Our Club held our Annual Changeover and Awards Dinner last Saturday night.
Welcome to Burleigh Heads Rotary- where visitors are always welcome !
A very spectacular meeting this meeting to celebrate two of our Club Members receiving The Medal of the Order of Australia in the Queen's Birthday Honours list this week!
Congratulations to Bren Milsom OAM and Ken Clark OAM!
Bren has been a Rotarian for 29 years and Club Member for 17 years, Past President, Paul Harris Fellow, and the driving force in sending shipping containers of much needed goods to Timor for the past 12 years.
Ken received his OAM for his life long service to Surf Life Saving as well as being a Rotarian for 27 years, Club Member for 17 years, Past President and Paul Harris Fellow.
A cold start to the meeting this morning with the mercury just above the single digit ! It was however made all the more sweeter with Terri Taylor, chef and member extraordinaire, bringing along a superbly baked and decorated carrot cake for all members for their morning tea (see the pic below!) Our speaker today was Bruce Howlett, a visiting member who comes to our meetings when he migrates from up north to spend some time on the Goldie. The hot topic of malaria was most interesting. So much has been done by RAM (Rotarians Against Malaria) but it is quite evident from the global figures that a lot more can be done. Education and training not being the least of it. Good to hear that the women are the ones who are, in many of these disadvantaged countries, the driving force behind the control of this terrible mosquito borne disease .. especially as the children get affected very easily. The potential for elimination is what drives everyone forward. In other news this morning, we also had a new inductee to our club. Welcome to Warren and Tracey Maree. We are sure that your Rotary journey with Rotary Burleigh Heads will be a good one. Its a good reminder for all of us that you will get as much out of it, as you put into it !!
A busy morning at Donations In Kind in Kingston this morning. Club members Bren Milson, Terri Taylor, Ross Smith, Allan Barnett and Shobha Srinivasan worked together to load the container going to East Timor. Quite a few of the regular helpers were away so this core team of 5 members worked hard to get the donations into the container. Much was achieved last Thursday with some borrowed help. Some of the items that went to DIK today were boxes of books, birthing kits, a donation of two ovens and catering equipment kindly sourced, cleaned and packed by Terri Taylor. Allan Barnett towed a trailer with a hospital bed and a wheelchair besides filling up his car with the donated items. Thanks also to Mike Shambrook for helping collect the ovens last Saturday. Bren always needs laptops and computers so please help by donating. A shout out to NMG computers who will clean, test and load public access software on donated computers and laptops.
Today we celebrated the arrival of the Baton which commemorates 100 years of Rotary in Australia, a very long time of community service by Rotary throughout Australia.Another spectacular Autumn morning out on the deck of the Surf Club.
It was surprising to hear from two former Rotary Youth Exchange Students that the program continued throughout Covid last year, as Jorja Bellis, who appeared in person at our meeting and Kyah Anderson who Zoomed in, gave us a very interesting insight into their experiences in the USA during the Covid pandemic.A very challenging year for them but it sounded like they still enjoyed the experience,despite being unable to go to school for several months.
The Breakfast Meeting today was a superb presentation by our club member Tony Heading. Tony is an expert on all things Foundation and his presentation on this aspect of Rotary was aimed at club visitors and the 'newbies', but it really ended up as an eye opener for club veterans too. There has now been a request from other clubs (like the newly formed Rotary club of Currumbin) and from Tenterfield (where our club member Jacqueline Plaice has moved and transfered to) for Tony to go along and address them. The reach of Rotary is tremendous and the work that the Foundation does with its various areas of focus, gives all Rotarians an immense world platform to reach out and help communities in need. Thank you Tony Heading, for coming along and presenting to us on this aspect and work of Rotary International.
Our Cluster Dinner meeting was a great success,a very enjoyable evening,with an inspirational and educative Guest Speaker, Stuart McConaghy, from Scouts Queensland. It was a fabulous night, a full house, with 60 Rotarians and friends of Rotarians, attending.The meeting finished right on time at 8pm but the party and fellowship continued long after ! Thank you to everyone who turned up and for those that didn't, we may have another such evening!
Today we had Carey Westwood from her charity organisation Manasprings, presenting her story of this interesting organisation that assists young women and girls in Nairobi create a life for themselves despite the hardship,providing assistancee in creating schools,training and accommodation.Obvously it has been very difficult for Carey for the past year being stuck in Australia due to the pandemic and unable to travel to Nairobi.
