A storm approaching the Ardeche Gorge, southern France
Having landed at 4pm, Yvette returned from her overseas trip (just) in time for the start of the 6.00pm meeting. We heard a brief resume of what must have been a whirlwind of a trip around France and Switzerland, fitting in her nephew’s 4-day wedding celebration as well!
Paige enlightened us about her ‘marathon’ run of 80km a couple of weeks ago, where she raised over $5000 in support of Erfan’s project supporting schools for girls in Afghanistan.
Richard encouraged members to sign up for new polo shirts or rugby tops as per his email earlier in the day.
Our speaker on Thursday night was Graham Smith (brother of member Helen), a volunteer and strong supporter of ‘Woodhouse’, the property in the hills owned and run by the Scout Association of South Australia. The property, which dates back to the 1850s, was purchased in 1957 by the Scout Association for £22,000, a large sum at the time, and was used largely by the scouts until recent times. Over the years, it has been developed to include obstacle courses and other facilities for young people, as well as accommodation options. School groups, holiday programs, weddings and other events all help to provide a regular income, and there is a lively group of volunteers including Graham who regularly work on the upkeep and improvement of the property.
Chetana and Steph
On Sunday 28 July, our members Richard, Erfan and Yvette attended the Adelaide City Rotaract Club’s changeover at the Lord Melbourne Hotel. Other clubs represented were Adelaide, Regency Park, Prospect and Seaford. Several guest speakers spoke on Peace Poles (Grant King, Adelaide), Talk Out Loud (Mary Galouzis and TOL camp/program attendee Montana).
Nic Egan was congratulated on becoming Rotaract Australia Chair 2025-26; and Steph is taking on the role of District Rotaract Liaison this year.
Outgoing President Steph detailed the achievements of the Club over the past year and handed out (with the help of DG Rajeev Kamineni) certificates to members Tom Neale (Treasure Boxes), Joe Lyons (photographer extraordinaire and Board member) and Sean Thompson received a Spirit of Rotaract certificate.
We welcomed in the new President Chetana Ananthanarayanan who has only been a member for two years. Funds from an auction held on the day and a soon-to-be-held Adelaide City Plunge (off a 25 storey building in safety harnesses) will be donated to the Talk Out Loud organisation.
This coming Thursday will be 9.30am Coffee Catch-up at the White Picket Café.
See you at the next meeting, Acting President Richard Jarrett
