What has Sooner (Sune) been up to in the last 30 years?
Sune (or the Australianism Sooner) was an exchange student to Leeton (from Denmark) in 1996?97.
He is very grateful for the exchange and has finally been able to return so his family can see where he spent his exchange.
Here are some highlights of his time since leaving Leeton.
Graduated as a Civil Engineer in 2006.
Started in a job as a product designer.
Joined a Start-up company in San Fracisco in 2014.
He was a project designer.
There he met a Project Manager (Ritu) in the same company.
Moved back to Denmark in 2016 (with Ritu) but they struggled to settle.
The problems they faced prompted them to establish a shared apartment.
This then stimulated them to start a company (LifeX) to create similar apartments in Copenhagen in 2017.
The company now has similar apartments all over Europe and employs 30 people (16 nationalities).
Sune and Ritu were married in 2018 with ceremonies in Denmark and India.
Kai was born in 2019
Purchased a house in a courtyard estate in 2021 (it needed some serious re-modelling.
In 2025 the business had grown and they developed software to manage the properties.This was spun-off into a new company (Felix).Sune manages the new company while Ritu manages LifeX.
He family have finally found the time to visit their Australian family.
In closing, Sune said ‘ Thank you all so very much
I gained an extra family, some of the fondest memories of my life.
I was given so much during that year that I still feel a deep need to give back.
Special thanks to my host families: Len and Annette Wade; Alan and Jenny Brumfield; Peter and Alanna Rolf; My counsellor, George Weston.
With special thanks to the Rotary Club of Leeton,
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Brain Teaser
What is one thing that all wise men, regardless of their politics or religion, have to agree is between Heaven and Earth?
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Director’s Reports
President Jennifer
Nominations are now open for Community Leader positions
Geoff
‘Griffith Avanti Rotary Club is turning 20 this year. Our plan is to hold our celebratory dinner on 23 May 2026 at Griffith Aeroclub. Invites to be circulated in near future’
‘On behalf of the SunRice Festival Committee, I would like to formally invite your club to assist us by providing support at the Street Parade on Saturday, 4th April. We are seeking your help in providing security along the main street to ensure the safety of the public attending the parade. The committee is pleased to offer your club a payment of $350 for this assistance. A briefing will commence at 12:30pm at Jarrah Mall, after which you will walk the main street as part of the safety team. There is no maximum number of volunteers required, and we would greatly appreciate as many participants as your club can provide on the day.
Peter
Nominations are open for RYLA.We may get an application from Reece but we have sponsorship for a further one.Please think about anyone who may be interested.
Greg
A vocational visit to the RBA trials at Gary Knagge’s. Meet at the Hydro at 5.30pm to travel in convoy to the farm with a meal to follow at the Hydro at 7.15.
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Sergeant Peter
Peter conducted a quiz on the value of agricultural exports by country. He wanted to know the country with the 10th highest value. Most participants were off the mark with Bill the winner. He nominated South Africa. The best guess should have been Belguim.
The raffle was won by guest Ritu.
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Council Celebration Breakfast
We provided breakfast for council staff to ceklebrate the award for best regional council in NSW.
Proceedings commenced for Rotarians on Friday 13th (of course!) at 7am. It turned out to be a very successful morning – great weather,; happy crowd and great surroundings.
Service Director Laurie says a special thanks to all Rotarians who volunteered on the day. He is extremely grateful for all the efforts on the day.
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With Apologies to the Odd Queenslander
An Aussie lady holidaying in the UK came down for dinner in the hotel where she was staying. She was given a table next to one where three ex-Army officer types were seated.
As she perused the menu she could not help but overhear the conversation from the adjacent table.
"I definitely recall it was Tooooooooowooooooomba", said one of the gents.
"No, no, no!" said the second, "It was more like Toowoombaaaaah."
"Poppycock." exclaimed the third, "I clearly remember it as Toowooooombar."
The Aussie lady listened to this for a while and then turned in her chair and said, "Fair Dinkum youse blokes, its flaming Toowoomba."
At this there was a stunned silence while the three gents looked in surprise at the lady.
Then one of them adjusted his monocle, cleared his throat, and announced, "Madam, we doubt you have ever seen a hippopotamus, let alone heard one break wind underwater."
