Wow! What a packed meeting we had today. Amazing what we fit within an hour. We had our Food & Wine Festival presentation to "Football 4 Us" which was a donation of the fencing fee by Des Damme. A great community group making a difference for kids who want to just play football. We welcomed DG George Weston who paid us a visit and gave us an update on the District Conference in Leeton 4th, 5th & 6th May. Make you booking now! Will be a top weekend. Franzi our exchange student from a few years ago made a surprise visit to our meeting.  

 

Richard Baguley is progressing well. Richard has asked to be remembered to members. Thank you to the members who have visited Richard. Also don't forget to check on Geoff Hamilton's blog re his progress. Geoff is receiving some positive results. 

 

Potential new members night has been cancelled. We will set another date. For this night to be a success we need your support.

Vocational visit will be on 1st May at Erin Earth. Please place in your diary. 

Next week's meeting our guest speaker will be John Egan. John will update us on developments in photography.

See you on Tuesday. Have a top week. Thank you for your support.

 

OIC :             David Hodge

The Team : Tim Barter, Laurie Blowes, Graham Burmeister, Doug Conkey, Peter Crozier, David Foster, Phil McIntosh, Wal Paton,

                         David Pyke, James Ross.

 

New Members Night: Postponed until response improves!!!!

Rotaract Club:  Next meet on Monday 23rd April William Farrer Hotel. Rick Priest has volunteered to represent our club.

Vocational Visit:  1st May. Erin Earth in Kildare Avenue, near railway line.

District Conference: 4th - 6th May in Leeton

Jindabyne Trip:  18th - 21st May 2018

Fernanda De Barba visit:  25th May, 10.00am at Infuso.

Rotary Tree Planting:  Postponed until May, awaiting rainfall. Kurrajong Reserve, Oura Road.

 

President Paul opened the meeting, we sang Grace and Toasted the Queen. There were originally two presentations on the agenda for today, but as Phil Macintosh was away in Sydney with work commitments, we had more time to deal with the wrap up of Food and Wine Festival business.

 

Some meetings, we don't attract a single visitor, but today we were overrun.

Stanley Palmer came along with Neil McMullen (South Wagga Rotary). Stanley is a member of the Rotary club of Two Rivers, in Wisconsin, which is part of Paul Murray's old stamping ground. Greetings flowed across the room.

Craig Bromley had his dad along as a guest. Scott Carson runs Riverina Ice, and attended todays meeting, perhaps as a prospective member.

 

Des Damme, who attended with wife, Sally, had constructed and deconstructed the fence at Food and Wine Festival. He was involved in todays program, as were Michael Stanley and Catherine McDonald. A seperate story on this!

But as a complete surprise to most members, and especially the president, our exchange student Franzi Treber from Germany walked in with Col Duff.

 

All we needed to really make the meeting really special was a District Governor, when, in a flash of Green, in walked George Weston, followed soon after by the mayor. What a team.

 

We didn't have a sergeant at today's meeting. You could say that their efforts Petered out, after both a Crozier and a Clucas declined to play a role. One ceremonial aspect of the sergeant session was observed. The plate was carried around among the congregation by a priest.

 

The latest report on Michael Georgiou is that he is in Melbourne for tests, and in his own words, he is "getting along". Michael is a fighter, a tough man and has the support of a great club. We must make sure that he knows it.

 

 

 

 

Our inbound exchange Student in 1996 was Fernanda De Barba, from Florianopolis, a coastal town in northern Brazil. Fernanda was hosted by Graham and Betty Hornibrook, Kevin and Lyndal Watts, and George and Kay Thomas.

Twenty two years have passed, and there have been developments in her life - including a marriage to Fernando Bonhilla and finally a trip back to Wagga Wagga to indulge a bit of nostalgia.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ken Cook has visited Fernanda in Brazil on two occasions, but will be in Dubai late in May when she is here. Stewart Cook will look after the Bonhillas in Wagga on Friday 25th May, and have invited former hosts and Wollundry members to catch up at "Infuso" - Friday morning at 10.00am.

