President Neil opened the meeting, introducing Bob Greig who gave the invocation followed by our oft sung favourite "We are Australian", a melody we are improving at each recital.  Robyn Yates introduced Sue Walsh, a guest for tonight's meeting.

John Vlasich has met with the Collie Heritage Group and they are going to make two sitting benches to place along the Collie to Allanson path.

Mark had a meeting with the Collie Roadwise Group and they have requested a change from the Saturday 26th September to Monday 28th September of the long weekend.  There will also be an advertisement placed in the Collie Mail calling for friends of Rotary to assist in the Driver Reviver stall. Free coffee for volunteers!

The "Rethinking Membership Forum" will be held on Sunday 1 November at the Tompkins on Swan. Registration is 8:45 and starts at 9:30AM and attendance is free. Go to http://www.trybooking.com/Booking/BookingEventSummary.aspx?eid=156724 to book your place at this important event.

 

Robyn circulated the brochure and asked members either attend or let her know of any ideas to improve our membership retention and prospects.  There is currently a WA delegation attending a Rotary Australia meeting on membership, and they will be attending the 1st November forum.

Mike missed all of us while he was away, and now needs a show of numbers for the Wine Tour and Bottling in Bridgetown on Saturday 19 September.  And the hands went up for Robyn (2); Harry (2); Geoff (2); Bob (2); Keith (1); and by message Jim (2).  Any others? Please let Mike know ASAP as we need to firm numbers for the winery BBQ, etc.

RYPEN - even though we had five interested persons, none of them had placed an application by the closing date. Unfortunately they have missed a wonderful opportunity. They may re-apply for the next round, as RYPEN is run 6-monthly.

 

RYLA - we have two potential nominees, thanks to Robyn. This is a great program consisting of one week of personal leadership development. If there are any more nominees to be considered, please let John Bylund know ASAP.

PA System - has been refurbished, the microphones are new except the two cordless microphones and lapel microphone. The way it works is if you want to use two at the same time they need to be on the second channel.

Projector - still investigating the best options for our needs and looking for a purposed storage cabinet to store all the equipment. Harry suggested a steel cabinet may be suitable that is currently in the Rotary Hut. 

Work continued on the BMX canteen. Thanks to Doug, Neil, Robyn, Norm, Richard Lister, Ken Ingram and Rory O'Connor. We'll nee help with installing the new beam and battens and this coming Sunday between 9AM and 1PM is suggested with Martin, Murray, Doug and Harry showing hands, any others to help this Sunday would be appreciated. 

As a follow-up to his talk on car restoration, Harry announced he has restored an Austin A40 costing around $500 to repair.

Gary has been in discussion with the Pinaroo Chapel managers and will let us know when a date is set to visit there chapel.

The Adventure Race Committee has been meeting and the race advertised for the Saturday 10th October. So far only a few have registered online and we are expecting more over the coming weeks. 

 

We need people to allocate to jobs. Harry and Rory are helping with the Mountain Bike track, but we need a few more volunteers to assist with track and event preparation as well as on the day.  A sheet was passed around and if people could mark their availability next to the jobs to be done.

We've added a page to our website for the 2015 Collie Adventure Race with details about the event. There are links to the Register Now registration site as well as a Facebook and Twitter links set up for the event.  So far only a few have registered, so the Facebook page has been "boosted" to all WA people interested in sport and multisport up until the day of the race.  The cost is $110 and will go out to around 16,000 persons. If we only gain several new competitors, then the cost of advertising would have been worth it.

The question of the week for this week was "What is the RI Monthly Theme for September?" and the answer given was "Membership Month".

 

I checked this when I returned home and disappointingly we were wrong, all of us (worthy of a fine). So the question of the month remains as is.  A hint - you'll find the RI monthly topics under downloads on our web page.

Leadership WA - 19th September is $30 / head, start paying Keith if you may. Dress code is neat casual.

Collie Rotary Calendar - Joe Italiano is willing to help this year, and we are looking for a major sponsor to feature on the calendar. This will be at a cost of $2,500.  The cost of standard sponsorship to remain the same.  If members may sound out anyone to take up the major sponsor and let Pres. Neil know.

AGM and Forum next week - think about any items you wish to raise and let President Neil know.

Attendance was 89.66% with 23 in attendance, 4 apologies, and 3 make-ups.  Cards prize was $70 with no winner and the Wheel spun by Geoff for no win.  

Welcome backs - Murray, Geoff and others, Anniversary - Barbara and Alan on the 4th for 39 years, Badges - everyone had one, Guests - Sue Walsh, Lateness - nobody, so all had to pay, Inductions - Mark Sanders 21 years on 2nd September, In the Press - Geoff, Robyn, Gary, Neil, Cards and Wheel - Donna and Geoff, Births - a lovely Clydesdale foal delivered by Rod, Late Meeting Start Time - President Neil, Counting Prowess - Harry counted 3 instead of 4 BMX helpers, Vehicle Care - Doug for doing 5 km/hr down Atkinson Street, Bought the Box - John Bylund for Geoff not having Retired on his badge; Harry owned up to letting Paul Debenham run around town without knowing how much fuel was in his Austin A40 fuel tank; Barbara presented Mark with a long held Certificate of Appreciation for attending the Smith Family Learning Club, last year.; Neil for causing the earthquake tremor and 12:32AM the night before. Joke "yes, and would you believe my stupid husband is fishing out in this rain!"

Introduced by Youth Director, John Bylund - RYE Student, Alice Bellini gave an interesting presentation on her home country of Italy, her home town, the region and her family.

 

Alice comes from northern Italy, in the region of Lombardia, within a province called Lecco, and a village called Arlate.  It is a very beautiful location surrounded by mountains and near the Adda River.  Her parents, two sisters and a few Siamese cats, live in a two-story house surrounded by lush grass and tall trees.  Alice spoke about her school, her region, some political history, and about her family.

  

Alice answered a few questions, followed by Keith Martin giving a vote of thanks on behalf of the club.

 

This was an excellent presentation by a very confident presenter. A copy of the 5Mb presentation is available at this link and only viewable by club members within this newsletter.

 

 

BMX Canteen Relining - on Father's day, see Harry, WA Leadership Meeting / Dinner - $30 to Keith to pay, AGM / Forum - next week, Rotary Calendar - need a major sponsor, Thanks to Guests - Sue Walsh, Janine Bylund, Sharron Moulden and James Moulden.  Meeting closed at 8:35PM