Stories

This mornings Club breakfast meeting, well attended by members and many guests, a very impressive Guest Speaker, Johilene Cooper who spoke as CEO of the Kokoda Youth Foundation, on their activities and achievements with local youth programs. In addition we welcomed another new member to our Club, Blake Lashmar!

 

 

Our Club came to the rescue of Bunnings Burleigh Waters when they had another organisation cancel. So from a call to help at 9.00am, our Service Projects Director Richard Diaz and President Michael Shambrook managed to organise enough troops and food to set up a sausage sizzle by 10.00am! And what a great result, we managed to raise an unexpected $1987 plus a bonus of a $250 Bunnings Gift Card for coming to the rescue!

 

Bunnings BBQs are getting harder to get, as they are in great demand from many local community groups. However they are still a great source of reliable fundraising income for our Club. At this one we managed to make $2276 profit which will be used for our local and international service projects.

 

Our latest Youth Services project was a great success the first day out. We received a District Grant to match our funds to provide fishing rods and equipment to local youth to provide mentoring and guidance from our Club members, not just fishing lessons but life lessons!

 

 

President Michael Shambrook and our International Chair Bren Milsom, flew to Timor Leste to attend the arrival of our shipping container full of educational and  medical equipment most needed in this country. They then toured the country to see where the equipment is going and to determine what else our Club can do for these poor and desperate people.

Our Club has sponsored Finn McGuiness for a 12 month Rotary Youth exchange to Peru, what an exciting place to go for him! We farewelled him at the airport here, and it appears he had a fantastic welcome  by his exchange family in Peru.

Congratulations to 10 local businesses who came together with our Club to award their employees with a "Pride of Work Award" for outstanding achievement and dedication to their job. Well done to our organising team of Charles Kilby, Leon Rebello, Terri Taylor and President Michael Shambrook.

We are very grateful that Villawood Properties has assisted our Club by donating $2500 to assist running our Mobility Scooter Project. We hire out mobility scooters for a nominal fee to those in our local community in need that are unable to afford to buy their own and it has become increasing difficult to run the program due to increasing costs. Thank you to VILLAWOOD PROPERTIES

 

 

At our club meeting today, Club President Mike Shambrook and District Governor Dave Harmon presented a cheque for $25,500 to Chris from McLeod Refuge and Michelle from Hearts of Purple. Two of the three domestic violence agencies who shared the proceeds from our 2023 Charity Duck Race. We also took the opportunity to thank our key sponsors Highgrove Bathrooms, Neumann Family Benevolent fund, Deep Water Bank B&B, JJ Richards and Sons, LMG Create and Splashdown without who's generosity and support we could not have held the event.

 

We are pleased to welcome Kyoko Yamamoto as the latest member of the club.  Kyoko is a Wellbeing Trainer & Consultant living and working on the southern gold coast. Originally from Japan, Kyoko is passionate about supporting the community by enhancing individuals' mental health. 

Our guest speaker Beau Spinks gave us a fascinating presentation on why native bees are essential. Besides pollinating our food and providing companionship and purpose to people, they pollinate the native bushland to provide food for our birds and animals.

 

Another great meeting with Keith Tracey-Patte Chief Executive Officer of Challenge DV whose mission in life is "To End Domestic Violence".

 

Keith provided an update on the programs Challenge DV are running to enable the business community in Southeast Queensland to understand the tell-tale signs of domestic violence and enable staff members to engage and provide meaningful support to those in need.

 

Challenge DV provide an important program delivering preventative education that every business should consider adopting.  You can find out more about Challenge DV at Challenge DV - We're here to end domestic violence | Challenge DV

 

 

 

 

Ken Clark OAM shared the history and practical advice on cardiopulmonary resuscitation techniques and how to use a modern-day defibrillator. Ken has trained over 20,000 people in CPR, just one of the reasons he was awarded an OAM. 

It was a pleasure to meet the forward contingent from the Bay Area  District Governor Gary Chow and PDG Ron Gin.  Ron was kind enough to leave behind an awesome District 5150 shirt, which now takes pride-of-place in my Rotary shirt collection. We are looking forward to meeting the rest of the Bay Area contingent on June 1st.

 

What an amazing way to spend 20 minutes with Jayne and Ross from Quick Results Training providing valuable lessons in how to manage stress: check out the team at  (3) Quick Results Training | Burleigh QLD | Facebook

It was a pleasure to have Maria Leebeek, and Belinda Tessieri  from “Gold Coast Youth Services” address the club and provide us with important insights into the challenges facing homeless youth on the Gold Coast, and most importantly how GCYS are helping address the challenge.

 

Belinda described a crucial tool the team have created to provide digital access to the range of support services available here on the Gold Coast.  We can all help by sharing this great resource, simply scan the QR code below or click on the link and save the page.

 

 

 

Congratulations to the six members of Burleigh Heads Rotary who received McPherson Community Service Awards from the Hon Karen Andrews MP (Michael Cooper, Richard Diaz, Graham Jones, Joanne Kane, Brenley Milsom and David Ungar (in absentia))

Another great meeting with the inspirational story of Jackson Miller's career progression from musician to CEO, Podcaster, and web app developer aptly demonstrating how a modern-day career trajectory can have a non-linear path and still reap great reward.

 

Jackson was recognised internationally for creating a software platform VYBU aimed to boost mental health by reducing loneliness. Check out VYBU here where users will be able to create and listen to supportive voice messages which are recorded by others for them. 

 

 

 

Just returned from camp, Lia and Jannik shared their experiences from the District 9640 Rotary Youth Leadership Awards (RYLA).

 

RYLA is an intensive leadership experience organized by Rotary clubs and districts where participants develop their skills as a leader while having fun and making connections.

Another action-packed meeting this morning with our Club member Karen Julia Waters bringing along her Japanese student exchange group lead by 12-year-old Rin Ito, who is destined for greatness, providing a very inspiring presentation on what we can do to reduce pollution in our oceans!

 

Rin is already a high-achiever having recently been crowned Miss Preteen International and establishing See the Sea.  You can find out more about Rin and how you can help her save our oceans by clicking on the image below.

 

 

A great presentation this morning from author and TEDx  speaker Ante Strika.

 

Ante kept the members completely engaged with a discussion on how food waste is affecting the planet and how simple steps we can take can make a difference. The group was so engaged that Ante has been asked to come back to the club and share more tips from "Primal Move" whose vision is to heal climate change by healing ourselves. Primal Move Course - Free Module (antestrika.com)

 

 

Membership Chair Leon Rebello presenting Ante with a token of our appreciation.

