I guess you must be feeling a bit like me. This isolation and not having my daily dose of human interaction is strange to say the least. However, I do, as most do, understand it is in the interest of all concerned that we continue with this approach. From the latest statistics it would seem that the isolation has made a difference as well as the personal hygiene of wash your hands regularly.
The last meeting with ZOOM was successful. I have not had any adverse comments. Quite the contrary. As you are aware, I did put out a note related to the charges to attend the meetings. I’ve given this some further thought. It’s not really fair if only those members who attend meetings support the club financially in these times. I feel that the charge mentioned in my e-mail sent out on Saturday should read that
Every member pays $10.00 per week,
of which $5.00 is allocated towards the fund for Christmas presents for underprivileged children at St Johns Crisis Centre and the other $5:00 is for the running of the Club. Ideally, to reduce our Treasurer’s workload, you pre-pay 3 months @$130.00.
I welcome any feedback members may have.
As you are aware, we have closed the Project Shed until further notice. However, we are extremely optimistic that, when we re-open (as soon as we are given the go-ahead), the building for the project in Vanuatu will be able to go ahead quickly. It is our intention that to equip the building with X-Ray and Pathology equipment the three Clubs involved (Broadbeach, Gold Coast & ourselves) would apply for a Rotary Foundation Global Grant. During the last week we have had several telephone discussions(meetings) to help sort out some of the issues. Graham Sivyer (President Broadbeach) has written to the District Governor (representing all three Clubs) to seek his assistance. Graham has also been in contact with Dr Richard Leona in Vanuatu. It is worth remembering that Mauna Hospital is the only hospital on Pentecost Island servicing a population of 18,000. More than 1000 children are born on the Island each year under extremely poor conditions. The proposed building & facility has a definite, real and immediate need for this remote island.
Not a much else to report on this week.
See you “ON-ZOOM” for Wednesday’s morning meeting at 7:30am.
I hope you are staying safe in these trying times.
After last Wednesday's successful inaugural Zoom meeting (see article below), we'll continue with this method. To avoid "Zoom Bombing" (e.g. deliberate sabotaging by mass login by unwanted people), the link changes every week and will be communicated to all members and Associate members. But anyone is welcome to join, particularly our Associate Members, friends and fellow Rotarians from other clubs. To obtain a link, simply send me a text to +61 484 597 451, or email me via the 'Webmaster' link (under Club Executives, bottom right side)
The COVID-19 situation has stopped any fund raising activities. Therefore, as mentioned in President Mario's message, a fee of $10.00 per week per member ($130.00 per quarter) is levied to ensure our club can meet its obligations. $5.00 of this goes towards the compulsory contributions to Rotary International, the District and for the Rotary Down Under magazine. We are also committed to contribute $100.00 per member per annum to The Rotary Foundation. The other $5.00 goes towards us purchasing Christmas presents for the underprivileged children, which we donate via St John's Crisis Centre.
To lighten the workload of our Treasurer, please do a direct deposit of $130.00 for this quarter (April - June 2020), directly into the club's bank account:
Rotary Club of Surfers Sunrise Inc
BSB: 484-799
A/c: 047306431
Please ensure you put your name into the reference field.
Coming into the historical town of Tenterfield on Thursday afternoon made me feel nostalgic: I was driving past the Tenterfield School of Arts where, in 1889, the ‘Father of the Federation’ Sir Henry Parkes gave his famous ‘Tenterfield Oration’. So many places so similar to the days when, in the mid 70’s, I first visited this place, working as a Dealer Rep, my territory the entire state of NSW bar Sydney itself. And of course, around this time, the town was made world famous by the late Peter Allen singing ‘Tenterfield Saddler’.[What? Before your time? Henrietta, add your memory to the items that fade!] So, where do we go for dinner? Well, how about Stannum House, the truly olde style building on the main drag, painted – depending on your personal taste - in either ‘Ghastly Pink’ or ‘Hot Cherry’? But I digress…
Only those truly devoted to the Rotary movement, which includes a bevy of Past District Governors arrive early. [Not sure: Is “bevy” the correct collective term for PDG’s? Perhaps it’s a conference, or a pride? Surely not a gaggle?] Sitting at the Registration Desk late Friday morning, I welcomed the elder disciples of our fellowship, most of them attending the Governor’s luncheon. The real rush started towards the evening, as the Welcome Dinner guests rolled in at the Historical Tenterfield Railway Platform. Many were dressed, as instructed, in “International Dress”. The Jury is still out on whether the style of a certain individual from Burleigh town, dressing as Bazza MacKenzie in London (as in Barry Humphries’ 1972 movie) can be classified as “International”. So the prize for Best Dress was not awarded and was instead presented to
Mayor Pete Petty, in consideration of keeping his welcome to Tenterfield address short and crisp.
