The excitement is certainly building now; less than 2 weeks to go before the commencement of the biggest event ever to be hosted in our great city. Rotary is certainly doing its part. Not only are many working as official volunteers, but we are also prominently involved in housekeeping at the village, directing car parking at various locations and hosting visiting fellow Rotarians, Well done.
As you read this, a lot of you will be feeling let down by the actions of the Australian Cricket team. Most would have put money on the Australians playing the game tough and uncompromising, but at the end of the day, always playing fair. How disappointing to hear not only that we cheated, but those in charge hatched the plan. Unbelievable.
Talking about unbelievable, I wonder who the genius was that decided a roof was not required for the swimming stadium. Probably it's the same person who was involved in the upgrade of the airport a few years ago. They didn't think our climate warranted Aerobridges!
I urge you all of you to pray to your God for good weather during the swimming. If its raining and windy, we run the risk of being the laughing stock of the world.
Putting aside the above, I urge all of you to embrace the atmosphere of the wonderful event that is the Commonwealth Games. Join in and relish the fact the eyes of the world are upon us.
This week is our last meeting at the Surf Club for a few weeks whilst the games are in progress.
Our Jo Gorman is working feverishly to come up with other locations and events to fulfil the needs of those addicted to our weekly meetings.
In regards to transport and driving during the Games just chill …………just sayin.
I've been asked, at short notice, to fill in for the Guest Speaker this Wednesday 17th January. My subject: Fully unexpected loss of electrical power due to an Electromagnetic Pulse. Such a dystopian event can happen due to either of two principal causes:
a major Solar Storm (coronal mass ejection) - the last one of sufficient strength occurred as recently as 1859 (a minor one occurred in 1921 which affected only a smaller area of the planet) and they are totally unpredictable, or
by the deployment of a relatively small, single nuclear device above the earth's atmosphere, just 450 Km up. The recent North Korean missile tests reached a height of over 1,400 Km, so this is well within the plausible, and of course is well within the capability of anyone with the capacity to deploy medium range missiles, including those that can launch satellites.
Last Wednesday, in addition to the AGM, we enjoyed a brief presentation by Gigi, our Youth Exchange Student from the Netherlands. We are "sharing" Gigi with the Broadwater/Southport club where she has been hosted for the past 6 months. Gigi showed us a number of slides from her home country: Tulips, dykes... Dad is in business, he is a Life Saver, Mum is a Mesologist (yes, I needed to look it up myself! ☺) and both are amateur acrobats...
Your editor has patiently been waiting all week to receive Gigi's report, but... Here is a photo provided by her host, our District Youth Exchange Chairman Chris Thurtell, who organized her a part time job at Seaworld.
Following formal nominations and elections at last Wednesday's AGM, President Elect Jo Gorman introduced her new board for 2018-19. Jo opted for a "small board and more working committees". This is a summary:
Rotary Club of Surfers Sunrise Inc - Board 2018/19
President
Jo Gorman
Secretary
Mitch Brown
Treasurer
Mark Twyford
Past President
Andy Bell
President Elect
Tania Laird
Further, Chris Thurtell was elected President Nominee for 2019/20. Congratulations to you all!
Committee Structure: Go to the Download Section on the right where you will find the full Committee Structure as proposed by President Elect Jo. All the Committee Chairs have accepted their nomination.
Our spies are everywhere: Last Saturday, our Wheelchair Trust Chairman Daryl Sanderson was sought out by a couple of attractive young ladies at The Shed. Daryl happily outlined to them the details of our various projects of course. Where did they come from? Your intrepid reporter understands that they are running a cooking class in the Community Centre next door and wanted to come over to check what all those interesting men did over there! Could we start some sort of a joint venture here?
Paul Seymour was at the door, Richard Smith was Chairman and Tania Laird was Sergeant.
We had an apology from Doug Lipp. Chris Thurtell introduced our Youth Exchange Student from the Netherlands, Gigi. Welcome! See separate article about her presentation.
President Andy Bell wellcomed all members and Gigi to our first meeting of 2018.