 

Rotary truly connects the world, this morning we had a visit from Adnan Mohsen from Marmaris Rotary

Adnan and club treasurer Allan Barnett exchanging club memorabilia.

 

Member Ken Clark OA offering a vote of thanks to our guest speaker Carol Peach. Carol from Home Instead provided members with guidance on how to navigate the aged care system, and why it is important to help anyone in need understand their entitlements via My Aged Care.

 

Club Membership Chair Leon Rebello inducting three new members into the club.  Welcome Raymond James, Barbara Maxfield and Michael Carr.

 

Thrown into the deep end on his first day as a member of Burleigh Heads Rotary.

 

Rod Kirkland giving a vote of thanks to our inspirational guest speakers Tash Price and Adam Sheppard.

 

Membership Director Leon Rebello introduces Margaret Lesjak our latest member to the club.

 

 

Our last meeting of the year is lots of fun, with a special breakfast,followed by the annual Hard Quiz by Quizmaster, Tommy Geeson.

Many of our Club members attended the Melbourne Cup lunch at the Surf Club, a very enjoyable social event by the looks of it!Thanks to our Membership Director Graham Jones for organising it! 

 

We had our weekly breakfast meeting in Schuster Park this week.This park was created in 1991 by our Club with the land donated by Reg Schuster, a long term active member of our Club. There were lots of positive comments about what a great time was had and having to do this again!There is something about eating outdoors, especially in such a beautiful setting here. 

It was also to celebrate the resoration of our Club signs, as you can see in the photo.

 

Another entertaining and fun meeting today, inducting two new members, Bernie Trafford and Scott Osborne , Club member Allan Barnett providing a presentation on our Club history and our Heritage Listed Classification Pole and a delicious cake to finish off the meeting to celebrate our 66th anniversary.

 

We were given a Bunnings BBQ on the Friday afternoon due to another group cancelling! We managed to pull it all together thanks to a huge effort by Club members Charles Kilby, Shobha, and Allan Barnett along with his son Alex, ready for the Saturday BBQ and we managed to raise $1984! Excellent effort by all the members who had to volunteer at the last minute to fill the Roster.

 

We still continued having our regular weekly breakfast meeting, even in a snap Covid lockdown by having a Zoom meeting with an enthralling presentation by our Club member Karen Waters zooming in from Japan. Karen spoke about Japanese culture, Rotary in Japan, the current Covid situation and the Olympics in Tokyo.An amazing presentation.

Our Club held our Annual Changeover and Awards Dinner last Saturday night.

 

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. 

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. 

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'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 

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. 

 

 

 

 

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. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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 ! 

 

One of our newer members Yohann Azlee presented Member behind the Badge. Of Malaysian descent but born in Austria and lived all over the world as a young boy. He moved to the Gold Coast, to study, at the tender age of 23. He sure landed on his feet when he joined Rotary and the club at Burleigh Heads ! Amazing story and an amazing life. Glad Yohann could share with us this morning. Get in touch with us to come to a breakfast meeting of a very vibrant club that welcomes visitors ! 

 

We were run off our feet today as the sausage sizzle is back after a Covid-19 holiday,and everyone wanted one! A hot day made sure we sold plenty of drinks as well!It was a fantastic effort by all Club members that volunteered especially the newbies, and we managed to make $1928! Great fundraiser!

 

 

 

BUSY BUSY BUSY ! Another lovely day at Burleigh Heads and another awesome meeting of our Club. We had an induction of THREE new members today and Rowan Johnstone from the Rotary Club of Gold Coast did the honours. He was also our Guest Speaker today and shared some wonderful ideas to keep our Club thriving and flourishing. Thank you to all members who make the time to attend and actively take part in Club activities :) You make all the difference!

 

Another well attended social lunch at Grill'd Nobby's Beach mainly for us to get together but also to add out tokens to the jar to try and will Community Group of the month!

 

 

Very interesting meeting today in which Graham Jones, our Membership Director, discussed the results of his membership survey. David Baguley from the Rotary Club of Gold Coast helped Graham to run this meeting. It was a very animated meeting with a lot of members and a few guests attending. We also had two guests who have their application forms for joining our club all filled out ! Very handy on a day when Membership was the focus ! Thank you to all members for their input and suggestions which Graham will collate and present in a few weeks time. Thank you to David B for attending and for all his input to get member feedback. It was a meeting well worth attending and members who didn't make it today were much missed ! 

 

 

Our speaker today was Kerrie Cox from Body Connection. Kerrie gave a great presentation providing several tips on how we can all look after ourselves a little better by listening to what our body is telling us. A snapshot of just some of the tips are to slow down when you eat, be present and aware (when you eat) for a deep impact on your metabolism, choose quality and eat with your body's rhythm.  

Kerrie is also offering free 30 minute consultations if you are interested. Please contact us for more information. 

 

Our Speaker today was Kevin Dando from the Multicultural Communities Council Gold Coast or MCCGC where he works as a multicultural community engagement officer. Kevin talked about his own personal journey and about his life before he moved to Australia. His organisation does some great work in supporting migrants to this country and we heard a bit about the different programs that they run to help immigrants settle into this society. A fantastic talk with much laughter. For more information, get in touch with us or find the MCCGC at https://www.mccgc.com.au/mccgc/

Her presentation covered some keys areas of the challenges and the changes in club membership. Jessie’s first experience of Rotary was as a participant of RYLA in 1987, and she maintains an active interest in Rotary’s youth and leadership programs to this day.  She is keenly interested in membership development, and is co-author of ‘101 strategies for recruiting and retaining members’. A most interesting talk and we hope we continue to get the benefit of Jessie's passion and drive for all things Rotary ! 

Our 65th Anniversary Dinner was a huge success,fantastic attendance of members and many guests, lots of fun with music and  quizzes,excellent food and atmosphere thanks to the Surf Club,Burleigh Heads.

 

Despite having to work through the Covid-19 restrictions period, our shipping container of much needed mediacal and educational equipment and supplies has arrived in Dili,Timor Leste,been unpacked and now being ditributed to the hospital, clinics and schoools that were designated to receive relevent items,including major medical equipment to the Dili Hospital,two Dental Chairs, and many desktop and laptop computers to schools. a very successful projetc finally complete after 8 months of collaboration with other Rotary Clubs,including Dili Rotary Club,our Rotaract Club, other community organisations,and a District Grant.

