Stories

• Gathering - such as family and friends coming together, or harvesting crops for the festival. On this day the moon is the brightest and roundest which means family reunion.
• Thanksgiving - to give thanks for the harvest, or for harmonious unions.
• Praying - for babies, a spouse, beauty, longevity, or for a good future.

Monday June 30th saw the Annual Changeover held at Pennant Hills Golf Club. Our meeting was graced with the presence of District Governor Elect Gina Growden heading a group of guests and members' partners. It was an excellent evening - a fitting conclusion to a great year under outgoing president Theo Glockemann. His report on a very active year for the club highlighted many of the events and projects enjoyed throughout the year. Amongst the awards he presented were two Paul Harris Fellowships presented to hardworking wives of members, namely Heather Firth and Susan Wilson. Both ladies, although very surprised with their awards, thoroughly deserved the recognition for their contributions to Rotary and particularly to the Rotary Club of Pennant Hills.

Incoming President Adrian Bell introduced his executive and directors and then gave a short outline of his vision for the club in 2014 - 2015 under our new theme "Light Up Rotary".

The poor condition of the Pennant Hills Community Health Centre came to the attention of the Rotary Club of Pennant Hills nearly 2 years ago. The centre was opened in November 1987 and has never been repainted in the intervening 26 years! As a community centre which is used every week from Monday to Friday, it was felt that the public areas and the consultation and treatment rooms needed to be brightened up.

The club decided to get quotes to paint the ground floor area inside and see if funds could be obtained to have the work carried out. Facing a cost of over $9,000, the club decided to apply for a Rotary District grant to help. This was finally obtained late last year so that a painting contractor, David Feeney, could be engaged to do the work. Due to the need to comply with Hornsby Ku-Ring-Gai Hospital O H & S policies, work was delayed until mid March when the centre closed for a week to allow the work to be done without interruption.

The result has been a transformation of the centre throughout. Manager Vera Bucci was ecstatic about the result as were the various staff members who operate clinics and provide treatment to patients. The community hall at the rear of the centre, used by over 300 people on a weekly basis according to Vera, is so much brighter and users are also delighted with the upgrade.

The General Manager of Hornsby Ku-Ring-Gai Hospital, Frank Bazik, in his Monday Memo to all staff, acknowledged the work as follows-

“The Pennant Hills Community Health Centre is getting a makeover thanks to the generosity and the outstanding community spirit of the Pennant Hills Rotary Club. The Centre was painted last week and is looking immaculate.”

This is the third project the Rotary Club has completed at the Community Health Centre, having previously provided a kitchen in the community hall and later funded new floor covering for the hall.

Our annual Australia Day Merit Award was presented to Mrs Lee Lowe, an SES Volunteer for 17 years with the Hornsby Unit and champion of the SES Cadet Program at Pennant Hills High School where she is a school administrative staff member.

The 2013 Christmas Trailer Raffle was drawn, as scheduled, on Sunday 22nd December at Pennant Hills Golf Club. A club staff member drew the winning ticket, No.3561 which had been sold at Thornleigh Plaza on November 30th. The winners were a family from nearby Normanhurst who were both surprised and delighted. This completes this annual project which commenced early this year to take advantage of the Federal Election in September. Tickets were sold that day and on the 10 Saturdays up to and including December 21st.

The proceeds from the Trailer Raffle will be shared between St Lucy's School, Wahroonga - a school for children with disabilities, and Pennant Hill Neighbour Aid - a voluntary organisation providing transport and support for frail aged and disabled in the local community. Both organisations are very grateful for the financial assistance the Rotary Club will provide through the generous support received at various places for our Trailer Raffle.

VISIT TO ST LUCY’S SCHOOL, WAHROONGA

Last Thursday a small group from our club were privileged to be able to visit St Lucy’s School and enjoy a guided tour, afternoon tea, and be present at their weekly school assembly together with a number of parents. We were most efficiently hosted by Rebecca Welsh, the Development Manager at the school. We took the Trailer with us and while we were otherwise occupied, parents and staff managed to purchase $150 worth of tickets! In addition, they have taken 2 books of tickets to sell also.

