Newsletter 1912 (May 07, 2024)

Last week’s coffee meeting at the White Picket café was great fun with Honorary member Graham Smith joining us again. It’s always great to meet up with members that are retired but still wishing to catch up with Club members. It’s harder to get out of bed for a 7.00am meeting and driving at night is also problematical.

Kirsti, Rob and John W have headed off today for their tour of Timor Leste water projects for which our Club is wishing to get a Global Grant. They are joining a tour arranged by members of D9560 (Northern Australia and Timor Leste) who are inspecting potential and current projects of their own. Our three intrepid members are due back around 18 May. A plaque to commemorate our previous Timor Leste project for a school’s Multifunction Court - completed late last year - will also be unveiled.

On the weekend, Yvette attended the President’s Elect Preparation day at St Michael’s College, Henley Beach; and our newest member Pat Welke joined me next day at the District Assembly so that she could learn more about Rotary. Pat’s input in the break-out sessions were inciteful. The main topic of conversation for the weekend was the Zone 8 Pilot project where Clubs are the decision makers within their group (with no reportage to District level). It doesn’t sound like much of a change because Clubs have always been autonomous, but we are now a Club-up instead of a District-down Zone. DGs won’t do an annual Club visit unless they’re invited for a special event, and any communication with other Clubs in our Group or wider will be self-initiating. Clubs don’t need to change anything about they way they operate, but they can become part of a larger group if they wish to tackle a much larger project locally or internationally. The Club is the driving force for all decisions (but still using Rotary’s Constitution and By-laws). The 15 Club Presidents in our Group will be meeting soon to discuss future actions – under the Group leadership of Heidi Unferdorben who was elected to this position recently. Some updated Governance and tax issues were raised, and these will be discussed with the Board next month. Interesting to note that the other Pilot Zone (Great Britain & Ireland) are tackling this challenge very differently – their main platform being to increase Rotary membership by 60,000 members by the end of the 3 year Pilot Project. The cartoon below was used at the District Assembly to underline forward thinking in this chapter of Rotary’s future!

Last chance to purchase a seat to hear Detective Superintendent Des Bray, Head of Major Crime, speaking on “Current techniques used in homicide investigations” at the District’s Area 12 Dinner (made up of Adelaide-based Rotary Clubs). Apparently, when he last spoke at a Rotary meeting, he had the room spell-bound. The dinner is on 14 May at the Glenelg Golf Club, James Melrose Road, Novar Gardens from 6.30pm to 9.30pm. The 2-course meal is $60pp. You can book your ticket at http://e.mybookingmanager.com/Rotary-Area-12-Dinner-14-May-2024. I’ve already booked my ticket.

A trip for the Cuppa Conversation migrants has been arranged for Saturday 25 May. We have booked a 25-seater and 12-seater bus which will allow about 30 guests and Rotarians on board. Any overflow may be covered if Rotarians wish to drive their car down with extra passengers on board when we do our tour of Victor Harbor, Pt Elliot and Goolwa. An itinerary will be out soon and Lili will arrange seating and extra cars/drivers if required.

Our Club’s Changeover dinner will be held in the Barton Room in the Caledonian Hotel, O’Connell Street, North Adelaide on Friday 21 June, 6.30pm for a 7.00pm start. Please keep this date free for our annual event. More details to come soon. Vegetarian and Gluten-free options available.

For our Thursday 9 May meeting at the Croquet Club, Paul Jupp will be hosting a breakfast think-tank to brainstorm ideas for our Club’s future fundraising ideas. However, due to so many Directors being away, the Board Meeting has been deferred until the first week of June.

Best wishes and have a great week. Yvette, President.