  

Due to Covid-19 restrictions this was our first fundraiser in 8 months and we are very happy to report that it was a great success,raising almost $2000 that we can now use for our Community Service projects.A fantastic time was had by all the members participating, busy selling sausages and having fun, especially a lot of our new members that were participating for the first time.A great team effort!

Our speaker today was Lola Mashado from Relationships Australia (Queensland). 

Relationships Australia (Queensland) is a leading provider of relationship support services for individuals, families and communities.

Always great to hear our members life story as Guest Speaker at our meetings. Today we had Kathryn Koch , a relatively new member with a really interesting presentation of her career journey and Rotary journey, from a Rotary Youth Exchange Student in South Africa to joining our Club! Now living on the Gold Coast and loving it and joining this club for the fellowship, Goodwill and Service.

 

 

Our Mt Tamborine social and vocational excursion was a real hit for all the members and partners that attended.Seeing nature at its best with a walk around Curtis Falls, then a very interesting tour of Australian Outback Opals thanks to the very welcoming owners,learning all their is to know about opal. This was followed by a fun group lunch and gelato at the businesses right next door to the Opals!It is good to support local business at this time.

Our Speaker this week was GCCC Division 13 Councillor Daphne McDonald. A very interesting insight into the personal and professional life of someone who has represented the Gold Coast City Council in this area for the past 24 years ! What a fantastic achievement. Cr McDonald gave us a lot of information on various local projects like the Light Rail and the Burleigh Heads Business Centre Master Plan. An informative and interesting breakie morning for members and many guests. 

 

 

 

 

 

Our speaker today (via Zoom) was Cameron Bolton, President of the Rotary Club of Tenterfield. He talked briefly of the town of Tenterfield where he grew up and also the challenges now facing the club. Zoom meetings haven't been as popular in their club! He talked about some of their projects, one of which was distribution of potable water to the local families in the times of drought in recent times. They have been able to arrange delivery of water to 17 properties, with 7 more properties being scheduled for delivery. Each water cart sent is servicing 3 properties, providing approximately 6,000L of water per house and just over 900000 litres in total ! Awesome job ! He also talked about the importance of keeping club members engaged in the planning of events and fundraisers, even if only a fraction of the ideas came to fruition in these challenging times. Good tips for us all :) 

Another fantastic catch up with Club members on a glorious winters morning at magic Burleigh Heads. Good to meet Rotary friends every week as the fellowship is awesome. That's what we hear every time .. Members who can't come really do miss it :) So here s a quick wrap up of our meeting today,no Guest Speaker this week but always lots of action. We had Greg Evans presented by President John Clark, with the Spirit of Rotary Perpetual Award, as he was unable to attend our Changeover dinner.In addition another new member was indicted into our Club, welcome Gareth Keenan ,who was introduced to our Club by current District Governor,Andy Rajapakse, also a member of our Club and in attendance for the induction. Also lots of laughs as our Rotary Foundation Director, Ron Mullins did a quiz on Paul Harris Fellows and managed to knock out everyone, so won the bottle of wine himself!

 

 

Building Resilience – Lessons for Life and Business, from a Critical Incident First Responder

 

Our guest speaker, Nick Bell, presented a snapshot from one of one of his experiences as Watch Commander, Operations/Emergency Response in the Northern Territory for 33 years. 

What he learned in the time leading teams of first responders over this time and in particular one instance, tested his resilience to the fullest. 

We all got a great insight into what first responders have to deal in their jobs and how Nick in particular dealt with his challenges too .. 

 

An excellent attendance both ways at our meeting this morning with 15 on site at the Surf Club for breakfast and 16 Zooming in,including our regular guests Janet from Michigan and Jenni from Clithereo UK. Our Guest Speaker,Maggie Twyford also zoomed in with an inspiring presentation on her time as a volunteer at an orphanage in Mexico.

Today we had our first combined meeting.With the easing of Covid-19 restrictions some members attended the Surf Club for the first time in three months to have breakfast together,while others and our friends in the UK and USA Zoomed into the meeting.The technology went perfectly well with everyone being able to chat whether they were in the room or on the screen!

Past President Allan Barnett's Zooming around the world to attend 30 different Clubs, in 14 different countries was featured firstly in the Seniors Newspaper then taken up by the Gold Coast Bulletin, the Mackay newspaper and many other regional newspapers in Queensland.In addition Allan's friend that he met at a Zoom meeting then posted it on the Casper,Wyoming Facebook page. So this story has really spread around the world promoting Rotary and how we use technology to stay in touch and attend our regular meetings and other Clubs meetings,no matter where they are. 

 

We were very privileged to have Federal Minister for Industry,Science and Technology,Hon Karen Andrews, as our Guest Speaker today via Zoom,providing an incite into what it was like being a Federal Minister during the Covid19 crisis and the positive stories of  local businesses expanding with new innovative products to be made in Australia now rather than be imported.

Todays Zoom meeting has been our most international yet,with our Guest Speaker,Jenni Schumann from the Clitheroe Rotary Club,UK  providing a great presentation on her Club and Clitheroe.We also caught up with Luca Mueller, our past Youth Exchange student,zooming in from Germany,as well as regular guest Janet Haas from Michigan,USA, and our Club member Karen Waters from Japan.

This is the Currumbin Community Special School (for special needs children) new playground area! This was a community service project idea first suggested, by Past President Richard Spencer in May 2017! But at a cost of $45,000 we knew it was going to be a difficult task to find the funding for it, yet after three years we finally did it! After many attempts at Grants, and lots of fundraisers,it was finally achieved by funding from our Club,the Currumbin Coolangatta Tweed Rotary Club and a Grant from the Gambling Community Benefit Fund,thanks to our Club member David Ungar,who submitted the application on behalf of the School P & C.

There are four new pieces of equipment- Explorer Net Mount Gingera, Whirly Go Round (for wheel chairs),the Revolving Sand Table and the Bed of Beads,plus all new rubber matting and turf around it.A magnificent achievement for our Club.

Thank you Club member Karen Waters, Zooming in live form Japan to provide us with another great presentation on her business there,her Rotary story and the history of Rotary in Japan,commenced by Sir Umekishi Yoneyama,known as the father of Rotary in Japan.

