Last Wednesday we had our Changeover Breakfast at Edgewater Dining on Isle of Capri. It had to be moved from the originally intended Luncheon at Hope Island, as COVID restrictions meant that they would not have been able to accommodate our numbers until late August. And it was good! As they did last year, Edgewater Dining came up with a yummy breakfast, plate served. Here are the major points:After MC Andy Bell's welcome, Secretary Mitch Brown proposed a toast to Rotary International. "Our" resident Past District Governor Darrell Brown responded, highlighting (now Past) District Governor Andy Rajapakse's major goal of increasing the membership from 1210 at the beginning of the year to a "moonshot" total of 1400. Impossible! they said. Well, that number was indeed achieved, but as is not unusual, at the end of the year, numbers slightly dropped to an excellent 1376. District 9640 can now boast of having the largest membership in our Zone.
(Now Past) President Charles Thomasson outlined a summary of the past 12 months' major highlights: The continued re-organisation of the Project Shed, the Italian Long Lunchand the Golf Day major fundraisers, the induction of new members. Our commitment to the X-Ray Unit for Vanuatu project, the new websites for the Wheelchair Trust and the Vanuatu projects. He foreshadowed that another Lutzy Award presentation coming up on 4th August.
Charles then moved on to present special recognitions:
A Paul Harris Fellowship to Neil Thurlow and to your humble Bulletin Editor "for services to the club", and particularly important and well deserved, to Kristen 'KJ' Jewson and Matt Hayward, two of our regular Rotaractors who absolved a massive workload to establish the new websites. Mario Fairlie briefly elaborated on the Vanuatu project and highlighted the benefits we'll get from the new website due to free Google Advertising.
Charles then proceeded to present the major Awards for the previous year:
- The Doug Waller Trophy went to Mario Fairlie in recognition of the huge effort he put into the Vanuatu project, applying for District and Rotary Foundation grants, coordinating the new website and the procurement of materials, just to name a few.
- The Quiet Achiever Award was given to Angus Miller, best known for his continued organisation of the many fundraising (and other) Bar-be-ques
- Johnny Bueti holds this year's Fellowship Cup in recognition of the mammoth success of his Italian Long Lunch fundraiser, and
Neil Thurlow was declared the winner of the Rotarian of the Year Trophy (photo right). Note, this award is decided by a silent ballot of the members. Neil has, over the past two decades, provided countless "freebie" printing jobs, not just for our club, but for the entire district. Well deserved Neil!
Following Paul Seymour being bestowed with the President's Collar, he briefly outlined his goals for the coming year. While membership growth and retention will remain a major objective ("we are looking for quality, rather than quantity"), we'll continue in much of the same, successful way we have done over the past year. Paul will present a detailed program at the meeting of 18th August.
You can access a Photo Album of the Changeover Breakfast, as well as a PDF of the Changeover Report which contains the President's and Director's reports and lots of photos and summaries of the past 12 months, as well as a Summary of Speakers. See Home Page on the right under Download Files and Photo Albums respectively. There are some printed copies of the Changeover Report still available.