I feel this week we are like a family when some of its key members are away -we have several of our most colourful members absent on business or vacation at the moment - Andy, Mario, Geoff, Gerald, Paul, Fred to name but a few-we have missed your faces and hope you are all well.
I was about to say there’s not much to report this week - but that's not true. Its just that in our club, everyone gets about their business without any fuss and what for others, might be remarkable, for us is business as usual. We need to be sure we recognise and celebrate our efforts. In this week, for example, we had Mark at the Future Leaders Seminar in Hobart, bringing back some great ideas on how to develop the Club. Simon has been working on some refreshed designs so we can have a couple of new pull up banners, as well as looking after RYTS for the District, Gerald is working on Foundation and our polio collection, Des has found a seat for our Trishaw for the Aged project, Peter has taken on our Insurance claims for theft of our assets, Darrell has been working on Gary Baildon for new signage and a coin collection installation in the heart of Surfers, Ray and Franz have been working on reciprocal opportunities for our Club with the Surf Club .. Neil printed some signage for the Business Expo last week , our wheelchair and bicycle activities…and … and…..
Great little casual breakfast also last week- what a spot Bumbles is!
It will be great to hear from Julius this week- we are grateful for him standing in at the last minute and he was very entertaining last time so looking forward to hearing from him. Im also going to have a chat with the Club about the “logo” issue - so if you want to hear where we are at … come along!!
Regrettably, Liam Smith, our RYTS awardee, is unable to attend due to a University commitment. At short notice, Julius Czerny (see Bulletin of 22/08/18), that very entertaining speaker we had a few weeks back presenting about his near death experience which led him to develop the Super Lifesaver board game, agreed to jump in and entertain us again (on a different subject though - you'll just have to wait until the day! ☺)
Note: Julius will bring a few copies of his Super Lifesaver boardgame along with him. We have quite a few orders already, but if you would like a copy, reply to this email right away so I can advise Julius. Ed.
OK, ADMIT IT: you are not reading the RDU Magazine cover to cover, are you. If you are anything like the typical Rotarian, e.g. up to your ears in work, or really trying to get on top of that bucket list you set yourself upon retirement and on top of that have the responsibility and demands of a young family, demanding hobbies or a bunch of grand kids, you don’t have much time to read magazines. So I thought I’d bring an unusually well written, interesting article to your attention. It is in the latest issue of the RDU Magazine (it should be in your mailbox now): See page 8 – The Ideas Factory, written by the Immediate Past President of the Rotary Club of Brisbane, Daniel Vankov. You can also view it online:
Or, if you want to have quick link to the strategic plan yourself, click here to download the PDF directly from the Brisbane Rotary Club's website link to the PDF.
Always great to receive the modern equivalent of a postcard! Here is a pic of Geoff Croad posing next to (continental) Europe's western-most Rotary sign. No, Paul Harris wasn't buried there - looks like it was put up in memory of the 75th anniversary of Rotary by the Rotary Club of Sintra, near Lisbon, Portugal, in 1980. Geoff, did you find the equivalent of the 100th anniversary in 2005?
OK, I'm old but not THAT old... Am I yearning for "the simplicity of the olden days"? Why would I bother to look up, not to mention read, a Rotary newsletter which was printed some 107 years ago? Am I progressing towards being the proverbial "crusty old Rotarian" (don't say anything, Andy!) who wishes the current age of Multi Media, 15 second TV media grabs and 'fake news' would simply go away? No, all I did was using the very technology of today, wanting to look up the current 'Rotarian' magazine for quite a different purpose. Since I'm basically lazy, I simply googled it. And, there it pops up: starting with the first issue of January 1911...
At the time, in its leading article, Paul Harris, the founder of Rotary, cried out for more tolerance. As the famous French proverb states: 'Ça plus ça change, plus ce la même chose...' (the more things change, the more they stay the same).
OK, so Rotary is not supposed to be political, religious or whatever. But we are expected to be leaders in the community and as such we are expected to have a rational opinion and be prepared to not only publicly state it but, if required, defend it. My humble view is that today's society is divided into two major camps: On one side are those who are far too busy to run their lives, their business and look after their families, rather than agitate about things that really don't matter (such as the recent kerfuffle about two Au-Pairs being granted visas). On the other side are those who will do just about anything to milk a minor side step, omission or slip of the tongue for everything it's worth. The latter are, I'm sure, in the minority, but because people like to read, hear and view controversial stuff, those stories get oxygen. And yes, most of the time we may be in the former, but on occasion, if "the other side" slips up, aren't we conveniently and unthinkingly changing to the latter?
By the way: the article is quite relevant and worth reading, even though it was written over 108 years ago. The language is beautiful and descriptive, which is sadly absent in most of today's publications. Click here to access it.
Duty Roster - note: subject to change. Please check every week:
New duty: Fellowship. What does it entail? Your job is to ensure that all members, in particular new members, visitors and guests, and in particular the Guest Speaker, are welcomed, are introduced to other members and are comfortable. If required, explain the usual procedures, e.g. when we have our meal, when the speaker is expected to be at the rostrum etc.
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Regrettably, Liam Smith, our RYTS awardee, is unable to attend due to a University commitment. At short notice, Julius Czerny (.JPG)