One advantage of our Zoom meetings is that we can have Guest speakers from anywhere in the world, just drop in live!Last week we had Jenny Stotts,District Membership Chair 6690,and member of the Athens Sunrise Club,Ohio,USA. And today our Guest Speaker was Michael Howe, a member of the Casper,Wyoming rotary Club who gave an excellent presentation on Casper,the State of Wyoming and his Clubs activities.

 

At our Zoom meeting today,we had the pleasure of inducting our very first member virtually via Zoom,welcome  Kathryn Koch! we managed to arrange to get her badge and welcome kit delivered to her and then Club Membership Director, Jacqueline Plaice,conducted the induction over Zoom. Her husband and 19 year old cat were with her at home!

 

Due to the world wide Covid-19 situation , Rotary Clubs around the world have embraced technology and many are meeting via Zoom.This has now provided Rotarians everywhere the opportunity to attend Club meetings anywhere at any time,and our Club member Allan Barnett has managed to attend 15 Rotary Club meetings in a week,in the UK,Canada,USA,India,Mexico and the Cayman Islands! Club members Shobha Srinivasan and Ross Smith have also attended some meetings.

After a little absence due to the current Covid-19 lockdown and social distancing we have finally met again with our first regular Club meeting via Zoom.We welcomed a visitor,Gary Hopkinson dropping in from New Zealand,and it was great to see our Club member,Karen Waters,attending from Japan! All went well and we had a very similar format of our normal on site meetings,including Heads and Tails,and the National Anthem!

It was touch and go if this event would go ahead under the current situation with Covid-19 social distancing! However it did,with changed rules, and no contact or group get together. Our Club members Greg Evans, and Allan Barnett along with his son Alex were the sole surviving participants from our Club to do it,as our other team members,our Rotaract club and Interact Club decided to withdraw.We still had a lot of fun and won a random prize draw!

We had a very good attendance this week to see an interesting presentation,complete with a mini stall of Lao handcrafts for sale, by Charlie Nicholls who runs a simple resort called Lao Lake House in Laos as well as being very involved in helping the locals improve their incomes and lives.

  

A huge variety of food,drinks,music,atmosphere and good company with a great turnout of members for our Leap Year Party, only once every four years! at Miami Marketta for dinner!And good promotion of our Club with the little sign for our exclusive area!

 

 

Our Club member Andy Rajapakse is the incoming District Governor for 2020-2021,commencing 1st July, and it was a very interesting meeting as he gave us an update on what will be happening in our District and with Rotary International in his year and going forward as we enjoyed lots of fresh air,sunshine and a magic view of the beach with this meeting out on the balcony, as our usual room is being renovated.Current Division 12 Councillor Pauline Young,a great supporter of our Club attended as well, and enjoyed the atmosphere.

Our well spoken member Ross Smith provided a great history lesson as Guest Speaker today,on his special interest subject-US Architect Frank Lloyd Wright,a most fascinating person, with an amazing record of beautiful,and unusual buildings that he designed and had built for clients from the early 1900's until the 1950s that still stand today.

Congratulations to our Rotary Exchange student,Emily Campbell who has just returned from a year away in Italy and gave us a very professional and interesting presentation on  her "Rotary families" that she lived with her and her year in Italy.

 

 

Congratulations to our Burleigh Heads Rotaract Club for hosting a very successful Australian Rotaract Conference this weekend and the Dinner on Saturday night where they won the Award for Most Outstanding Event with Interaction 2020, put on recently by this Club to create more interest in creating Interact Clubs!

Our Club members Ross Smith,John Campbell,Charles Kilby,Bren Milsom and his wife Sue attended the dinner.

We welcome our latest member Yohann Azlee to our Club being inducted at this mornings meeting then going on to be Guest Speaker with Jamie Preston as they are both volunteer Board members of Gold Coast Project for Homeless Youth-a charity doing great things to help the homeless on the Gold Coast.This is what can happen-Yohann  visited our Club a couple of months ago and was asked if he would like to be a Guest Speaker then,and because he was so impressed with our meetings and what we do he decided to join!

Club members Bren Milsom,Ross Smith,Greg Evans and Shamus Davies attended the Donations in Kind depot in Brisbane today to commence packing our shipping container that will be going to Timor Leste very soon. Full of much needed hospital,educational and general equipment to be distributed where it will be most needed in Timor.

Today we welcomed Karen Waters,as our latest member.Karen lives in Japan and Australia,with an international business in Japan and family here in Australia and she was keen to join a Rotary Club,so unable to do so in Japan,she was welcomed to our Club via Club member and Incoming District Governor, Andy Rajapkse. 

 

It was a well attended, fun outing for all our members and guests,to Grandad Jacks Distillery in Miami on Sunday afternoon. A private tour of the distillery and history,then many tastings of different gins and vodka,followed by gin and tonics and gin cocktails,was quite welcome and refreshing on a hot day!We will have to do this more often!

At our last meeting we also had another entertaining Guest Speaker, Kelly Malloy from LIVIN, a very comprehensive mental health support group based in Burleigh Heads.They provide information,presentations and programs for schools,community organisations and businesses to assist with looking out for the signs,and an overview of all the places that people with mental health problems can get support.

Emily Campbell, daughter of Club member John Campbell finally returned from Italy this week after one year as our sponsored Rotary Youth Exchange student and came to our meeting yesterday morning to thank all of us for our support. Emily will provide a complete presentation on her exciting year away as our Guest Speaker very soon. John,being a Rotary Youth exchange student to Denmark in his youth came dressed in his YE jacket and Emily came in hers,not sure which one was the heaviest! 

Rotary Clubs across Australia are working hard to provide relief and assistance during these horrific bushfires.

It's easy to feel that there's not much we, as individuals, can do to help.

But every dollar that can be put toward helping others can help in significant ways.

Rotary Australia World Community Service (RAWCS) Bushfire appeals is taking donations and the funds raised will go directly where they're needed most.

You can donate here https://rawcs.org.au/disasters/

Donations to RAWCS are Tax Deductible and funds will be utilised in the Community by Rotary Clubs where needed.

A random act of kindness at Christmas time- our Club members pitched in to buy a playset for a needy family and three of our members,Charles Kilby,Greg Evans and  Richard Diaz gave up some time on Christmas Eve to erect it and surprise the children on Christmas Day!