Today's Meeting was so interesting that almost everyone who attended wanted to hear more as we ran out of time. Dr Clarence Tan has an extraordinary mind and his achievements past and present, combined with his humour in his presentation, inspired all present. Clarence talked about having a passion and making it work for everyone. He certainly doesn't just talk the talk, but walks the walk. His list of achievements is huge and he continues to make a difference to the world around him. For more information on Clarence's talk on Exponential Technologies, please get in touch with us. Thank you to an amazing speaker :)
This is the first stage of our latest community service project, to create a new elevated interactive garden for the Endeavour Foundation at Mermaid Waters. We had many Club members volunteer for some very hard labour, removing the old garden and getting ready for construction of the new one.
It was a lot of fun and excitement for all the members and others that entered the Car Rally,all the way up to Mt Tamborine and back! Great effort by Club Membership Director Graham Jones,for organising the event and then it was finished off nicely with an amazing spread of Tex Mex food at Currumbin,thanks to Graham's wife Julie and friends!
The meeting today was a lot of fun. You can see it in the broad smiles ! Thank you to Wayne Sticher and his fellow vollies from Cycling without Age for bringing along 3 Tribikes. Unfortunately the weather let us down but a few of us got a spin in the superb Rolls Royce of Tribikes. We whizzed around the carpark much faster than what is usually the case .. but no one was complaining. A fantastic initiative that we hope we can get involved in, in the future. To check out more about this local charity and the excellent work that they do, head to https://cyclingwithoutage.org/
The charity 'Cycling Without Age' is a Nonprofit organization founded in Copenhagen, Denmark in 2012. By 2020, this initiative has expanded into 50 countries, serving over 1.5 million people worldwide .. and today they were at Rotary, Burleigh Heads !
Another exciting hybrid meeting this morning with our Guest Speaker, Mark Sternhagen presenting his amazing story from South Dakota, about living with polio. Great to see our friends Mike Howe and zooming from Casper, Wyoming, from Michigan, Club members from Japan and 
Chris Richardson from Sydney and our always friendly locals who couldn't make it .. Eric, Shobha and Yohann. Thank you to all Zoomers for making the effort to turn up ! We also inducted a new member Lucy Obod who joined our club today. Welcome Lucy !
The guest speaker this morning was Howard Dewhirst, Geologist and Presenter Extraordinare! Usually statistics come up and scare everyone into submission! There was no opportunity for that as the analysis and the presentation was powerful and unexpected from the opening sentence! No reason to fear Climate Change as this has been changing since Day Dot. Aren't we lucky to have a climate in the first place ?! When there is a climate, there will be change .. cyclical and constant. If you missed this talk, it was something to regret, as Howard spoke from a place of authority and experience. Thank you for a fabulous morning where we all learnt something. Breakfast at Rotary, Burleigh Heads continues to surprise and inspire :)
Another beautiful day and another fantastic meet up .. this time for a Breakfast BBQ at the park for the Rotary Club of Burleigh Heads. Thank you to the team of Allan Barnett, Terri Taylor for the menu selection and the set up ably assisted by Charles Kilby. Ron Mullins for helping with the cooking and clean up, Greg Evans for the pack up and thank you also to all the members who showed up today to support this out-of-the-box activity.
Life at the Rotary Club of Burleigh Heads = always fun, interesting and sparks healthy debates every time. Thank you also to the Burleigh Rotaractors, Blake and Catlin, and to guests Howard and Trish who showed up and joined in :)
And last but not the least, our youngest Rotarians-to-be, Alex Barnett and Liam Zirilli. You boys are just a pleasure to have around :)
Visit us anytime, on a Thursday, when we meet at 7am at the Surf Club in Burleigh.
A big THANK YOU from Bonogin Valley RFS to our Club for the donation we made on Australia Day. Glad we could help :)
I just wanted to share with your Rotary members our purchase we have made using the donation we were given on Australia Day
We have a small garden and hedge out the front of our station and would normally use power cords across the driveway plugged into a hedge trimmer. Now we have a battery operated one thanks to Rotary’s kind donation
Thank you so much
Kind regards
Janice Sinclair
First Officer
Bonogin Valley RFB
The images says it all ! Hard work on a hot hot day ! But very satisfying to see resources donated going to the aid to the people of Dili. We had a really awesome team of our club members today. Bren Milson led the charge and Ross Smith, Terri Taylor, Melanie Baxter, Michael Shambrook, Greg Evans and Shobha Srinivasan helped .. in no particular order. It was a productive day and the fellowship is fantastic. We work hard and we laugh .. a lot ! There were some other Rotarians from the Brissie clubs too that we got to interact with .. Special mention Greg Evans who wielded the whipper snipper on the large property but had to stop when the batteries finally ran out .. just in time for morning tea :) Thank goodness for dying batteries !
