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Director’s Roundup
- President Carmel
- AGM next week. Wear your new Rotary Shirt on the night.
- Stories of Resilience Breakfast – 7am, 27th November. Two Rotarians will be needed to man the door – Jennifer and Eric volunteered. Don’t forget to register.
- No meeting on 28th.
- Christmas Party on 30 November – 6 for 6.30pm. A sheet this week and next to volunteer dishes to bring.
- Brian
- Speakers at the Resilience Breakfast (about ageing) -Paul Maytom, Jo Edwards (about dementia) and Bill Draper.
- Graeme Kruger
- Market Day on 7th December
- Ham Carnival on 8th December
- A: Afternoon Tea
- Geoff
- Water sampling at Berrembed Weir on 19th November (I think Matt is organizing transport).
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From Eric Hudson
Rotary was invited to the SAUCE information for NFPs organised by Leeton Connect
Held at the Showground Meeting Room at 7 am Tuesday 12 November
These are my notes taken during the talks given by five SAUCE representatives.
SAUCE is a regional based organisation advising on media and events.
Social Media
Those using ‘social media’ have many avenues including Facebook, TikTok, etc.
We were advised to be sure of our own goals and the demographic as money and time can be involved.
An expressed interest can result in algorithm support.
Responding to other contributors can lead to support for your own goals.
Getting new members
To connect with new people, we need to have personal stories, milestones, projects, etc. in the media.
Ask “What's in it for new members?”
Understanding barriers for prospective members.
Partner a visitor/prospective member up with a compatible member/visitor to encourage a return visit.
Life without social media
Talia at the Irrigator is an excellent support,
Use flyers, mail drops, display at events, etc
Eric
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Sergeants Session – Geoff Beecher
The Serge in an expansive mood
Geoff was particularly hard on the Board members who tried to gate-crash a former members’ abode. He also related stories of chasing water and finding an important history book in Barmedman (who would imagine it – except Andrew knew all about it!). He also noted that this week is recycling week and distributed info from Planet Ark about recycling mobile phones. This nudged Jennifer to mention the Rotary project to re-purpose phones for escapees from domestic violence. Then, to be sure that no-one missed out, Geoff fined all of those who had been too good to be true.
Raffle was won by Laurie (Yeah!), although it may have been a little ‘suss’ as the ticket was looking quite lonely in the centre of all the tables.
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Alan was born in Sydney in 1946. He attended Haberfield Demonstration School and Drummoyne Boys High where he gained his Intermediate Certificate. He was accepted as an apprentice with NSW Government Railways in Fitting and Machining which he found very enjoyable for 5 years and learnt lots. He then worked with Metters for 3 years, married Jenny and moved to Sterling Machinery at Northmead (closer to home). He then moved to Arnott’s as a trainee Work Study Officer and achieved a Production Engineering Certificate. He left Arnott’s and started an Orange Juice run which he sold after 3 years and did home maintenance repairs for a time.
He then saw an ad for Tech teachers and applied but had to endure a gruelling 8-hour test that included 2 hours fitting, 2 hour machining, 1 hour theory and an hour of calculations. He was successful (there were many candidates – also many who left during the test) and posted to Granville TAFE. He undertook an education traineeship.
He was transferred to Leeton in 1980. He was assigned to Stage 3, Fitting and Machining. There were 8 in the class. A highlight of the year was when he organised an entry in the Rural Bank Awards. The students constructed a rotary table, and this included design, pattern making and casting (at the Dennis Hughes foundry). The group were so keen that they were reluctant to go home at the end of the day. A month after submitting the work he received a call saying they had won second and he organised for the group to go to Sydney to collect the prize. (They couldn’t win first prize because the award was supposed to be for individuals). It was a great event - helped by the fact that an official gave them $100 to defray the costs of their visit.
Alan was made head of Fitting and Machining but left TAFE in 1992 to set up his handyman business.
He joined Rotary in 1990 (introduced by John Hewitt but was forced to leave when he lost the classification (ahh times were different then!). He re-joined soon after - introduced by George Weston. A highlight was the RAWCS trip to build a hospital in Kokoda. Other highlights were being President (1993/94) and receiving the Paul Harris Fellow.
In response to a question, he noted the support from Jenny and noted how well daughters Linda and Heather responded to the move to Leeton.
Thank you, Alan - a great and very thoughtful update.
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Social
The evening finished with a relaxed time for socializing.
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For Monique
A businessman went into the office and found an inexperienced handyman painting the walls. The handyman was wearing two heavy parkas on a hot summer day. Thinking this was a little strange, the businessman asked the handyman why he was wearing the parkas on such a hot day.
The handyman showed him the instructions on the can of paint. They read: “For best results, put on two coats.”
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