Our last meeting for the year was all fun, with an excellent two course "Christmas" breakfast provided by the Surf Club, Turkey Benedict and Dessert,followed by a Hard Quiz with host Allan Barnett,and lots of prizes for everyone to celebrate Christmas! President Colleen also arranged a quick whip around from our Club members so that we could buy some play equipment for a family at the Sanctuary Retreat Womens Refuge,run by Club member Simone.

What an excellent vocational visit and fundraiser all in one today- when we had our regular breakfast meeting at the Westpac Rescue Helicopter Centre at Carrara.A big turn out of members as well as family and friends to have a delicious BBQ breakfast provided by the staff there- we paid for the breakfast and a donation on top to provide a donation on the day of $500 to SLS Queensland. Interesting talk by staff after breakfast on how the helicopter rescue centre works as well as Polair 1-the Queensland Police helicopter that is also maintained and run from this centre. Many thanks to Club member Ken Clarke,who organised this visit. 

Our Bunnings BBQ last Saturday, was a tremendous result, as we raised $2300 that we can now use for our local community and international projects.This was very close to our previous record for a Bunnings BBQ! Hard work for all those that volunteered from our Club as well as friends,as it was very busy all day-running out of sausages,bread and onions, and having to replenish! But well worth the effort.

This week Club members Allan Barnett and Charles Kilby erected two new signs for our Club on the Gold Coast Highway,north and south of Burleigh Heads,giving us great exposure with the major traffic flow on this road.However it was a great surprise to see even more exposure with our Facebook post of this event- this post reached over 4100 people with 750 engagements in the first 24 hours!

This week we sent a cheque for $1602 to Rotary International to go towards the End Polio campaign which has almost eliminated polio from the entire world! This donation was from individual club members;as $5 from our breakfast fees, is a donation to Rotary International per member from each meeting going towards this important cause.

Our Rotaract Club of Burleigh heads does an amazing job to present Interaction 2020 at Marymount College, a conference to enourage more High Schools and High School students to join Interact and be part of the Rotary family,doing good in the world. Our Club sponsors the Interact Clubs of Marymount College and Miami High School who attended the event. Great fun for all with breakfast BBQ and pizza for lunch provided,on top of very informative Guest Speakers.

It was great to welcome the Hon Karen Andrews, Minister for Industry,Science and Technology,local member for Mcpherson and a great supporter of our Club,with a presentation on her portfolio of space technology,the space sector and what it can do for the future of all industries.A 12 billion  dollar industry that employs 10,000 people with a leading rocket launching business based here on the Gold Coast.

Todays meeting was all about World Polio Day,and Guest Speakers were Club member John Campbell and his father Graham Campbell who caught Polio when he was very young.Graham gave a moving and personal account of what it was like to have Polio and the repercussions over his lifetime.In addition Ross Smith,our Rotary Foundation Director,provided the background of this disease and what Rotary International in partnership with the  Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has done about it-almost elimanting Polio throughout the world!

Our Hat Day meeting was another success,lots of colourful hats,lots of fun and raising funds to donate to the Australian Rotary Health Mental Health Research project.As well, one of our Club members, Jennie Coleborne providing a very interesting presentation on her South America trip,with lots of colourful photos!

#daysforgirlsgoldcoast thankyou to #burleighheadsrotary for contributing 55 pairs of nickers to the Days for Girls project.
With Simone Kerwick’s contribution we gave a total of 72! Great work team!
The Days for Girls project helps young girls get to school during their menstrual cycle in under privileged countries with the use of the packs supplied by this project.

 

It was actually on this day in October 1955 that our Club was chartered,so we celebrated with a champagne and orange juice buffet breakfast and  very tasty birthday cake.The Guest Speaker was a very entertaining Andy Bell, with his very amusing and intriguing tales of being an under cover cop in New Zealand in the 70's trying to bust the drug trade.A great story.

 

Last night many of our Club members attended the exclusive preview of Ride Like a Girl,the movie about jockey Michelle Payne ,the first female jockey to win a Melbourne Cup,and it was a great night that raised around $1000 which will go directly to the End Polio Now fund run by Rotary International that aims to eradicate polio on the world. 

Our Guest speaker today was Gavin Topp with a very amusing yet motivating presentation.Gavin was an Australian Title holder boxer, ranked 12th in the world when he retired and now runs Fight Like a Pro, where he helps boys and men struggling with mental health issues and a positive pathway in life, through his boxing format.His motto-you need a mentor,you need mates on the same page,you need each other with similar values to help one another.

Rotary is serious about promoting our story to the public and what better way than a full page in the latest september 2019 issue of the in flight Jetstar magazine.After all it is a little boring sometimes waiting to get to another destination and that free reading sometimes helps.Hopefully we will get more members at our Club from it!

Our Guest Speaker today was Jacob Kay and it was informing to hear about various types of vaccinations and why they work and why we should have them.Rotary is at the forefront of vaccinating people in many thiri world countries particularly now with the End Polio Now campaign whic is expected to eliminate polio in the entire world within a couple of years! Then hopefully wth research being done at Griffith University here on the Gold Coast,supported by a lot of Rotary money,a vaccine will be finally created for eliminating malaria in the world.

Another fantastic meeting-our last for the winter,with another magic sunrise and another very interesting speaker-GCCC Division 12 Councillor Pauline Young,providing a very informative update on what is happening in our local area with parks,new developments,the lightrail extension and other community matters.

After our well attended Club breakfast meeting,on a magnificent morning,local State MP and Rotarian,Michael Hart , flagged off five Rotarians in customised Rotary People of Action kit, to expand our brand awareness and attract bicycle enthusiasts to Rotary. The bicycle team members represent four of the largest Clubs on the Gold Coast, Rowan Johnstone,President Gold Coast Club,PDG Ross Smith,Burleigh Heads Club,Mark Twyford and Neil Thurlow of Surfers Sunrise

and Wayne Kirby,President of Hope Island Club.

We invite bicycle enthusiasts to join these People of Action at www.rotary9640.org.

Our local State Member for Burleigh and an Honorary member of our Club,Michael Hart was our Guest Speaker today,in front of a fantastic turnout of members and many guests.A very informative presentation providing us with the latest news on current local topics; the proposed light rail extension to Burleigh Heads,and the possible redevelopment of the old Burleigh Theatre building.On a truly magnificent winter morning at beautiful Burleigh Heads beach.

Our latest Bunnings Burleigh Waters BBQ was a great result for our first fundraiser of the year, with happy members having fun and happy cusomers as well, while we managed to raise $1970 whcih we can use for our local community and international service projects.

