Another busy week for Surfers Sunrise. Last week’s meeting was a good one at the Surf Club. Not only did we hear from our local State MP John-Paul Langbroek in the lead up to the Queensland Election but Paul Jaffar was also inducted into Surfers Sunrise. Welcome Paul!
Thanks to everyone who turned up to the Project Shed on Saturday – it was a great turnout and it’s excellent to see the club and shed working together towards common goals. We also had 4 Rotarians from Parkwood Rotary Club, including President Margaret Grummitt, visit to gain a greater understanding of what we do at the shed (and also enjoy morning tea and a breakfast BBQ). Hopefully there will be an opportunity to work with Parkwood on a project in the future.
Speaking of the Project Shed, do you know anyone that might want to volunteer for a few hours on a Saturday morning? As a volunteer, they will not only make a difference in our community and communities around the world through our projects, but they’ll join a great bunch of people and experience mateship and support. We will also be opening the Shed twice a week from September - day and times to be announced in the next few weeks.
Saturday’s Bunnings Sausage Sizzle is going to be a new experience for us all in the new COVID world as Bunnings has very specific rules we need to follow. Geoff Croad is arranging the rosters, please let him know if you can assist for a few hours.
A special thanks also to Darrell Brown for reporting on Chris Thurtell’s well deserved Paul Harris Fellow. Congratulations Chris and we look forward to seeing you again soon.
See you on Wednesday at the Surfer Club for a social meeting.
This coming Wednesday, 12th August, we'll have a social meeting, downstairs at the Surfers Paradise Surf Club Bistro.
Also, we need a few more people at this Saturday's Bunnings Sausage Sizzle. Contact Angus Miller or Geoff Croad to find out which slots are still open.
Last Wednesday, our local State Parliamentarian for Surfers Paradise John-Paul Langbroek presented at our club. “JP”, as he is affectionately known to the locals (and with an electoral margin of over 20%, he is obviously very popular), gave a brief yet informative talk about his work of representing the people of his electorate. He particularly talked about his work as Shadow Minister for the Olympic and Paralympic Games 2032 Candidature, as Shadow Minister Sport and Racing (that suits me well, quipped Chairman Doug Lipp, who is a well known identity in the Horse Racing game… ☺). But most people would not be aware: He is an Honorary Rotarian (with the Rotary Club of Gold Coast). “I’m proud to be a Rotary Member” John-Paul iterated, “particularly now that the attendance rules have been relaxed, I’m able to participate”.
Recently, JP indeed was active in one of our club’s project, the ‘Sleeping Sanctuary’ (POD), where he met with Immediate Past President Mario Fairlie, Councillor Darren Taylor and others to address the important problem of homelessness on the Gold Coast. “This is not an easy problem to address”, he elaborated, “some people do not wish to be in permanent accommodation”. Of course, it’s not just
homelessness per se, it’s the associated malaises of Methamphetamines, Ice and other drugs as well. John-Paul has a degree in Dental Science (UQ, with Honours) and practiced as a dentist until 2009. One of his maxims comes from his practice days of being careful about what drugs to prescribe: “Every effect has a side effect”.
There are so many facets in his type of work, so a 20-odd minute talk is hardly doing justice to them all. For example “Should Schoolies be held?” he asked. “I’d be surprised if it was officially going ahead” he said. “But then, can we prohibit Unit Owners in Surfers Paradise to rent their units?”. He is currently in talks with the local accommodation providers. Finally, to the 2032 Olympics: “We are in with an excellent chance. Our main competitor is Hamburg, but now recently Qatar has come in. Their major attraction is simply an almost unlimited amount of money they can throw at it. Need another Super Stadium? We’ll build it. Want it air conditioned? Done. But our experience with the recently staged Commonwealth Games not only does us credit, but the infrastructure which is a legacy of staging them, is exceptionally valuable.
JP closed off with Question Time, albeit not as rambunctious as it would be in Parliament. Your Editor’s loaded question “In the age of Business at the Speed of Thought, why do we need States?” was deftly deflected: “Because it’s the States which do the work that matters: Health, Justice, Police, Education… Further, with some 500-odd State Politicians Australia wide, if you want to effect a change of the Constitution to abolish the States: I wish you luck!” [OK, perhaps not in my life time then...☺ Ed.]
"Many hands make light work" is the old saying... Well, last Saturday, Wheelchair Trust chief Larry Murray's call to help moving timber and other gear, destined for the X-Ray Unit in Vanuatu, was answered by a good number of members. Some came early, so by 9:30 am, the job was done and we all settled in for a bacon, sausage, egg and onion brunch, cooked by 'Onion King' Angus Miller with his usual competence. Picture, from left: at rear: Karen Holland, Paul Seymour, Darrell Brown, Mitch Brown. Front: Ray Higgs, Geoff Croad, President Charles Thomasson, John Chirio, Andy Bell. Also helping were Col Laurenson, Franz Huber and Immediate Past President Mario Fairlie[did you know that he buys his shoes to match the colour of his car? See picture right, taken by your Editor just in time before he closed the door...☺]
In his inaugural District Governor’s newsletter last month, DG Andy Rajapakse announced a “crazy big goal” to grow District Membership to 1,400. According to our District Website, we’ve had 1,208 members at the end of June. So, the goal is an increase of 192 members, or 16%, or about 4 members per club on average. But if we used the End of May total of 1,297 members, we’d only require 103 new members, or just 8%, or 2 members per club. Actually, hadn’t we lost any of the 200 members who left over the last 12 months… well, we’d be there already!