Our meetings and attendance just gets better and better ! Today we had a fantastic speaker, Stephanie Collins, from the Endeavour Foundation,which is is an independent organisation established in 1951 with a vision to support people with an intellectual disability to live their best life – starting with equal access to education and life-skills learning. The clients who visited us along with the staff from NDVR were a lovely, friendly bunch of people and we hope to continue our association with them,when we help them build a beautiful herb/vege garden in their facility. Thank you Richard Diaz and Graham Jones for coordinating this project,and Cr Pauline Young for the contact with this organisation. We had a few other visitors today as well and it was lovely to welcome fellow Rotarians once again to our club. Please get in touch for more information on today's meeting or speaker.
Special mention and thank you Michael Shambrook for standing at the door to welcome visitors and David Ungar for his stellar work at the front desk and last but not least, Allan Barnett for his AV set up each and every week.
This was a very emotional and moving presentation by Dr Dinesh Palipana, Queensland's Australian of the Year. Despite his huge setbacks in life, now confined to a wheelchair, and having no movement in his fingers, somehow he has managed to become a Medical Doctor with a Law Degree! He now works in the Emergency Department, and is an inspiration to us all. As is his Mum!
The photos say it all ! An absolute ripper of a day at Burleigh Heads Surf Club and our Reflect, Respect and Celebrate Australia Day Lunch was an amazing success, celebrating all things Aussie! We also recognised one young local hero, Noah Connors, the local Rural Fire Brigades, the Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary Volunteers and the CWA with Outstanding Community Service Awards. Thank you to the National Australia Day Council for sponsoring the event as we not only had a lot of fun, but we got to say a huge THANK YOU to our fellow volunteer organisations. Our team of organisers led by Allan Barnett pulled off an amazing event and this made it a memorable day for everyone who attended. Makes us all proud to be in this beautiful country.
Our latest International Project, led by Ross Smith, with many members and friends of our Club,not only donating hundreds of household items,but all getting together on a Sunday afternoon to sort,pack and label,35 boxes to be sent to Fiji to assist the many Fijians that were devastated by the latest Cyclone.
A Vibrant Breakfast Meeting at the Surf Club saw a full house with a guests and new members. Great to see everyone and the energy in the room was positive and uplifting. While facing hard times, this is a good place to come and get the support of member friends. So reach out for the friendship and fellowship of Rotary, Burleigh Heads. Returning member, Morgan, being welcomed back to the fold ! Great to have him back at the club.
What a fantastic meeting for our first one of the year! A hybrid Zoom with many members and guests attending at the Surf Club as well as other members and guests zooming in from NSW, the UK, USA and Japan. Guest Speaker, Nicki Scott, Leader of the Association of Rotary Clubs of Great Britain and Ireland, provided a very interesting presentation from her home fireside at Notgrove, Cheltenham, UK.
Members and guests who turned up made this is a fun, vibrant way to start the day. Welcome back to all our members (some long lost friends) who turned up this morning. A very pleasant surprise start to 2021. A Very Happy New Year to everyone of course. Stay well .. stay safe !
Our final meeting of 2020 with special breakfast food,champagne and our annual Hard Quiz on Rotary and General Knowledge-won by our President John!
We held our annual Christmas Party at Winders Park overlooking the magic Currumbin Creek,with excellent BBQ food and salads,and lot of fun and laughs.
And the winner is ..... our Club! We were very excited to find out this week that our Club was the November winner of the Grill'd Nobby's Beach Local Matters Community Group, and we will receive $300 which will be very useful and be used for local community service projects.
Second last meeting of this year! Our Annual General Meeting that saw the appointment of new Board Members for the coming year. Some of our members are not just with Rotary but also doing a lot of good in the local community at an organisation like OzHarvest. To find out more, get in touch with our club :) Check out our website to see a list of inspirational speakers lined up for next year. There is a lot of good work happening and Rotary Burleigh Heads gives you a glimpse of that at our weekly meetings. We finish for the year soon but will be back early January, to continue the good work. Get in touch with us to get involved or to just attend a meeting or two !
Last Thursday night was a very successful Dinner Meeting and it replaced our usual Breakfast meeting. We had local comedian, Josuha, whose name was misspelt by the doctor who delivered him .. and the jokes kept on coming !
This event sold out and all COVID regulations were followed. Social distancing was observed and the humour throughout the night was kept clean !
Special mention to our members who brought along guests. Thank you all for turning up and supporting us.
A big thank you to Nick, Tina and his team at the club for excellent service with the food and drinks.
Join us for breakfast any Thursday morning and follow us on Facebook (Rotary Burleigh Heads) We have a few more exciting things happening in the next few weeks before we go on a break over Christmas.
Cnr Gold Coast Highway
BURLEIGH HEADS, QLD 4220
Australia