Assistant District Governor, Robyn Yates welcomed members and guests to this combined clubs meeting at the Donnybrook Cubby House Cafe on this leap year day.

The purpose of this meeting is to network, exchange ideas and enjoy our fellowship. Later in the evining, the President of each club will give a 5 minute speil about their club and items of interest.

Manjimup has around 35 members and has a new venue. Their focus has been on involving spouses and partners. Dom has been President for 10 years following his father as previous President. One of the most useful aspects for becoming a president was attendance at the President Elects Seminar where networking and a lot of information was made available.

A big event for Manjimup is the annual Wine Show. Other fundraising projects are the wood raffles and community calendar. This year Manjimup are hosting two RYE's, and will be running a Mental Health Seminar in June with Professor Lynn Beasley as key speaker. We also raised funds to purchase a submersible wheelchair to allow use of the local pool by anyone with mobility disability.

Bridgetown has between 16 to 20 members as it fluctuates from year to year. We are famous for the annual Blackwood Marathon, and have been running this for the past 37 years. We also run the “Up Close and Classical” which showcases our local music teachers and their star pupils, as well as recognized artists from the City and interstate. We are involved in the opening of the new town swimming pool this coming Saturday.

A lot of project occur in the first half of the new Board year between July and October. For a small club we have a lot of projects on the go, such as the Marathon, the Schools Breakfast Club, Mental health Fist Aid courses, Bali Kindy Teacher mentoring, the RYLA and RYPEN, and have contributed to the appeals for Pinjarra Fire Assistance, Sri Lanka medical pathology fund, and local persons in need.

 

Fundraising is always on the agenda and we have our community calendar.  We are also interested in sponsoring a phD Scholar in Mental Health, but a grant will need around $11,000 from clubs, $9,000 from the recipient or organisation before we could top up with a grant for $6,000. More on this at a later date.

 

 

Collie has 30 members, and we are involved in many projects such as the footpath between Collie and Allanson, the community chapel design and feasibility study, BMX Club upgrade, and so on. We run the RYE, RYLA and PYPEN youth programs, and have been involved in community litter prevention projects.

We fundraise via the annual Collie Adventure Race, a multi-sport event, and a community wall calendar. We are also currently assisting with re-establishing a Probus Club after it closed last year due to low membership. One of our challenges as well as membership has dropped over several years. The challenge is attracting younger members, and seems there are generational impediments and perspectives to be overcome.

 

In 1994 we recognised "fellowship" as a key aspect of attracting and maintaining membership. And this has helped to some extent, even though not recognised as a key Rotary focus. Also Rotary's reputation as a 'get things done" organisation is legendary. Often Bob has had calls from locals and overseas to assist where there was noone else they could rely on to help. This is a huge positive for Rotary to have the trust of the community.

Harvey has has its ups and downs, literally with club numbers. From 35 and currently at 12, Harvey maintains a good presence in Harvey. The main employers are Harvey Beef and Harvey Fresh Dairy. This means there is partly a seasonal and itinerant workforce in Harvey.

One of it main achievements was initiating a Probus Club in Harvey. We are also involved in overseas projects such as furniture for the Phillapines, wheelchairs and water projects also in the Philippines due in part to some residents in Harvey being from the Philippines. We also funded a funeral for a young Philippino.

 

Fundraising is our community calendar that has many challenges as it covers a wide aerea such as Binninup, Kokernup, Wokalup. We have assisted with the Yarloop fire appeal and made our premises available for storage. We have managed to keep our costs down by sourcing cheap meals and keeping our attendance to meetings at around 90%.

 

This year marks our 60th anniversary this coming December.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For use of members when claiming make-up's;

ADG Robyn thanked all present for their attendance and contribution to an excellent evening of exchanging information and fellowship, and it is planned to have further combined meetings.

 

Final words were tabled and read out by Rose Moyle from Manjimup;

A very fitting verse and sentiment of what its like to be a Rotarian.