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Posted by Doug Sutton
on Feb 24, 2015
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President John Ferguson opened the meeting, following the singing of Rotary Grace, by welcoming all visitors especially our guest speaker Laura Kane whose subject was "Walking the Kokoda Track". He also welcome guests of Neil Pinto: Erika Radnedge and Kerrie Bryan. These two ladies will also be "doing" the Kokoda Track in a few months time.
President John made the following announcements:
- Doug and Greg Conkey's Mum is very low and not expected to live. Our thoughts and sympathy and are with them at this difficult time.
- The 110th Anniversary of Rotary International was celebrated with a two page spread in the Daily Advertiser. This is worth a read if you can get a copy.
- The Board met recently and accepted the resignations of Chris Metcalfe and Mark Sayer. The Board also made decisions to not charge other Rotary Clubs for sites at our markets and approved a range of donations passed by Projects. These were presented to Club separately by Secretary Paul Milde.
- The Peace Ceremony was held in Victory Memorial gardens last Sunday. Our nomination Larraine Hall was also awarded the prestigious Peter and Helen Walsh Memorial Award. John thanked those members who assisted in setting up tents and packing up, Paul Milde, Peter Crozier, Michael Knight, Doug Sutton. Gail Crozier also assisted.
- The Fireside Meeting at the Riverine Club held last night was good but attended by only two new members, John Daly and Greg Goldspink. Well done to Rob Fuller for ensuring his sponsored members were there and he attended as well. Topics covered included attendance, Directors and Committees, Fellowship, Rosters, Youth Exchange. Drinks and Pizzas followed. Thanks to all who contributed and to Burmo for his guided tour of the very interesting Club.
 Members who attended Monday's Fireside for info pizza and drinks. John Gray had to leave early.
A peaceful beer after the Peace Ceremony.
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Read more...
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Posted by Doug Sutton
on Feb 24, 2015
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Guest Speaker
Today's guest speaker was Laura Kane. She was introduced by PP Phil McIntosh who told us that Laura is working full time as a Law Clerk while studying for her law degree. She has a history of Community Activity and was awarded the Young Citizen of the Year for Hume Shire. She recently completed the Kokoda Youth Leadership Challenge, the subject of her talk today.
On the 1st October 2014, Laura told us she arrived home 5kg lighter, covered in mozzie bights and with a black eye. Despite her appearances she was elated because she had just completed one of the most difficult things she had ever done. She had, with 17 companions, trekked 130 kilometres of the Kokoda Track, in some of the world's most difficult terrain. She had responded to the RSL Youth Leadership Challenge. Her companions included a broad range of people including, law students, medicine, high school students and some young people who had experienced difficulties in their lives and were wanting to get back on track.
Laura says she is asked two basic questions: Was it hard? and What was it like?
Was it hard? Yes, but not nearly so hard as it was for the young Australian soldiers fighting there in WW11. The trekkers had dry tents, good boots, food, and guides to assist them along the way. To be under fire as the soldiers were, carrying heavy equipment,lack of sleep, sickness etc., must have been horrendous. The track is very steep and slippery and every trekker appreciated the soldiers more and more as they progressed.
What was it like? This question Laura found much more difficult to answer because it is much more about the emotional impact of the experience. She always says it was amazing but knows that this does not really convey to the questioner what exactly was her experience.
On the way to the Isurava Memorial, Laura suffered an allergic reaction to her Malaria medication. She fainted and was  wondering if she could go on. She was encouraged to do so by her colleagues and on arrival at Isurava she had her moment when she knew she could go on and just had to. It was there that she learned of the courage, endurance, mateship and sacrifice of the diggers. This was evident in the story of the Bisset brothers Stan and Butch. Butch was shot and his brother Stan held his hand while he died and promised his brother that, if he survived he would go on and live the fullest life for the both of them. On his brother's death he returned to fight the enemy.
At Naru village she met one of the last of the fuzzy wuzzy angels. She thanked him for what he had done for the Australians and felt very honoured to have been able to do so.
