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President Darren opened the meeting with a strange strangled ringing of the bell and welcomed everyone Today was the monthly club assembly meeting, presented after the Board meeting. The club confirmed a donation of $5000 to Rotarians Against Malaria. RAMs Also we put $5000 towards Polio Plus. We are still that close, but Polio eradication is a bit like herding cats! The Board also announced that they had approved $750 for ROMAC (Rotarian Overseas Medical Aide to Children) There CSU Scholarship committee has been very active, providing some $20000 to two extraordinary students so that they could keep their studies going. The Noel Barnes Scholarships have also been awarded with $2200 being sent to four high schools to assist cash strapped students continue to HSC. The Committee has done an exhaustive job and deserves commendation for their actions. Pres Darren has been very active with RYPEN, which was run last weekend. He reported that is was very successful and exhausting, with over 70 teenagers, but well worthwhile. Once again our club picked up the tab to run RYPEN training for the leaders, something that should be a District Responsibility This year it ran to $975. Darren was also especially grateful to PP John Gray and Bill Parker, who drove the bus for the attendees.  They proudly display their RYPEN caps!  A long discussion took place as to the cost of being a Rotarian. To run our club and satisfy Rotary demands makes it necessary to ask for $450 per member per year. Costs are way too high, particularly from RI and District, but that is out of our remit at the moment. The wide discussion resulted in a few ideas of how to reduce the cost, and will be undertaken as the year unfolds.  We have applied for a District Grant to assist the organisation STARTS. PE David Post has seen a need to help refugee people move ahead both financially and emotionally and is seeking to supply sewing machines to the group. The application has gone in and we await the decision from District!  An old friend returned today for a visit. Ward Gator was the guest of PP David Benn.
Pres Darren thanked everyone for coming and PP David Benn won the bottle of wine. We closed in the usual way with the National Anthem.
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Our next meeting is on 26th March 2024