THANK YOU TO OUR GUEST SPEAKERS LAST WEEK - Jane Beasley and Lisa Stephens from ACT FOR KIDS. Their not for profit organisation does a tremendous job treating and preventing abused and neglected children. They need our support to keep up their good work. Visit www.actforkids.com.au to help if you can.

 

BURLEIGH HEADS ROTARY... new year, new President - planning the next 12 months!

Our Club member Bren Milsom works tirelessly to help the poor in Timor,through our Club and the also the local Catholic Parish.He held a music night fundraiser for the parish,but needed a little more for his latest Timor project,to sponsor a young schoolteacher from Timor to attend the local Marymount College for valuable teacher training experience she can use in Timor.He was a little short with funds,so our Club decided to help him out with a $1000 donation to make this project possible.

We have just made a donation of $1095 to a registered RAWCs Rotary project in Vietnam. This will be used to sponsor a child at an orphanage in Vietnem,for three years with all educational requirements to attend school  and hopefully lead a normal life in the future.It is being done through Global Hands.

Our Guest Speakers today were members Ross Smith and Bren Milson and his wife Sue who are both very passionate about helping our closest neighbours, and one of the poorest countries in the world,Timor Leste.This was a very moving presentation on their recent trip,firstly to assist unload the shipping container at Dili,that our Club sent over there through DIK/RAWC,then travelling around the countryside to see first hand where all these sought after educational and medical supplies were to be used. Ross presented Club President Allan Barnett with a traditional Tais,a simple hand made woven cloth.

Two very large banners went up on the outside of the Burleigh Heads Surf Club today,giving us great exposure to the thousands that walk past each day,as well as a banner at Miami High facing Gold Coast Highway.Fantastic promotion and publicity for our latest fundraising event,Seascape,as well as our Club and Rotary.

It was a fun day,happy customers and a great result, as we managed to make $1919 at todays Bunnings Burleigh Waters BBQ fundraiser!

In partnership with the Gold Coast Rotary Club,we held the Rotary Gala Ball-Diamonds are Forever and what a success it was.Everyone having a fantastic time, great DJ,music, food and drinks all night,the $7500 diamond ring raffle went off, the donated items in the silent auction went for a total of nearly $19,000, magic balloons were sold  and a live auction raised another couple of thousand dollars. Figures will be in soon on how much we made but it looks good! 

 

We received our new Club shirts today and they look great! especially on the deck of our wonderful meeting venue,the Burleigh Heads Surf Club.Why not join us for breakfast!

One of our hardest working members,Brenley Milsom was awarded with a McPherson Community Achievers award today by the Hon Karen Andrews,Federal Member for McPherson and Minister for Science,Innovation and Technology in recognition for not only all the time and effort that he puts into our Club with Donations In Kind, and regular container packing to Timor Leste, BBQ's and other fundraising events we hold, but Bren is also an active member of the local Catholic Parish and other community organisations.He never stops. Last year another very active member,David Ungar was given the same award.

 

This major project would not have been successful if not for Rotary donations! Rotary Clubs of Australia, particulary our District 9640 have contributed $540,000 to this project and 80% of that has come from Clubs in our District including a $1000 donation from our Club.in addition Rotarians, have convinced the Federal Government to contribute $500,00 to this project. This could be a major world wide breakthrough if the research team at our Gold Coast Griffith University, can develop this malaria vaccine, as 435,000 people world wide die from malaria each year and many of those are children under five. Most recently it has also given huge publicity to Rotary in Australia, being on all television staions news bulletins and ABC radio several times.

This week our RI Director, Ross Smith gave us all an update as to where they are at with research and funding and it continues to be extremely positive.

At today's meeting we had Mady Hall and Danielle Moffitfrom our Miami Interact Club as Guest Speakers to provide us with their thoughts on the the RYTS camp that they attended last December,another of our Rotary Youth programs that we sponsor. We also had many Rotaractors attend as it was World Rotaract Week and here are our three Presidents at the one meeting!: our Rotary Club President Allan Barnett,Rotaract Club President Caitlin O'Connor and Miami Interact Club President Mady Hall.

 

A real feel good story from two inspired Rotarians,Sharon and Peter Crean who have set up Beyond Water, to assist the very poor in East Africa. we heard of the wonderful work they do providing water and sanitation facilities to extremely remote communities;water tanks and guttering,hygiene clinics,new toilet blocks,water solutions. We also had our very own African trinkets market stall,they set up at our meeting to buy things to support their project!

At today's meeting we heard from Ross Smith,our Rotary International Director, of his numerous experiences on overseas trips to provide aid projects to third world countries in the Pacific and Africa, in particular ,Fiji where Ross has been involved in many projects.So he was resplendant in a sulu and flowery fiji shirt with coconut shell buttons!In addtion we had a guest,Geoff Lloyd from Oshawa Rotary Club in Canada, and other's spoke of seeing Rotary around the world involved in many aid projects.

President Allan Barnett and our Rotary International Director, and former High School Principal Ross Smith attended the Merrimac State School Junior Parade this week to present to the school a set of 24, Suzie the Scientist and a set of 24, Millie the Mathematician Early Reader books for the school library.These books,developed by Professor Richard John of the Griffith Unversity are designed to no only teach the chldren to read, but also develop their skills in Science and Mathematics, very important for their future! 

To help with our fundraising causes, we have a "Donation Point"- this enables anyone to donate $5 in five seconds by Tap and Go technology! It is currently at Chempro Pharmacy at Stockland, Burleigh Waters, the one outside facing the carpark and all donations from it will now be sent to the Rotary North Queensland Flood Appeal. We posted this on Facebook last week and it went viral- reaching 3200 people in 4 days and 530 engagements, a great result to get the word out there about helping North Queenslanders. if you wish to donate right now there is a Link on this page.

 

It is fantastic to see the Youth project commitment from our Club with seven of our members travelling down to Tyalgum,NSW for the RYLA dinner to support Blake Foster from our Rotaract club, who we sponsored,as well as all the other RYLA participants. What is RYLA- Rotary Youth Leadership Awards, a premier youth leadership development program for 19-28 year olds, involving a week long camp designed to promote proactivity and personal and professional development through a range of inspirational speakers, teambuilding exercises and leadership training.