The carriers were fantastic and one carrier helped her all the way.
Laura said she had not really understood disadvantage till she saw the conditions in which many people in New Guinea live. In the villages they have their own welfare system, storing excess yams etc for those who might need them.
On Brigade Hill Laura saw the sticks in the ground that represent the number of soldiers who died there in a last ditch battle where they were told they had to defend at all costs, even at the cost of their lives. "They dug in to die for their country" said Laura "and it makes me ask are we living in a way that justifies their sacrifice?"
At Bomana War Cemetery where there are over 3000 Australians buried Laura was able to put poppies on the graves of Butch Bisset and a soldier who shared her surname. On returning to Australia she contacted the soldier's relatives and told them what she had done. Many Australians are unable to go to New Guinea as she had done and she was pleased to make this small gesture.
Bob Willis moved a vote of thanks to Laura, saying what a wonderful presentation she had provided and what a timely reminder it was of the bravery and sacrifice of our Soldiers and the New Guinea people in resisting the Japanese invasion. Members supported with enthusiastic applause.
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Posted by Doug Sutton
on Feb 25, 2015
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Annual Rotary Peace Award Ceremony
President John Ferguson, Larraine Hill and DG David Kennedy.
This was held last Sunday at 11 am in the Victory Memorial Gardens. Over 200 people attended and awards were presented to each of the High Schools along with nominated persons from each Rotary Club as well as Wagga City Council.
As always the candidates were outstanding, but this year our nominee Larraine Hill not only received the Wollundry Rotary Award but also The Peter and Helen Walsh Memorial Award for her outstanding but understated contribution over many years to many charities and schools. PDG John Egan nominated Larraine and below is the citation for her nomination.
Larraine Hill is a Mother and Grandmother who has run a cake stall over many years to raise funds for various charities. She has done so for no financial reward. Her funds have provided assistance for various junior sporting groups. She has worked for the Northcott Society fund raising during the Miss Wagga Wagga Quest. She spent 21 years on the board of The Rules Club. She was Secretary for Turvey Park Seniors for 30 years. She spent 10 years on the committee of the Junior League and Australian Rules Riverina Umpires.
Larraine reintroduced the Fetes to Sacred Heart School when she was President of the Auxiliary and raised $15,000 in the first year. She is currently working with the Aimee St Clair Trust Committee raising funds for the support of melanoma victims.
Larraine flies below the radar but is often involved in charity efforts behind the scenes. She is typical of a band of people who work for various charities in our city and yet get little official recognition. She is outstanding in that she is involved across a wide spectrum, and has put herself out so often. Her cake stall, come rain hail or shine, raised a steady income stream which she passed on to the organisations she was targeting. I thoroughly recommend her for the Peace Awards.
John Egan, Rotary Club of Wollundry, 10th Feb 2015
Wollundry Rotary Members congratulate Larraine on her well deserved recognition!
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Posted by Paul Milde
on Feb 24, 2015
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Paul Milde, in his role as Secretary,announced member commitments and Rosters.
Rosters for Meeting 03 Mar:
Fellowship: Bob Willis
Reception: Darren Wallace
Furniture: David Benn
Bulletin Editor:Doug Sutton
Sergeant: Peter Clucas
Guest Speaker: Chrisie Hillis & Kath Wallace. Cambodia Trip.
Farmers Markets: OIC: Team:
Sunday Markets: OIC: Team:
Special Dates: Food & Wine Meeting - 04/03/2015, Board Meeting - 19/03/2015. Some members still have not paid their annual subs. Quarterly sub payments are now due for Jan - Mar 2015. Could you please arrange payment with our Club Treasurer Jim Gibson.
Don't forget to pencil in your diary District Conference Cowra 20/03/15 to 22/03/2015. Food & Wine Festival 28/03/2015.Club Change Over Dinner 30/06/2015.
Members don't forget to check the Club Bulletin for your Market & Club rosters.
