Minutes.
Attendance: Nooka declared we had twenty members and ‘one very attractive guest’ in attendance. Our attractive guest was DG Kathy Rivett.
Meal: Parma on a bed of chips with a side of salad.
This week our guest was the District Governor. She mentioned that her club had ditched the invocation because some people were not comfortable saying ‘amen’. Your correspondent kicked of our meeting with a ‘for good fellowship and the privilege to serve we give thanks’, to which Sgt Bob responded with a very reverent ‘no worries’.
In reports;
· Matt informed us that the Lake Pertobe Tree Planting will be on Wednesday 23rd of November between 10.00 and 2.00. We will share a barbecue with the other Rotary clubs there instead of our normal Wednesday meeting.
· Robbo bumped into Father Scott, who is very busy but doing well (see below).
· Robbo also informed us that Gerald is now three weeks out of his cardiac surgery and steadily improving.
· Bob reported that the myeloma nursing scholarship has been awarded and this will be announced publicly very soon.
· Lew asked members to sign up to our ‘Give up the Gaspers’ fundraiser. This exciting health initiative should raise some much-needed funds to support the club. Register your pledge with Lew if you haven’t already.
· Nooka gave us a footy tipping update; ‘I have no idea where the money is or who the treasurer is.’ Hopefully it will hold up in court.
· Malcolm brought us the news that the Merri School have their auction on the 26th of November. The club is putting together a table so let Malcolm know if you would like to join us in support of the Merri School.
· Rob reported nine Rotarians toured SWI, K9000 and Pacific Materials Handling. Thanks to Peter and Rob for organising the event. Midfield is on the radar for the next vocational visit.
Paul Reilly conducted an excellent fines session based on historic dates before our District Governor took to the podium.
DG Kathy Rivett is from the RC of Alfredton. She runs a travel business. Her club, the RC of Alfredton, is ten years old and very much had tried to change the traditional idea of a Rotary club. Alfredton do not have a toast, do not do fines, have no invocation and usually do not share a meal. They have no board – all decisions are made collectively by club members. They do not have a sergeant because of concern about sergeants telling off colour jokes. They have 29 members including 7 men. Every member does the Rotary Leadership Institute course so that all members have similar knowledge about Rotary.
DG Kathy challenged us with the year's theme ‘imagine Rotary’. She challenged us to get all members involved in projects, inspire new members to become involved, promote Rotary in our community and become part of the Rotary story.
DG Kathy invited us to the District Conference in Ballarat on 24th-26th of March next year. Kathy gave us a piece of a jigsaw puzzle to return to her at the District Conference. She mentioned that we ‘would not want to be the only club represented by a missing piece at the District Conference’. She might have misread us slightly there.
We thank Kathy for taking the time to visit us and present as guest speaker.