Prior to the business of the AGM, Andy invited DG Darrell Brown to elaborate on the Re-Districting issue, relating to a recent email distributed from District Secretary Sue Randel. It is relatively straight forward: Current Rotary International rules state that any district whose membership drops to below 1,100 members will automatically face re-districting, without any input by individual clubs in the district. Whilst our District currently is still well above that, there is a potential that we (or one of the neighboring districts) could slip below that number. Organizing the re-districting is not just relevant to our district, the project encompasses the entire continent and New Zealand. The concept is a major streamlining: each district has approximately 150 clubs, the District Governor will be supported by Assistant Governors each looking after about 15 clubs. There is also a high likelyhood that professional, paid people will be employed to run the administration. After Darrell explained it, an open ballot was conducted: all members bar 3 were in favour. President Andy thus will submit our vote to district, as requested.
This meeting was also our Annual General Meeting. President Elect Jo Gorman presented her nominations for the incoming board. Nominations for two vacant positions were received and, as is customary, the incoming board and committee chairs for 2018/19 were unanimously elected. Details of the individuals on the board and its committee structure can be downloaded from the Download Section on the right. Jo's concept for 2018/19 is to have quite a small board and individual working committees, a proposal which was well received by the members.
Vocational Service Chair Richard Smith proposed that we are again running a Pride of Workmanship Award presentation, to be held at an evening meeting (most likely the RSL Club) instead of a breakfast meeting, so we can also combine it as a social event. He is looking for nominations - see separate article. Graeme Isaacson is organizing tickets to see Shen Yun, the Chinese Dancing and Entertainment group, on Sunday 21st January. Contact Graeme directly please.
President Elect Jo Gorman, we are now having our own private security guard?? Paul Seymour, I understand that the French Police are after you... Mario Fairlie, did you eventually find a chair that suited you? Darrell Brown, Daryl Sanderson and Geoff Croad: having a little private meeting out there? Mark Twyford is the Bag Man this morning: how much was in that brown paper bag of yours? Fred Hamblen, where is your wife? Obviously she wasn't at home to supervise your getting dressed this morning... Gerald East also has a bag... Mitch Brown, you were late! Graeme Isaacson for whatever... Angus Miller and Geoff Croad, you are not supposed to take phone calls during the meeting! And Franz Huber paid a "happy buck": With the Swiss team of Federer and Bencic winning the Hopman Cup, the world is obviously back in order again!
I've been asked, at short notice, to fill in for the Guest Speaker this Wednesday 17th January. My subject: Fully unexpected loss of electrical power due to an Electromagnetic Pulse. Such a dystopian event can happen due to either of two principal causes: .jpg)
Last Wednesday, in addition to the AGM, we enjoyed a brief presentation by Gigi, our Youth Exchange Student from the Netherlands. We are "sharing" Gigi with the Broadwater/Southport club where she has been hosted for the past 6 months. Gigi showed us a number of slides from her home country: Tulips, dykes... Dad is in business, he is a Life Saver, Mum is a Mesologist (yes, I needed to look it up myself! ☺) and both are amateur acrobats... 
Our spies are everywhere: Last Saturday, our Wheelchair Trust Chairman Daryl Sanderson was sought out by a couple of attractive young ladies at The Shed. Daryl happily outlined to them the details of our various projects of course. Where did they come from? Your intrepid reporter understands that they are running a cooking class in the Community Centre next door and wanted to come over to check what all those interesting men did over there! Could we start some sort of a joint venture here?.JPG)
President Elect Jo Gorman, we are now having our own private security guard?? Paul Seymour, I understand that the French Police are after you... Mario Fairlie, did you eventually find a chair that suited you? Darrell Brown, Daryl Sanderson and Geoff Croad: having a little private meeting out there? Mark Twyford is the Bag Man this morning: how much was in that brown paper bag of yours? Fred Hamblen, where is your wife? Obviously she wasn't at home to supervise your getting dressed this morning... Gerald East also has a bag... Mitch Brown, you were late! Graeme Isaacson for whatever... Angus Miller and Geoff Croad, you are not supposed to take phone calls during the meeting! And Franz Huber paid a "happy buck": With the Swiss team of Federer and Bencic winning the Hopman Cup, the world is obviously back in order again!