Our tour was a real eye opener in that we quickly were introduced to the security which is necessary to ensure that the 120 students are kept safe (and within the school grounds) each day. They have a total of 167 students, however 47 are in 3 satellite classes in mainstream Catholic schools in Narabeen and Naraweena. As all of their students have mild to profound disabilities, their staffing ratios are necessarily much higher than regular schools. Indeed, they have 70 staff, with classes having 9 to 13 students with atleast a teacher and teacher’s aid in each class. Where disabilities are more severe, the staffing level is increased.

We were able to witness the children during their half hour play time following lunch. It was interesting to observe the different reaction from them to a group of visitors walking around the school grounds - some naturally ignored us, while others were keen to meet us and talk with us. One couldn’t be other than impressed with the array of equipment and facilities in the grounds to keep the children occupied and active. We also got to see an area where the school is looking to refurbish the  ground cover and landscaping. This may well be where the funds our raffle raises will be applied. We were shown a very impressive library facility which included their computer laboratory. This latter facility they hope to move to a dedicated computer facility at some time in the future.

We then experienced the weekly school assembly in their multi-purpose hall, courtesy of the past government’s Building the Education Revolution. It was a very impressive addition to their facilities. We were again impressed by the involvement of the children and the dedicated and caring attitude of the staff. It was a delight to see how the songs and music were so popular with the children.

I am sure I speak for those who were there when I say that there could be no more deserving recipient of the proceeds from  the Christmas Trailer Raffle.                                                                                                                   

Last Tuesday evening saw the continuation of a club tradition established back in 1976 - 38 years ago. That year saw the first ever Pride of Workmanship Awards presented by our club. So it was encouraging to be able to present another 7 Pride of Workmanship Awards plus 2 Community Service Awards. It was also nice to have the Golf Club room comfortably filled with a total of 75 people present.

We were privileged to have as Keynote Speaker, the Hon Matt Kean, Member for Hornsby in the Legislative Assembly. Matt gave an excellent talk in which he highlighted that Rotary is the only service club which features Vocational Service. He acknowledged the contribution made by volunteers in the Australian community and encouraged us all to celebrate the people who make a difference - who are the best that they can be in whatever they are doing.

Club President Peter Wilson and Matt Kean then presented  the awards and sponsor certificates of appreciation as the culmination of a very enjoyable dinner.

 

Continuing the tradition commenced in1986, our club presented our Australia Day Merit Award at a gala function at the Pennant Hills Golf Club on Tuesday 22nd January. However, this year we awarded not one, but two awards - the awardees being Nan Horne OAM, a well known resident of Cherrybrook, and Theo Glockemann, a member of our club and champion of a range of Youth programs.

Another Successful ‘TREE OF JOY’ at Pennant Hills Marketplace

This was our fourth year of running the ‘Tree of Joy’ at Pennant Hills Marketplace. As in previous years, we received much support and encouragement from the businesses in the centre, as well as from the centre management, Banna Property Group. Once again, we were fortunate to have the Westpac Bank, Manager Emma Tippett and their staff providing security for the gifts as they arrived.

We could never learn to be brave and patient, if there were only joy in the world.

We had six representatives of the club present last Friday for a morning tea arranged by Hornsby Hospital and the Pennant Hills Community Health Centre to thank us for the painting of the downstairs areas of the Health Centre in Fisher Avenue. Vera Bucci, who runs the Centre, had arranged for the Stroke Recovery group who normally meet on Fridays there, to join us. The General Manager of the hospital, Frank Bazik, came together with Greg Lill, Public Relations & Fundraising Manager, and Linda Glanfield ofcourse, who is Divisional Manager, Rehabilitation and Aged Care Service.

