What a weekend. I am not sure I am fully qualified to say this, but from the comments made to me and ones I overheard and from my own limited experience, I declare Rotary International District 9640 Conference 2018 - The best Conference ever!
I am continually ‘blown away’ by the unselfish, uncomplaining efforts my fellow Rotarians put into various projects and endeavours. Sometimes, I genuinely feel I am not worthy of my membership. This was never more evident than at the District Conference. Many members of our club and others put in a huge effort to ensure attendees had a very good time. We even had partners and friends of our Members happily helping. Simply outstanding.
Our very own DG, Darrell Brown wanted ‘fun’ to be the theme of his conference. Let me tell you this was achieved in spades. I can’t remember laughing and feeling so good, whilst coming to the realisation that I am actually a grumpy old man (a fact endorsed by several fellow members) [Hear hear... Ed.] and need to change my attitude. Not sure I can, but I will try - honest.
We seem to be getting more used to our new venue. We still have a couple of issues, but it is certainly better than it was.
Great effort by Past President Simon Brook in designing and arranging our new name badges. They look terrific and I had some very positive feedback from other Rotarians at the conference. Remember “always look on the bright side of life” -----just sayin'.
This year we will again have our traditional Christmas Breakfast in style, at the Sheraton Mirage on Seaworld Drive, Main Beach. Just thinking of their buffet makes my mouth water... Bring your partners and guests along too!
The Angus & Virginia Miller clan has a new heirloom: a ticket belonging to their family was the winning entry for Kerrie Brown's hand embroidered pillow. Kerrie selected ROMAC – Rotary Oceania Medical Aid for Children as her 'District Governor's Partner Project'. ROMAC flies severely disfigured or injured children to Australia for surgery. All work by the surgeons and volunteers is provided at no charge. Now you normally expect District Governors to ask for money. This time expect the unexpected. We are giving you something for money. Fair deal? I hope so. Kerrie is aiming to raise $25,000 for an operation to save the life of a child. We call it “Stitches for Stitches”. She has made 54 embroidered cushions - one for every club in the district. Every one is unique. There are 10 hours minimum in each cushion and about $50 of material.
It might have been a few moons ago when Ross Eastgate graduated from Duntroon and was assigned to the Signals Corps. Still, his dedication to his (now former) profession of being a soldier and an Army officer becomes quite clear when he states that, "when Whitlam withdrew from Vietnam, it was devastating for us". How come? Because this would, in the view of the recent graduates, rob them of the chance of seeing "real" action. But that didn't stop Ross being despatched to a number of different overseas postings. For example, the Middle East, Jerusalem to be specific, with the UN peace keeping forces. It was called an "Interim Force"... but they are still there!
"Defence of the olden days was different to what it is today", Ross explained. "After Vietnam, we enjoyed a 20 years of 'Great Peace' - Australia didn't go anywhere". Then came the various engagements: Namibia, Cambodia, PNG, Bouganville, East Timor, Iraq, Afghanistan. For the last 20 years, and in particular post 9/11, there have been constant overseas operations. "The current Australian soldier is the most experienced in history", Ross explained. Whilst today's soldiers are all volunteers,
their training is very hard, they are trained to survive. "Defence Forces are all about training to fight".
Ross emphasised the stress which modern soldier's families are under: It is not just the separation from their loved ones. It is the constant worry about a potential ambush. Most affected are the members of the Special Forces - some have had up to 10 tours. And what will the future hold? Nuclear? North Korea is only one of the worries. With the Chinese stamping their authority on the region, now with their own Aircraft Carrier... Japan is no longer restricted... By his assessment, "we now live in the most dangerous era of recent times."
These days, in addition to his job as President of Surfers RSL Club, Ross is also a journalist with the Townsville Bulletin. One of his recent blogs had the headline "Diggers need another Rout" - no, not a spelling mistake. He was referring to a lady by the name of Ettie Rout who, in WW1, organized a Safe Sex campaign for soldiers. Sorry, space does not permit to further elaborate. You should have been there!
Hard on the heels of his recognition by the Chartered Institute of Logistics & Transport (CILT) at the end of October, Col Laurensen was presented with a Paul Harris Fellow with double Sapphires for his services to Donations in Kind. Col has been the chief organizer of Northern Region of this marvellous Rotary organization for donks. Whilst he may have taken the CILT Award "on behalf of the team", this one is definitely for you personally, Col!
Picture below shows Col flanked by PDG George Grant (District 9600) and PP Ted Horsbrugh (RC of Toowong). More pictures from this link: 2017-12-14 DIK Col's PHF
Angus Miller was at the door, Doug Lipp was Chairman and Ian Mayberry was Sergeant.
We had apologies from Des La Rance, Daryl Sanderson, Chris Thurtell, Tania Laird and Neil Thurlow.
President Andy Bell welcomed all members and our guests Charles Blatch (guest of Franz Huber) as well as our Guest Speaker, Ross Eastgate. He reminded us all that the Christmas Breakfast will be at the Sheraton Mirage next Wednesday, 20th December 2017. Whilst we are on holidays, feel free to brainstorm yourself in relation to our meeting venue! A suggestion was made to have it permanently at the Project Shed?