Gerry Gerlach is the District Conference salesman, keen to take a large delegation of Wollundry members to Leeton for a weekend of taking Rotary to a new level of fervour.

There is one constant with District Conferences, we come back inspired by a great weekend,  fired up to spread the word of our achievements and seek out like minded people to share our sense of pride.

Accomodation for Wollundry Rotarians has been reserved, in excess of current requirements, and Gerry must find candidates to use the rooms, or relinquish the bookings. The registrations for conference are being made later and later each year, so we need commitment, early commitment, from our members.

 

 

Gerry introduced District Governor George Weston. He outlined the topics that would be emphasised at the conference this year, and Youth programs were dominant. Youth Exchange, Rotaract, RYPEN, and RYLA were all acknowledged.

ABC sports personality Peter Wilkins will be among the speakers, along with the ambassador from Timor Leste, and Brendan Farrell who is the driving force behind the Burrumbuttock Hay run program to help drought affected farmers in Queensland.

 

The Dinner on Saturday night will be themed, with "Water" as the topic. 

 

There is an "app" on the website to facilitate registration - just look for the red Text.

George pointed out that Conference attendance is paid by the district, and the only cost for those attending is meals and refreshments.

Fencing the Food and Wine Festival boundaries used to be just a part of the set up undertaken by members of Wollundry Rotary.

As club demographics changed, the need for professionals to fence the site became obvious, and Des Damme jumped at the opportunity to help us out. We do not pay Des for this work, but invite him to nominate a community project to receive comparable value in the form of a donation.

 

Des and his wife Sally were on hand to see his chosen project receive a cheque for $3000 at todays meeting.

 

Michael Stanley, and Catherine McDonald are representatives of Football 4 all, and accepted the cheque on behalf of their group. Michael started Football 4 all in 2014 catering for 18 registered players - children with special needs, and in 2017 they had 45 players registered. The football is based on soccer, but rules and offside are very loosely interpreted. To quote Michael, "there are no rules". Football 4 all is now also catering for adults with special needs.

 

Fundraising has been a challenge in the past - sausage sizzles and raffles, but our cheque will cover the cost of a Sydney trip for the group to play with similar kids, a highlight of the Footy season.

 

Michael and Catherine thanked Wollundry Rotary, and Des and Sally Damme for this boost to their fundraising.

President Paul thanked Des and Sally for their help with Food and Wine, with special acknowledgment of Sally, and her dexterity with a drill assembling the fences.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A treat that few anticipated - Franzi was back in town, and Col Duff brought her along to our meeting.

She was here in 2014 / 15, then finished school in Germany, completing year 13. 

 

Franzi will be in Wagga Wagga for ten days, go to the Gold Coast tor 14 days, and then look around New Zealand. When Franzi returns to Germany, she will commence University studies in Social Work starting in October.

Craig Bromley is on the right. On the left is an artists impression of Craigs appearance in 2038.

 

 

 

 

 

Des and Sally visited us as guests of Laurie Blowes. We have been unable to confirm if Des has any shirts that are not "High  Visibility"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Laurie enjoyed lunch with Michael and Catherine. The photo has been edited to conceal Balsamic dressing stains.

 

Visiting Rotarians:

Stanley Palmer. Two Rivers Rotary Club, Wisconsin USA

Neil McMullen. South Wagga Rotary Club.

DG George Weston. Leeton Rotary Club.

 

Make Ups:

Michael Georgiou. Food and Wine Festival. 24th March

John Ferguson. Food and Wine Festival. 24 & 25th March.

 

Club Guests:

Des Damme and Sally. Program Guests

Michael Stanley. Program Guest.

Catherine McDonald. Program Guest.

Franzi Treber. Former Student Exchange.

Scott Carson. Prospective Member???

 

Visitor:

John Bromley. Craigs Father.

 

Apologies:

Doug Conkey, Nick Leywood, Peter McKinnon, John Mason, Phillip McIntosh, Robert Pearson, David Pkye, Adrian Whiting, Daniel Burns, Tim Barter, Michael Georgiou, John Hawkins.

 

 

 

Click on the video below for Defibrillator training.