Lovely to welcome several guests to the meeting last week. Former Club members Allan Gale and Peter Bayeto attended as did former RC of North Adelaide member Peter Stobie - great that they came to enjoy the fellowship of the meeting.
Changeover - Monday 6 July
President Elect Miriam has chosen the date of Monday 6 July for her Changeover. The venue is the excellently reviewed Parwana Afghan Kitchen, 124B Henley Beach Road, Torrensville. The Parwana's owners Zelma and Farida Ayubi have specially offered to open the restaurant just for our Changeover on a Monday night (when it's usually closed) as the restaurant is popular and books out very quickly. One restaurant reviewer said "we came back for a second helping of dumplings that I had seared so deliciously into my memory", another said the dumplings were "little pockets of joy", a third said "My first experience eating Afghani food and I couldn't have been more delighted. Think middle eastern, Persian and Indian flavours, the food was delish. Most dishes had a blend of spices but somewhat lighter than Indian cuisine, quite palatable. Lamb, chicken and vegetable dishes are on the menu. A good mix of mains and sides as options on the menu and rice dishes to accompany." The Parwana's atmosphere is simple, homely and welcoming; it is also a BYO venue - and its corkage fee goes towards feeding the homeless. Miriam will provide more details on timings for the changeover soon.
Soles4Souls - Target 500!
Julie Campbell's S4S commitment this year was to source 85,000 pairs of shoes (and equivalent monetary donations) which equates to a container full of pre-loved shoes. Julie is just 500 pairs away from this important milestone, so I'm introducing Target 500 for the next month with our Clu of that of our other Group 1 Clubs to see if we can source this number of pairs before this financial year ends! Please ask all your friends, children, other family members if they have any pre-loved and gently worn shoes -especially kids shoes and sports shoes - that they'd like to donate with a gold coin to cover transport costs. Please let Julie know (M 0409 578 975) or bring to the Club so that Julie can reach her very attainable target.
Special thanks were extended by Julie to two club members Deborah Wotherspoon who sourced many children's shoes through her kindy connections, and Colin Davies who transported shoes down from Alice Springs.
So far, 1500 pairs have been sent to Vanuatu, the Australian Refugee Association and to women who have been affected by domestic violence.
Other Business
* June Board Meeting - Don Tindale sugested our Club place a "Roll of Honour" on our website to recognise deceased members. This excellent suggestion was agreed to by Board, and Richard Jarrett will design an appropriate page for the Roll.
* The joint Board meeting - for outgoing and incoming Boards - will be held on Tuesday 9 June at Geoff Bell's office; 5.45pm start.
* A recent email from the Rotary Club of Bogota Suba has detailed that, to date, our Club has sponsored 55 students for the Colombian Education Scholarships Program (with 10 students currently undertaking studies of between 3 months - 2 years). The RC of Adelaide has also provided funding of $1000 for the past two years to help sustain the program, and other clubs showed interest in getting involved at our Club's stand at the District Conference in Port Lincoln.
* Please note that our Club is just one year away from our 30th Anniversary of Charter - which occurred on 12 June 1986. Something to plan for and to celebrate.
* Dean Sullivan is still looking for donated prizes for our Quiz Night to be held on Friday 12 June (7.00pm for 7.30pm start) at the Hungarian Club, 82 Osmond Tce Norwood. If you can donate something or source a donation from a business, please let Dean know.
* The Board decided to donate $2000 to The Rotary Foundation as part of our usual annual contributions. This is over and above our combined End Polio Now donation of $5,621.20.
* Reminder for those wishing to personally donate $100 to The Rotary Foundation for their Centurion badges. Either ask David Riggall for a form (which he handed out some weeks ago) or go on-line to donate.
* Bob Buckerfield announced the birth of his new great granddaughter, Skye Amber. A little prem but doing fine, apparently.
* Best wishes were given to Don Tindale who is about to undergo treatment for the next four months starting 1 June. Ellen will keep us informed on Don's progress.
GUEST SPEAKER - Dave Bell "Adventures of Smarty"
As a young lad, Dave took his new rifle out and shot a bird - an owl. He regrets it now and it's too late to take it back, so as he matured he ended up saving birds and animals' lives when he found them after suffering some misfortune.
Smarty is a wild dove that made his home in Dave's backyard. He tamed Smarty enough that he'd fly-in for some little seeds that were offered but soon made his likes known when Dave offered larger seed that was more to Smarty's taste. He learnt so well that Smarty would "call" when he wished to be fed - and that is how he gained his name!
Disaster struck when a hawk attacked Smarty when Dave was in Port Lincoln on holiday, so Dave returned when the neighbour rang, and so began a long convalescence to regain the use of Smarty's wing, and Dave tried to repair Smarty's beak which was virtually severed at the junction with his face. Smarty was isolated in his shed so that Dave could feed him a paste of crushed seeds that he could swallow. Dave had to continue the feeding while he waited for the beak to grow back - a process that took 3-4 months.
All this time, Smarty's mate "Poppy" waited in a nearby tree. When Smarty was released - albeit with a very lopsided beak - he fathered a batch of eggs by Poppy which unfortunately were eaten by a possum. Several more tries and more eggs and young chicks disappeared - the eggs eaten by a raven and the chicks by the possum (who relocated after Dave blocked off his roof space).
Eventually Smarty and Poppy had some living "sons of Smarty" who were being driven crazy by feral noisy minors (Indian minors) - which were finally pushed away from the area when Dave and his neighbours started spraying them with their hoses.
Thus Smarty and his family are a bit battered around the edges, but surviving in Dave's backyard along with 4 other bird species.
Photos: courtesy Dave Bell of Smarty feeding from his hand, and Smarty's permanently crooked beak.
