A very good turn out once again this evening with 34 members and guests enjoying the camaraderie.
Sergeant Bill Rex started the evening off by introducing Ray Milton to propose the toast, Ray wished for us to raise our glasses and toast to the small hardworking businesses that have been struggling since the COVID 19 situation.
Bill then introduced our President Les who in turn welcomed our distinguished guests Graham and Marion Jones plus Cliff Harmsworth, Mermaid Beach president.
President Les then offered condolences to Adrian Crowe and family as Adrian's wife had sadly passed away.
Les also mentioned that the movie night at Robina Cinema was very successful, Nasser and Nayer invited 24 of their closest friends and we had 40 from Broadbeach. A total of 80 people attended the viewing of “ I am Woman” the story based on Helen Reddy the wonderful Australian born singer who sadly passed away just a few weeks ago. Proceeds went to Polio plus
Les told us that we have been given another couple of days with Bunnings Southport for a sausage sizzle, November 21st ... and December 12. Good news.
Surfers Sunrise are celebrating their 10,000th wheelchair donation on the 14th November.
Next week our meeting will be held at “The Hub” and a reminder that we will not have EFTPOS facilities on the night so please bring cash.
President Les went on to give thanks to Nigel for initially taking up the President role for next year, unfortunately with his business commitments he had to withdraw. However,r Peter Dimond stepped up and will be our President elect, many thanks go to Peter.
Thanks also go to Robyn for arranging our Christmas Party which will be held at the Surfers Paradise Golf Club on the 15 December, the price for the evening is $25.00 per head but the final arrangements are to be confirmed shortly.
Les then told how he has been promoted to Regional Duty Officer on the Gold Coast which he is very happy with as it means much less motorway travel to and from Brisbane, unfortunately a lot of weekend and night shifts are involved, but he will do his best to attend our weekly meetings.
He then introduced Graham Sivyer who gave an update on Pentecost, which included a donation of 74 pairs of crutches and various other medical equipment to the value of $5,000 to $6000 from Gold Coast hospitals.
PDG Graham provided an update on the Malaria Vaccine Project and noted that the project has now raised $1.2m and outlined the next steps towards second phase trials taking place in an endemic country such as PNG or Uganda.
Andrew .McTaggart told how The Shed desperately needed to have a full pest control application which was quite expensive, however he managed to get Wallaby Pest Control to donate their services free of charge. So in the future if any member or their family and friends require pest control inspections please give Wallaby Pest Control a call.
The Silver Circle was drawn and the lucky numbers were 28 Noel Hodges and 7 Neil Baldwin. In a special supplementary draw Noel Junior won a free hairdressing voucher from Millenium Hairdressers at Main Beach.
Bill Rex then chose Yong and Edwina to be Bunyips who were very busy collecting gold coins; even the Sergeant had to cough up for attending the meeting with o socks on!
Cliff from Mermaid won the raffle and Robyn won the Heads and Tails.
President Les then gave a warm welcome to our Guest speaker Mr Graham Jones who was the very first Chancellor of Griffith University.
In 1976 Advanced Education consisted of TAFE college and not much more, the population here on the Gold Coast was only about 76,000 and people believed that it was sufficient.
At this time the GCCC consisted of only 7 councillors including the Mayor.
In 1987 Graham had a vision and was determined to forge ahead but was struggling to start any CAE as there wasn’t a budget, there were 94 students and 14 staff. With no funding for a library Graham actually borrowed $60,000 on his own behalf to create the first library so desperately needed.
The next year there were 400 students and no lecture room, so he used a movie theatre in Surfers which was difficult with limited or no parking and a constant flow of tourists etc.
He then set to work on the promotional side and instead of the normal drab handbook and brochures he asked a local artist who was very popular at the time to create a colorful, happy and fun looking handbook quite different from the norm which proved a big success in the marketing and promotion of the University and caught the eye of the Media.
In 5 years the student numbers went from 94 to 2,500, Nursing, Engineering and Science, Music and the Arts and Hotel Management were also introduced. It now boasts the largest Medical programme in the Country.
Graham explained how he had to arrange to build a sports oval with help from friends and volunteers.
Eventually it was to become the Griffith University that we know today.
Graham received rousing applause from everyone present and President Les thanked him for his interesting and informative presentation.