  We were represented by Jack & Ruth Reid, Ian & Sue Huckel, and David & Heather Firth. The General Manager spoke of the importance of the services provided by the hospital and, in particular, those provided by the Community Health Centres such as the Pennant Hills centre. He acknowledged that in the 27 years that Vera Bucci has been at the centre, the number of people receiving services and support there has grown from 300 to 3,000 a week. He thanked the Rotary Club for identifying and satisfying the need for refurbishment of the treatment rooms as well as the Bernard Curran Hall and the entrance area and toilets. He presented a Certificate of Appreciation to PP Jack Reid who accepted it on behalf of President Adrian and the club.

 

Following the familiar pattern followed for several years, the Rotary Club of Pennant Hills set out in October to raise badly needed funds for Hornsby Ku-ring-gai Hospital and Pennant Hills Neighbour Aid. Both charities, although receiving much of their funding from government, still rely on donations from community groups such as ours to provide facilities otherwise not funded.

In the latter months of 2011, heavy monsoon rains continually drenched Southeast Asia, causing mudslides and widespread flooding along the Mekong River. Parts of Thailand experienced their worst floods in half a century, as water inundated villages, historic temples, farms, and factories. High levels of flooding ground water caused fresh water drinking supplies to become contaminated and less available to a dense population, where clean drinking water is so vital.  

In realisation of need for portable water purification, Glenhaven Rotary rallied 15 other District Clubs, provisioning a combined allocation of $16,580.00 to deliver many purification units to areas of need within Thailand. Click the link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U60bCnjE3WU . and see how as a global organisation Rotary makes a difference in the greatness and meaning of Humanity.  

 

Tuesday 12 June the 9680 Rotary community was provisioned opportunity to hear the progress to date with the North West Rail Link project and its aims to link the hills district with existing rail infrastructure already in place at Epping. A very informative presentation was delivered to a large Rotary audience represented by various clubs within the Hornsby / Hills regions. Question time enabled avenues for pro-active dialog - imparted by the audience, all of which was taken into account toward providing valuable inputs, expectations and voicing of concerns, some of which were positively absorbed by those presenting from the rail link project.

Overall the future development was endorsed by the audience, with a general consensus of a positive move and a great planning initiative instigated by the needs of the community and State government endorsement.  

Two days of the community emptying their pockets and opening purses and presenting their wallets, resulted in another fantastic effort within the Pennant Hills region. The Pennant Hills Rotary Club, along other willing participants, students from Barker College and various other helpers, rallied together enabling vast numbers of collectors whom pounded the pavement on the morning of Sunday 20th of May.

Thanks to pivotal coordinating resources within the PHRC, both days of collection were welcomed by all residents of our community. PHRC and the Salvation Army wish to thank all who donated across the Pennant Hills community, willingly raising  in the vicinity of  $51,450, all of which contributes to the National collection effort.

Pictured below: President Ian Huckle, Major Gleny's Page (Salvation Army) and John Young

 

The Rotary Club of Pennant Hills was recently privileged and visited the Children's Research Institute and witness first hand the amazing research undertaken to date in the field of PKU studies. As agreed by all of those whom attended," it was nothing short of amazing an awe inspiring at the same time".

The Rotary Club of Pennant Hills proudly supports the Genetic Research Unit of Western Sydney at the Children's Hospital Westmead, which is presently engaged in research into Phenylketonuria (PKU) and other genetic disorders. PKU or Pheylkentonuria is a rare, inherited (genetic) metabolic disorder. It only effects one in ten thousand babies born in NSW each year. Although PKU is a very rare disorder, one in fifty individuals in the normal population are carriers of the gene that causes PKU.

A person with PKU has inherited the defective gene from parents and only occurs when both parents are carriers, even then the chances of it being passed on are one in four. All babies in NSW and the rest of Australia undergo a compulsory blood screening process after birth. This is done by a sample collected on a Guthrie Card by way of a heel prick, at approximately 4 days of age. If this shows an elevated level of phenylalanine  a follow up Guthrei Card is organised. If PKU is diagnosed, the family is seen by a panel of clinicians and the diet is commenced immediately.

Current research indicates that the diet should be continued for life. Failure to adhere strictly to the diet may result in mental and physical retardation.





Follow the PKU Research Blog (click link below)

http://www.pkunsw.org.au/research-blog-full-article