 

 

 

 

What an amazing effort - on a Saturday morning we had seven of our members and also seven from our Rotaract Club at the new Donations In Kind (DIK) depot at Brisbane, a Rotary Australia World Community Service (RAWCS) activity.

At this depot, many volunteers from most Clubs in the District accept,collect and take to this depot all useful goods that can be used in third world countries. This time we manged to pack a shipping container to Honiara and start filling our container to Timore Leste with hospital beds, students desks and chairs and other goods. Thanks to Bren,Ross,Ron,Shobha,Jac,David and Allan from our Club and Harrison,Caitlin,Michael,allyson,Vishnu,Tim and Tenaya form our Rotaract Club

Our Guest Speaker today was relatively new member John Campbell, and what a great presentation he gave about his very long term connection with the Rotary Youth Exchange Program, being  invited to be a Youth Exchange student in 1992 by Mermaid Beach Rotary Club, going to Denmark for a year of excitement and amazing adventures,  not just in Denmark but all of Europe. When he returned home he then gave back to Rotary by first joining Surfers Paradise West Rotary Club, then eventually being involved in running the Youth Exchange Program for the District and also RYPEN, RYTS and RYLA, other very worthwhile youth programs of Rotary. He has now joined our Club last year and amazingly his daughter Emily is now a Youth Exchange Student, and sponsored by our Club, she left last week fo a year long adventure in Italy! 

 

Yes another on call, Bunnings BBQ at Burleigh Waters store, on the same day as our breakfast meeting. We just managed to get enough members to volunteer along with friends and relatives considerate enought to help out for a worthy cause, raising around $700 this time.

 

Club member Andy Rajapakse, who is District Governor Nominee, gave a very interesting presentation on what will happen when our District 9640 merges with our other two closest Districts to form a new District 9620 on the 1st July 2021. This new District will have 170 Clubs and 3500 Rotarians! But we will still be People of Action!

 

Afer a welcome Christmas break we had our first breakfast meeting today and it was another busy, interesting one , with the induction of another NEW member, Greg Evans, friend of Secretary Charles Kilby, a great presentation by Emily Campbell, our sponsored Youth Exchange Student, who is going to Italy for 12 months, and daughter of Club member, John Campbell, and also a presentation of a PHF to Madison Birtchnell, sister of member Taylor Birtchnell.

Even though we were on our Christmas break, we were given a Bunnings BBQ to do on Sunday 6th January! Unfortunately we did not raise as much as we normally do, as many others were on holidays too! But still managed to make $1400 for our effort!

President Allan Barnett, decided to conduct a survey of members at our Open Forum meeting last week and this resulted in some very positive suggestions for new fundraising ideas and new Community Service projects, which we intend to impliment in 2019. Another great year for our Club and everyone is looking forward to 2019.

 

We are on standby at Bunnings Burleigh Waters, which means we can get only a few days notice to do a Barby! Thanks to Past President, Richard Spencer and Project Service Director, Shamus Davies, they have it all in hand and ready to go. Another $1000 raised to our funds.

 

 

 

All our Club members take tickets to sell in this competition, but having some leftover, President Allan Barnett, and Secretary Charles Kilby, took time out to sell the remaining tickets on Melbourne Cup Day, many thanks to the Burleigh Heads Surf Club. This made it a great success and we managed to raise $2340! which will go towards local community projects that we undertake.

 

Many of our Club members attended the Charter Dinner of a new Club for our District, Varsity Lakes Club on 26th October. They had 20 new member inducted as Rotarians on the night and our member, Andy Rajapakse was a special guest, being a driving force to create this new Club.

 

We have our hat day breakfast meeting each year in October to align with Mental Health Week and rasie funds to donate to Australian Rotary Health who use it for Mental health Research, a very worth while cause.

 

This week we celebrated our 63rd Birthday since being Chartered by Southport Club on the 3rd October, 1955.So we have been around a while now doing good things in our community for a very long time.

 

How do we fit it all in an hour? Sometimes it's difficult but always very entertaining, so why not come a long to see for yourself?This week we had a visit from GCCC Division 12 Councillor Pauline Young, giving us the latest on the light rail expansion to Burleigh Heads, President of the Rotary Club of Villa Real, Buenos Aires, Argentina, looking for our assistance as a Global Grant partner Club for a project they are doing and also another visit by Jack Porter, Rotarian from New Zealand.These two Rotarians were both presented with the first of our new Club banners!

last but not least, far from it, we had our very own Ken Clark who always puts on a good show as Guest Speaker, this time on " the dangerous creaures of Australia" and we have got plenty!

 

 

 

A great night was had by all with current President Richard Spencer, handing over the chains to incoming President Allan Barnett. Good food, wine and company with Chief Guest Past District Governor Michael Irving, and Guest of Honour Hon Karen Andrews MP, Federal Member for McPherson. A highlight of the night is the announcement of our Club awards: Spirit of Rotary Award: Andy Rajapakse, 4 Way Test: Allan Barnett, Community Service: David Ungar, Rotarian of the Year: Bren Milson, Doug Mendoza Shield: John Clark. In addition, Years of Service Recognitions: Catherine Pevy Trewartha: 10 years, Ken Clark: 25 years, Andy Rajapakse: 30 years, Bren Milsom: 35 years, Russell Thomson: 45 years. Oher trophies handed out were to Luca Mueller, our Youth Exchange Student, and Steven Coffey, Rotaract Award. and finally a framed letter from Rotary International President Ian Riseley to Russell Thomson for 47 years of service to Rotary!

 

Many of our members had a memorable night at our Gala event last weekend, raising money for our special project for the new Rotary year- Currumbin Community Special School. Lots of fun on the night with great food, music and silent auction at the Convention Centre.

At this weeks meeting we celebrated The Rotary Foundation and Paul Harris Fellows, with current Rotary International Chair, Andy Rajapakse, and incoming RI Chair, Ross Smith as our guest speakers, on The Rotary Foundation and Rotary's Founder, Paul Harris. One of our members Colleen Gauder, was then presented with her Paul Harris Fellow.

 

 

 

We showed that we are People of Action on this fine Saturday morning, when our Club members managed to fill a large shipping container full of goods in around two hours! we packed in hospital beds, mattresses, medical equipment, wheelchairs, hospital linen etc. This shipping container will be going to Ghana in a few weeks where these goods will be welcome in the needy communities in that country.