Gerald East wants the remaining Rotary Foundation coin boxes! Gerald also informed us on the recently held Youth Exchange Orientation Weekend, which was attended by both Inbounders as well as Outbounders and their parents.
DG Darrell Brown commended Gerald and Chris Thurtell on a great event, and also Simon Brook and his RYTS (Rotary Youth Training Seminar) team for a superb camp week that was run the previous week at Tyalgum. Special mention to Faye Wright (RC of Kingscliffe) who has been 'House Mum' for 20 years! Simon Brook reported in more detail no the camp: some 50 students attended from throughout the district. Simon also made special reference to the 'Red Shirts', the supervisors. None of them are Rotarians, but many of them have done it multiple times.
Geoff Croad, together with Larry Murray, picked up an Award on behalf of the Gold Coast volunteers of RYDA (Rotary Youth Driver Awareness - see separate article).
President Elect Jo Gorman will organize a Social Breakfast on 3rd January (watch the website for details). In her capacity of the District Conference Chief, she also urged members to register for the conference - registration is free (you have already paid for it with your District Dues), only the meals and the Outback Spectacular attract a fee. After discussions with Seaworld, the cancellation fee has now been almost wiped (just $10.00, provide cancellation is advised prior to 22. February).
Doug Lipp announced that the raffle for Kerrie Brown's handcrafted pillow will be drawn next Wednesday (see separate article in this bulletin)
Recently, Kieran Power, our Youth Exchange Student in Germany, sat for a test to prove his knowledge of the German language. He scored 1.6 (where 1 is best and 5 is worst) - well done, Kieran! The photo on the left is of his (finally) presenting the Surfers Sunrise banner to his club.
Fred Hamblen, how nice! Every thing is perfectly colour coordinated! (That doesn't mean it is elegant though...) Richard Smith, what was that business with the pussy cat all about? Bob Harrison, no! Simon Brook's skateboard is NOT a present for needy children, Simon needs it to get back to work! Angus Miller, where is your wallet? Paul Seymour, is your Credit Card still at Ocean Shores? Franz Huber, you should drink your coffee rather than spilling it all over the table... Col Laurensen, you should know by now that it is not a good idea to criticize the Sergeant... Mario Fairlie: Applause! And from Mario a cross-fine to President Andy Bell: about time you had a haircut! (No! he is growing a Mullet...) Larry Murray, if we are to have our meeting at The Shed: are YOU going to cook every week? And for anyone who has not yet been fined: who is Hayden Haitana? [Yes, before my time too - well, almost: he was the trainer of the Fine Cotton Ring-in affair in 1984 who had passed away on he weekend...]
I once bought my kids a set of batteries for Christmas with a note on it saying, toys not included. Bernard Manning
"My idea of Christmas, whether old-fashioned or modern, is very simple: loving others. Come to think of it, why do we have to wait for Christmas to do that?" Bob Hope
Once again, we come to the Holiday Season, a deeply religious time that each of us observes, in his own way, by going to the shopping mall of his choice. Dave Barry
Christmas is the time when kids tell Santa what they want and adults pay for it. Deficits are when adults tell government what they want and their kids pay for it. Richard Lamm [Oh, sorry folks - completely forgot that Rotary is not supposed to be political... ☺ Ed.]
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The Angus & Virginia Miller clan has a new heirloom: a ticket belonging to their family was the winning entry for Kerrie Brown's hand embroidered pillow. Kerrie selected ROMAC – .JPG)
It might have been a few moons ago when Ross Eastgate graduated from Duntroon and was assigned to the Signals Corps. Still, his dedication to his (now former) profession of being a soldier and an Army officer becomes quite clear when he states that, "when Whitlam withdrew from Vietnam, it was devastating for us". How come? Because this would, in the view of the recent graduates, rob them of the chance of seeing "real" action. But that didn't stop Ross being despatched to a number of different overseas postings. For example, the Middle East, Jerusalem to be specific, with the UN peace keeping forces. It was called an "Interim Force"... but they are still there!
Hard on the heels of his recognition by the Chartered Institute of Logistics & Transport (CILT) at the end of October, Col Laurensen was presented with a Paul Harris Fellow with double Sapphires for his services to 
Fred Hamblen, how nice! Every thing is perfectly colour coordinated! (That doesn't mean it is elegant though...) Richard Smith, what was that business with the pussy cat all about? Bob Harrison, no! Simon Brook's skateboard is NOT a present for needy children, Simon needs it to get back to work! Angus Miller, where is your wallet? Paul Seymour, is your Credit Card still at Ocean Shores? Franz Huber, you should drink your coffee rather than spilling it all over the table... Col Laurensen, you should know by now that it is not a good idea to criticize the Sergeant... Mario Fairlie: Applause! And from Mario a cross-fine to President Andy Bell: about time you had a haircut! (No! he is growing a Mullet...) Larry Murray, if we are to have our meeting at The Shed: are YOU going to cook every week? And for anyone who has not yet been fined: who is Hayden Haitana? [Yes, before my time too - well, almost: he was the trainer of the Fine Cotton Ring-in affair in 1984 who had passed away on he weekend...]