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Posted by Doug Sutton
on Feb 24, 2015
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ROTARY INFORMATION 24 FEBRUARY 2015
Some Rotarians are able to give more time and effort than others. They may be retired and Rotary service becomes a large part of what keeps them going. This is often a cause to be celebrated. We bestow Paul Harris Fellow recognitions for their “selflessness.” But nobody gets nothing out of doing things they enjoy, and you would be mistaken if you thought somebody putting in hour after hour of selfless service wasn’t somehow enjoying themselves. It would pay to remember that their ability to make a greater physical or time contribution does not give them ownership of a project or club agenda.
Clubs need these doers, those who can, through current life circumstance, give more time. But clubs also need the others; those with a mortgage and four kids to feed who can spare just an hour or two once a week or once a month. The one constant is that the circumstances that dictate the level of commitment can change dramatically over time for both groups.
A good Rotarian needs to maintain a list of priorities. Family first, then work, then Rotary. Rotary is something we do in our spare time when commitments to the first two priorities have been met Rotary is something we do purely for the enjoyment of seeing the benefit to the ultimate beneficiaries of our community contributions.
Adopted from the editorial January 2015 Rotary Down Under
Some letters received by Peter and Gail from former Rotary Exchange Students. They demonstrate the depth of ties between the exchange students and host parents. Thank you Peter for providing these for the bulletin.
From: Peter Crozier [mailto:pcrozier1944@bigpond.com]
Sent: Tuesday, 24 February 2015 8:20 AM
To: 'Doug Sutton'; 'paul@paulmurray.com.au'; 'John Ferguson'
Subject: FW: Wollundry Bulletin Feb 17th
Hi chaps if you think this is newsworthy. I sent them the historic photos that appeared in last week’s bulletin.
CROZ
Sarah Carlton (nee Surbeck) was an exchange student from Iowa about 25 years ago. She married Mark and they have two wonderful children. Gail and I stayed with them in Minneapolis, Minnesota on our last trip and also spent a week with Sarah’s parents, Richard and Margie Surbeck in McCall, Idaho.
From: Mark and Sarah Carlton [ mailto:carlton1829@msn.com]
Sent: Tuesday, 24 February 2015 1:46 AM
To: Peter Crozier
Subject: Re: Wollundry Bulletin Feb 17th
Hi there
Great to hear from you! Sounds like you are settling back in to your routines after your travels and the holidays. I just can’t believe how time flies - it seems like you are just here visiting!
Our weather is frigid cold and we are looking forward to a warm up in the next few weeks.
Great news about your new flat in Sydney and so nice that you offered it up to us, if/when we get over there to visit.
Thank you so much for the Rotary news! I did get a good laugh out of the photos and the memories of that event. I showed it to John and he said, "Mom, you don’t look any different!” How nice of him, eh?! My time is Australia was certainly a highlight of my life and I just can’t believe it was so long ago. I do intend to get back someday, just need to figure out when.
We are staying busy as the kids both ramp up to participate in spring sports - Lacrosse for both of them this year and we are looking forward to it! Hockey season is officially over and the Robotics team is winding down. In fact, the end of the trimester is next week which means the kids only have about 12 weeks of school left for the year. WOW!
Love to you both and love your news. I’ll keep in touch! Love Sarah
Hi chaps, you might like to put this in the bulletin a little after the letter from Sarah Carlton just to show what rotary meant to them.
Sheila was an exchange student about 23 years ago. She was then Sheila Jensen and now Sheila Truelsen. She has been back to Australia once and is now going to bring her family. Gail and I stayed with them three years ago in Aarhuis, Denmark. We look forward to hosting them. CROZ
From: Sheila Truelsen [mailto:truelsen@privat.dk]
Sent: Friday, 20 February 2015 9:50 AM
To: Peter Gail Crozier; 'Peter Crozier'
Subject: Visit to Australia
Hi Gail and Peter,
Claus and I are thinking of a trip to Australia in June /July – our summer holidays. We haven’t made a lot of plans yet other than we hope to fly out 19th of June and have to be back to work 1st of August.