 

 

One of our most loyal and hardworking members, David Ungar, has been awarded a McPherson Community Achiever Award presented by the Hon Karen Andrews MP, Federal Member for McPherson. David is our project officer for our Mobility Scooter Project, an outstanding and expanding success with over 50 scooters now out in the community, provided by our Club for the nominal fee of $1 per year to those needy people that require one to simply get around but cannot afford to buy one. David spends many hours each month attending to support and maintenance requirements of this scooter fleet.

 

Would you call this a double banger? Two sausage sizzles in one week at Bunnings Burleigh Waters and with a great team effort we managed to raise $4948 which we will be able to now use for worthy causes in our local community. The first BBQ was on Easter Saturday and we easily broke our Bunnings BBQ record! And President Richard received a nice sausage with candles for his birthday!

As a joint effort with the Rotary Club of Gold Coast, our Club is hosting a Masquerade Gala Ball at the Convention Centre on 9th June. 7.00pm to 12.00am. This will be an exciting and entertaining night with music, dancing, live and silent auctions. Costs from $170 per ticket include a 3 course dinner and 5 hour drinks package and all proceeds will go to worthy charities. Our Club will use the finds raised for our Currumbin Community Special School new playground project! To book : trybooking.com/361016. or for more information, contact our Club.

This week we did not have a Guest Speaker as such but we always have an interesting meeting ! Instead we had a couple of videos on the big screen - a very informative " Understanding Different Generations" by Amanda Wendt who presented this at the Rotary International District Governors Convention, 2017.  Very interesting facts on how millennials think, followed by a bit of humour on the other side of millennials! Whether you are a millennial or a baby boomer or anywhere in between, you are most welcome at our Club- we already have a vast range of ages as members.

It was a busy meeting this week with the induction of another new  young member, Renee Tocco by DG Darrell Brown. Darrell also had the pleasure of presenting Sam Fairless with a Paul Harris Fellow and also Sam and our Membership Director, Colleen Gauder as members of the Paul Harris Society. 

Followed up by our Guest Speaker Anders Stahl from Malmo South Rotary Club, who will be partnering our Club in a Global Grant for the Currumbin Community Special School. A very humorous presentation from Anders on Sweden, being a Swede and a Swedish Rotarian!

This was a very popular topic for our members and guests this week - most of us at some time in our lives have had to deal with family law and it is a serious issue. A very informative presentation from Matteo Salerno and Chanel Manton from Salerno Law.

 

Our guest speaker this week was Nicky Belous, Principal of Currumbin Community Special School, invited by Andy Rajapakse, Club Rotary Foundation Director to explain to our members the operations  and particular needs of this special school. Our Club intends to apply for Rotary Global Grants fro a $40,000 new playground project which will be an amazing benefit to all the special needs children at this school.

These ladies received an early Christmas present from our Club! Two more new mobility scooters were added to our fleet of over 50 now! Our hardworking Mobility Scooter Project Officer, David Ungar arranged the handover just before Christmas. They will pay only $1 per year to "rent" them from our Club.

 

A lot of sausage sizzling again at Bunnings Burleigh Waters to create a new record of $2242 funds raised for our Club for a Bunning's BBQ! The last two Bunnings BBQ's in the past month will almost be enough to match the $5000 Grant from Karen Andrews to purchase four new mobility scooters for our Mobility Scooter project. We are on a roll!

 

Our Club was successful in receiving a $5000 Grant through the Federal Government Stronger Communities Grants Scheme aand this was presented to our Club by Hon. Karen Andrews. Many thanks to Karen and her staff for the support for our Club. With another $5000 from our Club we will be able to buy another four new Mobility Scooters for thoe in need in the community.

Our regular breakfast meeting with 11 welcome guest including our Rotaract & Interact members, a Rotarian Nora from Ireland, prospective new members and our Guest Speaker Tony Heading with a very interesting presentation The Rotary Foundation. We also presented our member AG Karen Thomas with $1000 for winning the Melbourne Cup Trifecta Competition! 

Another very successful BBQ at Bunnings Burleigh  Waters where we went through around 1100 sausages and 60 loaves of bread to raise $2228!

 

Another enlightening story from guest speakers Cathy Booth and Patrick Kea from Umoja Orphanage, Kenya. An amazing story of of the building of an orphanage in Kenya, now being occupied by 12 orphans and self sustaining with crops, goats,sheep,cows and chickens!

 

Our Club recognised the substantial contribution to our Mobility Scooter Project from Ian and Anne Watt of Elite Scooters by awarding Anne with a Paul Harris Fellow. They have serviced our Scooters at no cost for 5 years.

Instead of our usual meeting we had a joint breakfast meeting with Griffith University Satellite Club followed by a very enlightening tour of the Glycomics Institute which is conducting trials on a new Malaria Vaccine supported by a $500,000 fund set up by our Rotary district.

In September three of our members, Ross Smith, Trevor Taylor and Viviane Mueller went to Kimbe in PNG to undertake a Project for our Club, installing a new village water supply with tanks, pump and piping to provide water to the village and nearby kindergarten. This project was funded by our Club, the Currumbin Coolangatta Tweed Club as well as District Grants. 

Welcome to the Rotary year 2017/18 with President Richard Spencer taking the reins from the now Immediate Past President Catherine Pevy-Trewartha.

Our full financial report and lots of photos will be available shortly.  Here's to another wonderful year at Burleigh Heads.

For the fourth year in a row our club has won awards for Rotaract and Interact Involvement plus our End Polio Now black tie dinner won the Public Relations Single Event Award.  Congratulations to President Catherine and the team.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

6 District Awards wins with the presentation of award certificates

 

 

 

We're a progressive, yet relaxed and friendly, group of men and women from all walks of life who work hard to do good things both in our community and beyond. We also have a lot of fun.

Rotary International and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation have a fundraising partnership that will generate up to US$525 million for polio eradication as the global effort to end this disease enters its critical end-game phase.

Today, only 2 countries (Afghanistan and Pakistan) remain polio-endemic, down from more than 125 countries in 1988. As long as a single child remains infected, children in all countries are at risk of contracting polio.

We really are that close to eradicating this crippling disease.

Hear Bill Gates talking about the work being done to rid the world of this crippling disease...and how close we are.

 

 

If you would like to contact us about joining our Club or being a guest speaker, please email us at: BurleighHeadsRotary@gmail.com.  We also welcome visiting Rotarians.

 

We meet for breakfast at 6.45am for a 7am meeting. We are always finished our meeting by 8am.

 

We'd love to hear from you.