STORIES
Our Community BBQs
Over the past year our club has been regularly involved with the monthly Downtown Markets held in Wollundry Park at Pennant Hills. We have run the BBQ there, selling sausage sandwiches and drinks. Our site and the major facilities are supplied free of charge by the sponsors, and we supply the food and drinks and the profits, the latter going to fund our projects. The stall runs from 9am to 3pm and we have a team of 3 or 4 on each of the 2 shifts. It gives us a very welcome involvement in the community and we generally have received very good customer support. Needless to say, we are always on the lookout for volunteers and potential club members!
Special Awards to Wives of Members
At the District 9685 Changeover Dinner on June 28, the District Governor Niranjan Deodhar made two presentations to wives of club members, namely Georgia Glockemann and Heather Firth. Georgia was presented with the 'Excellence in Service to Humanity Award' in recognition of her many years of service to Rotary and the community both here and in Timor Leste. A Paul Harris sapphire pin was presented to Heather for her continuing service to Rotary through our club. Both awardees were suitably surprised to be so honoured.
Our 49th Pride of Workmanship Awards Night
As has been our usual practice for many years, we again held these presentations at Pennant Hills Golf Club who have continued to provide such a great atmosphere and menu for this dinner. On this occasion we had six awardees present supported by a large number of family and fellow workers.
Our Keynote Speaker was Angelo Raveane, President of Crows Nest Rotary Club and fellow worker with Theo on the Timor Leste RYLA/RYPEN project. Also in attendance was District Vocational Service Adviser, Ruth Vumbaca from the Warringah Rotary Club.
Angelo and Ruth Vumbaca were then invited to come forward to present the awards. The citations provided by the nominators were read, and the presentations were made to -
Amin Abboud, Pharmacist at Pennant Hills Pharmacy, nominated by Adam Shanahan;
Julie Chu, Senior Financial Accountant at Banna Property Group, nominated by Brad Chan;
Sonia Kalsi, Team Leader-Women and Family Services at SydWest Multicultural Services, nominated by Elfa Moraitakis;
Charlotte Naylor, Food & Beverage Attendant at Pennant Hills Golf Club, nominated by Bronwyn Steele;
Nicole Stuart, Teacher’s Aide at St Lucy’s School, nominated by Kirstin Willis;
Paul Taylor, Managing Director of Tailor Made Physiotherapy, nominated by Philippa Taylor.
 
Homicide Victims Support Group
On 7th May our Guest Speaker was Martha Jabour OAM.  As a 23-year-old young mother she lost a baby to SIDS in 1992, and experienced firsthand the trauma  she had to deal with.  She was told that “you will survive but your life will never be the same.” With that awful experience behind her she wanted to help and give support to others experiencing what she had experienced.
This was at the start of her 40+ years of grief and trauma counselling.
She has started or been involved with many support organisations
Started the Sudden Infant Death Association
Partnering with police
Homicide Victims Support Group 
And then just to fill in her spare time she joined Rotary a few years ago and is now the President of the Carlingford Club.
She was named the NSW Local Hero in the last honours in 2025
The number of families now being supported is over 4,600.  That is one tremendous proof of her work
And along the way she was awarded an OAM for all her good work.
It is very rare that we have the privilege of enjoying a presentation as riveting as this one.  I know that all present were as awe inspired as your reporter.
Thank you Martha. 
 
