with a letter from the late Queen Elizabeth II. He has the distinction of being one of the last people to be ‘knighted’ by our previous monarch.
Wei-Lin Mai from the Warrnambool Multicultural Association then spoke to us about the upcoming multicultural festival. The association was formed in May this year. They are running a multicultural festival on Saturday October 1st on the Civic Green between 10am and 4pm. There will be food vendors, performers and information and activity stalls. No alcohol will be served (which may indicate that one culture not represented is the culture of the Rotary Club of Warrnambool Central). Wei-Lin is looking for about ten volunteers to assist with the set up and pack up of the festival. Hopefully we can assist and the festival is a big success. We thank Wei-Lin for taking the time to speak to us.
Members sang Sir Bob ‘Happy Birthday’ to celebrate his 70th, he then conducted and excellent fines session before the barrel was drawn and Matt took home the bottle of wine. Members were asked to bring $5 next week for a grand final sweep.
Boré’s View.
Bob McMillan was recently ‘knighted’ by the late Queen Elizabeth II. In medieval times this involved the monarch wielding a sword around the neck of the person being knighted. In medieval times there were no police and no legal system as we now understand it. Even today, the British monarch is above the law; they cannot be charged with a criminal offence or have action taken against them in civil court. Historically, getting knighted would have been a terrifying experience. Was the king or queen about to bestow an honor on you, or cut your head off? As it turns out, Bob will never be quite sure what the late queen would have done if given the choice.
We thank Boré for another great cartoon.
Mary writes.
G’day mates
It’s been a while since my last report, so I thought I might give you an update. I very much hope all of you are well and healthy, and still have as much fun at your meetings as I remember.
I sat my final exams in May and June and graduated from High School in early July. I have to admit, I’m very happy that school is officially done now. I then sat a 5 hour entry test for med school at uni, which was honestly quite terrible. But I’m even happier that I was accepted!! So I’ll be studying clinical medicine at the University of Basel for the next 12 semestres. I got to visit a few different hospitals in the city and even assisted on my first ever surgery earlier this year and now I’m really looking forward to starting my studies. Classes start next week, as you can imagine I’m really excited about it!!
I spent a lot of my summer break in Spain with my friends, which was lots of fun and a well-deserved break for all of us. I also went to New York City with my mum earlier this month, which was absolutely fantastic. I’ll make sure to include some photos in this report.
I guess that’s all the important news for you, I hope to come back to Australia soon as I miss it very much. Of course I’ll come and pay you a visit when I’m back. Until then I’ll continue to read the Central Spoke.
Sending you all the best and lots of love from Switzerland!!
Love, Mary
Rotten returns.
Ron continues to put together a list of past members of our club (he has excluded charter members). Can you think of anyone he has forgotten?
Graeme Aberline, Gary Ryan, Andy Graham, Alan Marsh, Frans Bos, Neil Bridge, Leo Ryan (dec), David Smith, Ian Coulson, Eric Read, Trevor Rowe, Peter Kemp, Graeme "Pinky" Kemp, Andrew Rowe, John Krygger, Reece Boyle, Tim Free, Chris Preston, Cpt Harry Webb, Norm Dyer (dec), Wayne Smith (dec), Peter Bastian, Alex Keillor (dec), Geoff Harrison, Graham Pennington, Robert Coffey, Brendan Rea, Michael Richards, Geoff Rollinson, Michael Boot, Manju Palam, Steve Baulch, Glenn Doolan, Peter Shipp, Pat McKenzie, Frank McKenzie, Geoff Adams, Peter Brown, James Eglitis, Charles Hegedus, Bruce Keeley, John Kelly, Peter Kenna, Brad Pole, Eddie Northeast, Paul O'Toole, Daniel Baulch, Mike Barrett, Peter Mclauchlan, Khanh Nguyen, Andrew Pomeroy, Ann Ellis, Phillip Morrison, Andy Gray, Doug Gardner, David Wiese,, Scott Cooper, Vince Ferrito, Tom Gordon, Michael Gunn, Kevin Kavanagh and Mitchell Rowe. Judy Smith and Gordon Forsyth have been honorary members.
Ron writes,
A big percentage of our members are now retired, but Pip Ritchie is still putting in the hours!
Just celebrated our 54th wedding anniversary (which we both forgot). To last that long you have to make life interesting.
Royal Update.
James reports.
Scissors.
Recently our President needed a pair of scissors and found that he did not own any. He went down to the store and bought some scissors. When James got his scissors home he discovered he had a problem; he needed a pair of scissors to open his new scissors. James would have gone back to the store to buy another pair of scissors, but then he realised that this wouldn’t help either.
Twins.
A pair of conjoined twins walk into a pub in Australia and park themselves on a bar stool. One of them says to the barman, “Don't mind us, we're joined at the hip. I'm John, he's Jim. Two Carlton’s, draft please."
The bartender, feeling slightly awkward, tries to make polite conversation while pouring the beers. "Been on holiday yet lads?"
"Off to America next month," says John. "We go to America every year, rent a car and drive for miles. Don't we, Jim?"
"Ah, America!" says the bartender. "Wonderful country, New York, L.A., Vegas…..."
"Nah, we don't like American, it’s crap." says John. "Meat pies and VB, that's us, aye Jim ?"
Jim, with a smile, agrees.
"So why keep going to America?" asks the bartender.
"It's the only chance Jim gets to drive."
Ten Years Ago.
Ten years ago, Matt sent us these photos of a man he described as Bruce ‘I am always at work’ Ludeman. Apparently, Bruce was up north doing beach-side property inspections in Queensland.
Rotary International's statement of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
As a global network that strives to build a world where people unite and take action to create lasting change, Rotary values diversity and celebrates the contributions of people of all backgrounds, regardless of their age, ethnicity, race, colour, abilities, religion, socioeconomic status, culture, sex, sexual orientation, and gender identity.