“So, where are you going with this??” I hear you ask, “it’s normal to have a steep reduction in membership at the end of the Rotary year!” Normal? Sure, some of the 200 we lost may have left because they moved away. Some were called “to higher service”. But, the bulk of them decided that Rotary simply wasn’t “their thing”, not worth their time, effort and expense.
In business, losing a major account rings alarm bells. And unless they went bust, sold out or died, most likely it’s because they found your opposition more attractive. Your responsibility really. So what do you do? You go out to look for
another customer or two in a hurry, don’t you! If you do it correctly, you already have a clear picture of what your ideal customer is like. Then you will engage and literally pamper your new account to ensure they will stay with you.
Think back to the time when you were inducted into Rotary. Ever considered why you were proposed by your sponsor? What made you decide to join? Did you feel a sense of pride, of achievement, to be invited to join an organization of the highest international repute? You felt that your sponsor did “the right thing” by considering you to be potentially a good Rotarian. Yet, you felt a little bit overwhelmed, sort of “am I really up to this?”, didn’t you? And you definitely didn’t feel like that proverbial bit of spaghetti that remained stuck on the wall!
Well, your fellow members feel just like that. It is every club member’s job to engage with your fellow members, particularly with a new member. Engagement and involvement will realise their potential to become a committed and enthusiastic Rotarian. By the way: on Saturday 29th August, a Membership Summit is organised by DG Andy Rajapakse on the Gold Coast. Is our club represented?
Richard Smith was at the door, Doug Lipp was Chairman and Andy Bell was Sergeant. We had apologies from Mark Twyford, Gerald East, Neil Thurlow, Fred Hamblen, Mario Fairlie, Ian Mayberry, Paul Seymour and Johnny Bueti.
President Charles Thomasson welcomed all members and our special guest, John-Paul Langbroek MP (see separate article above). Charles briefly reported on the ‘Cluster 7 Muster’ Training day he and Graeme Isaacson attended on the weekend, and also his visit to the Parkwood Rotary Club on Tuesday night, in view of closer cooperation with them at our Project Shed. Further cooperation with Broadwater Southport and others is expected in relation of our Golf Day – how about incorporating a club team competition?
After our guest speaker’s presentation, Charles inducted Paul Jaffra to our club, who recently transferred from the Burleigh Heads club to be closer to his place of work (see photo right). Welcome Paul! Looking forward to your ‘Man behind the Badge’ presentation on 19th August, together with fellow former Burleigh Heads member Johnny Bueti!
Ray Higgs confirmed that the Lutzy Award presentation will take place at our meeting of 30th September 2020, Angus Miller circulated a Roster for the Bunnings Sausage Sizzle fundraiser on Saturday 15th August (have you put your name down yet with him?) and President Charles advised that our club is currently in discussion with four Rotary Clubs in South Africa in relation to shipping a container of wheelchairs into that region.
Duty Roster - note: subject to change - please check every week. Note: Fellowship duty also is expected to be at the Project Shed on the Saturday following the meeting
"I have a joke about trickle down economics. But 99% of you will never get it." [This is not a joke, by the way! Ed.]
Human power depends on mass cooperation, mass cooperation depends on manufacturing mass identities – and all mass identities are based on fictional stories, not on scientific facts or even on economic necessities.Yuval N Harari, ’21 Lessons for the 21st Century’
A recent study has found that women who carry a little extra weight live longer than men who mention it.
Diesel Services Queensland and AB Crane Hire recently provided a truck and a huge mobile crane at no charge to lift a 40' container into our Project Shed area at Arundel. Thank you! Click on the links to go to their website.
This coming Wednesday, 12th August, we'll have a social meeting, downstairs at the Surfers Paradise Surf Club Bistro. 
Last Wednesday, our local State Parliamentarian for Surfers Paradise John-Paul Langbroek presented at our club. “JP”, as he is affectionately known to the locals (and with an electoral margin of over 20%, he is obviously very popular), gave a brief yet informative talk about his work of representing the people of his electorate. He particularly talked about his work as Shadow Minister for the Olympic and Paralympic Games 2032 Candidature, as Shadow Minister Sport and Racing (that suits me well, quipped Chairman Doug Lipp, who is a well known identity in the Horse Racing game… ☺). But most people would not be aware: He is an Honorary Rotarian (with the Rotary Club of Gold Coast). “I’m proud to be a Rotary Member” John-Paul iterated, “particularly now that the attendance rules have been relaxed, I’m able to participate”.
Brown. Front: Ray Higgs, Geoff Croad, President Charles Thomasson, John Chirio, Andy Bell. Also helping were Col Laurenson, Franz Huber and Immediate Past President Mario Fairlie 
In his inaugural District Governor’s newsletter last month, DG Andy Rajapakse announced a “crazy big goal” to grow District Membership to 1,400. According to our District Website, we’ve had 1,208 members at the end of June. So, the goal is an increase of 192 members, or 16%, or about 4 members per club on average. But if we used the End of May total of 1,297 members, we’d only require 103 new members, or just 8%, or 2 members per club. Actually, hadn’t we lost any of the 200 members who left over the last 12 months… well, we’d be there already!
After our guest speaker’s presentation, Charles inducted Paul Jaffra to our club, who recently transferred from the Burleigh Heads club to be closer to his place of work (see photo right). Welcome Paul! Looking forward to your ‘Man behind the Badge’ presentation on 19th August, together with fellow former Burleigh Heads member Johnny Bueti!
Gerald's post of the week (see picture left)