RYLA 2025
We sponsored Taylor to attend District 9685 RYLA in January. Due to her busy life she was not able to come and report on her experience until 19th March. Rotary Youth Leadership Award is a seven day live in leadership learning experience for young people 18 to 30 years old.
She reported that she felt more prepared with her personal development and leadership skills as a consequence of her RYLA experience. Taylor is a Rover leader and has thus become involved in the Hornsby Gang Show. Indeed, she will be the producer of it for the next few years so her RYLA experience was most appropriate.
Youth Night 2025
Our Youth Night this year was held on March 5th with 4 of the students in attendance, while one was unable to come due to work commitment. Charlotte and Madelaine enjoyed their RYPEN experiences and when asked what was their lasting impression  they agreed that the ability to Think Outside the Square was very high on the list.  They reported that they found RYPEN a very worthwhile use of three days, and said they would help our efforts to get more candidates next year.
Rosie gave a good round up of her experiences at National Youth Science Forum run over 2 weeks in Canberra. She told of the variety of science based careers that were covered - how what she learned had changed her ideas of a future career - and her appreciation of the differences across the scientific spectrum.
Aryan gave a confident and polished report of his seven days at the Engineering Challenge.  While he was originally going to participate in the NYSF, on doing his research he thought the Engineering Challenge would be a better choice for his future. We happily obliged and we are sure that Aryan will make excellent use of what he learnt,

 
Clean Up Australia 2025
On Sunday, March 2nd, was the 35th Clean Up Australia Day. Again, we put together an enthusiastic team, albeit at fairly short notice. We registered to cover the Pennant Hills CBD centering on the Pennant Hills Market Place carpark. We covered from Wollundry Park to Fisher Avenue and over to Yararra Road.
 
Australia Day Award 2025
As is our club's tradition, we hold our meeting to celebrate Australia Day and there present our Australia Day Merit Award to a person who has provided service or achieved exceptionally in the Australian community. This year we chose to recognise Philip Ruddock AO, past Mayor of Hornsby Shire and former member for the federal seat of Berowra. Philip came to the dinner with his wife, Heather, and was our keynote speaker on the night. A report of his address is contained in our 'SPOKES' newsletter Vol.66 No.16 elsewhere on our website.
The award was presented by President Anoop Sud and District Governor Elect John Coleman.
Our Newest Member
We are always looking for new members for our club. We recently held an interest meeting where we hosted several people who had shown interest in Rotary and our club. To date that meeting has not resulted in any new members. However, a chance meeting socially in the weeks before Christmas resulted in an invitation to a lady who expressed an interest in getting involved in community activities. The result was that on 6th March we welcomed into our club Amanda Woods who lives in West Pennant Hills and is a real estate agent with First National Homeway Real Estate at Castle Hill. Amanda has a long association with Pennant Hills and surrounding areas. Indeed, one of the very interesting items to emerge was that she received a Pride of Workmanship Award from our club in 2016 when she worked for the W Group Real Estate. Amanda has quickly become involved in 2 of our projects. We are delighted to have her with us.
 
Club Information
Welcome to our Club!

Service Above Self

We meet In Person
Wednesdays at 6:30 p.m.
Pennant Hills Community Health Centre
5 Fisher Avenue
Pennant Hills, NSW 2120
Australia
We meet on the 1st and 3rd Wednesdays of the month. On 5th Wednesdays we have a social meeting at a local restaurant.
District Site
Venue Map
Site Pages
 
Club Executives & Directors
President
Anoop Sud
Secretary
Jim Fraser
Treasurer
David Firth
Immediate Past President
Anoop Sud
Club Administration/Service
Jim Fraser
Membership
Jim Fraser
Public Image
Daisy Huang
Rotary Foundation
Theo Glockemann OAM
Projects
David Firth
International Service
Anoop Sud
Vocational Service
David Firth
Youth Service
Anoop Sud
Pride of Workmanship
David Firth

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Pride of Workmanship Awards Project
This project, which originated in our club, provides Rotary Clubs with an opportunity to connect with their local community, particularly the business community. They provide organisations and businesses with the vehicle by which key staff can be publicly recognised for their contribution to the success of the business. Award trophies are available together with other associated materials including a complimentary Program Guide. 
 
Apologies and visitor advice
Visitors, please phone 0407 805 487 and advise if you are attending the next meeting. Members, please advise if you are bringing a guest to the meeting or if you are an apology. 
District 9685
 
 
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