We want to do go up north Queensland(Cairns area) and maybe also NT- Darwin- Kakadu. And then we would also like to visit you and some of my host families, some of my old schoolfriends from Wagga High and a host sister, that stayed with my family in Dk. We would probably like to go up north either in the beginning of our trip or at the end.
But before we do more detailed planning we would like to know if you will be in Wagga during June/July and if we can come and see you?
Hope your are doing fine and enjoying your summer. Here winter is hopefully coming to an end, although we have hardly had any snow or frost this year. We have just come home from a week of skiing in Norway – heaps of snow there.
Love Sheila
Projects
Secretary Paul Milde introduced the following projects and sought Club approval for those over $1000.
- Sunflower House mobile steel bench $2,455.
- Wagga Autism Group $500.
- Wagga Base Hospital Auxiliary 90% refund tent hire $1,800
- Wagga Eistedfodd $1,000.
- Committee for Wagga 50% (at their request) refund of tent hire $750.
Paul moved that these projects be passed. The motion was seconded by James Hamilton and all said aye.
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Attendance
Visitors:
Erika Radnedge and Kerrie Bryan (Neil Pinto)
Club Guests
Franzi Traber, Laura Kane
Make Ups
Geoff Hamilton, John Egan, Geoff Breust, Rob Fuller, Jim Gibson, Jon Daley, Greg Goldspink,
Apologies
Tim Barter, Geoff Breust, Craig Bromley, David Byfield, Doug Conkey, Greg Conkey, Ken Cook, Travis Downie, John Egan, Alan Eldridge, Frank Fuller, Geoff Hamilton, Pat Ingram, John Ireland, Wayne Jenkins, John Mason, Stephen McCoy, Paul Murray, Robert Nicholson, Kerry Pascoe, David Pyke, Jeremy Reithmuller, John Smith, Darren Wallace, Ken Taylor.
Changeover Date: 30th June 2015 - Put it in your diary!!!
Exchange Student Report.
Franzi Traber reported that she has been seven months in Australia. Last week she went to see comedian Karl Barron. She also went water skiing on Colombo Creek and had some tennis lessons.
Sergeants Session
Sergeant James Ross basically fined everyone on whatever pretext he could. He also got some individual fines from Tim Magillicuddy, Lawrie Blowes for media appearances,Michael Georgiou for sharing the same surname as Cat Stevens. He then went into various countries' terror alerts, reflecting on our own 5 levels here. The French have:
Run, hide, Collaborate, Surrender. The British have; Miffed, Peeved, Irritated, A Bit Cross and Bloody Nuisance.
The Scots have only two pxxxed off and lets get the bxxxxstards
The wine draw was won by a very happy Hugh Campbell whose number came our on the fifth draw.
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THE ROCK CHALLENGE
Invite your family and friends to a fun day
THE ROCK NATURE RESERVE
Sunday 8 March 2015
Challenge: Climb The Rock Hill (optional)
Venue: The Rock Nature Reserve
Time: 6.30am for 7.00am till 2.00pm
Catering: Breakfast BBQ and Lunch BBQ
Cost: $20.00 per person Children Under 10 $10.00
Featuring: I Climbed The Rock Certificates, Kenyan music,
sample traditional Kenyan goat meat (nyamachomu)
& complimentary Kenyan beer (Tusker)
Please bring a chair.
RSVP: Yes Please! 2 March 2015 to 0488 757 600
noelenebedggood@bigpond.com
Background: A group of ten Rotarians will face a mammoth challenge to
climb Mount Kenya, the second highest mountain in Africa. It is planned to
reach the summit on ANZAC DAY, 25 April 2015. The goal is to raise money
through sponsorship and activities with proceeds supporting the health and
education of orphan children in Africa and support Legacy Australia.
Please help Mt Kenya 2015 by participating in THE ROCK CHALLENGE 2015.
Sponsored by Rotary Clubs of Coolamon, Wagga Wagga Sunrise, Henty |
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