Things became more serious on Saturday morning. The International Youth Exchange Students paraded their countries’ flag, proudly wearing their badge and pin encrusted blazers, their bare feet in their best Sunday dress thongs. Except for the Swiss guy, who wore socks and sandals. After the rendition of Advance Australia Fair (closer to loud than pitch perfect), DG Harry and PRIP Bill Boyd’s brief welcome speeches, the first Keynote Speaker came on. (For the ignorami among you: PRIP stands for Past Rotary International President. Can’t get any higher than that in Rotary.) I had been looking forward to hear Jo & Corinne about their War on Waste project they named ‘Good for the Hood’. Quote from their website: “We’re neighbours and have 4 young boys between us, so we have plenty of experience with fart jokes”.Well, they didn’t disappoint! But then I imagined them presenting at a Rotary Conference, say, in 1970, and I nearly had an internal haemorrhage! Visualize the faces, the big eyes of the primly, conservatively dressed Rotarian and Rotaryanne audience: “officially” they would have been horrified, unofficially they would almost have been bursting at their seams with laughter! Famous comedian Craig Reucasselof ‘The Chasers’ fame is one of the major protagonists of the War on Waste. The second part of Saturday morning was on more serious issues: Professor Michael Good spoke on the Malaria Vaccine Project (very topical at present!), David Enterman spoke on ‘Mental Health in the Bush’, and former Australian of the Year Bernie Shakeshaft on ‘Backtracks’. As the first words on his website say: “Backtracks is all about keeping kids alive, out of jail, and chasing their hopes and dreams". And they are doing this without government help: reducing crime, reducing suicide ideation. One wonders: It costs about $260,000 per annum to keep a child in Youth Detention. Go figure. “I can prove that this works, help me to force the issues on to the table.” Bernie affirmed.
On to Saturday afternoon: Well, she did name her organisation after a saint. One wonders whether, in ancient times, Gemma Sisia of the School of St Jude would not have qualified herself? What a dynamo! Brought up on a farm in nearby Armidale as the only girl among eight kids, she certainly had some grounding for her future call in life. After graduating with a double degree in Biochemistry/Genetics and a Dip Ed she volunteered to work in Uganda at a Girls Centre, teaching maths, science and… sewing. The experience ultimately led her to Tanzania where she started the School of St Jude. You should have been there! (In Tenterfield, I mean, not necessarily in Tanzania…) It’s well worth your time to read up about Gemma on her website – click here.
The Business Session was quick and crisp, as the individual clubs’ delegates were equally keen to share a beer or a glass of wine and join “The Future Leaders Networking Drinks” group. [What a name! How long does it take a committee to come up with this?]Dinner was again at an unconventional venue: the Tenterfield Transport Museum. Surely many of the older patrons felt a light shudder running down their spines and goose pimples forming on their arms as they were seated among highly polished ancient Holden FJ’s, Chevrolets and various other “Yank Tanks”. There would have been the odd gentleman, thinking he was unobserved, who remembered driving his girlfriend to the dance on Saturday night, gently stealing a brief touch of his lady’s knee. Yes, in the good ol’ days, real cars had chrome bumper bars and bench seats front and back. Since seatbelts and ‘Distracted Driving’ laws had yet to arrive, this enabled the girl to “help” driving, holding on to her partner with both hands, just making sure he wouldn’t fall out. BTW, that was the principal reason for the invention of the Column Gear Shift... [Yes, Henrietta, she could also slide over all the way to the left, ostensibly because she wouldn’t want to distract the driver… ☺]
On to Sunday morning. In my youth, one of the most annoying sights was that chap who on Sunday morning turned up bright eyed and bushy tailed, regardless of the fact that four hours earlier he had rolled home after an all-nighter pick wack paddy whack. Well, this mob must have all been in that class! OK, they had more than 4 hours of sleep though. Some went on the Heritage Walk with DG Harry. But when the bus, returning from the Champagne Breakfast on Bald Rocks pulled up, the loud chorus of “… Taaaiime is a traveller, Tenterfield Saddeler…” indicated that Champagne at breakfast indeed works. Every time!
The first Keynote was given by Father Charlie Burrows. No, I can’t say that I’ve met him before either. Just as well: you would meet him on Indonesia’s Death Row, where the Irish Catholic priest is often the last man to speak with the inmates. What a personality, what intense power he emits! On a visually more artistic note, the second speaker of the morning was Al Mabin. This lady is one of Australia’s foremost landscape photographers. A picture tells a thousand words and my feeble descriptive powers would be totally inadequate. So, simply jump to her website, where you can buy several of her books, eponymously named The Drover, The Grower, The Driver. The latter is all about the big Mack Roadtrains one finds in Outback Australia.
After DGE Andy Rajapakse whetted our appetite for next year’s conference, PRIP William Boyd (he is from Brisbane, by the way) summarized the conference. In closing, he recalled a time when, on a visit to the Philippines, he met Ynday Mijares, who was infected with the Polio virus. That same lady, many years later, became the Charter President of her Rotary club. Ynday had portrayed the Rotary Wheel as a candle God had sent her. I quote Bill Boyd:
“In my years of traveling the around the world, I’ve often thought of that candle, that ‘Candle of Hope’ that is the Rotary Wheel. Because one of the saddest things you see as you move around the world is that of people really suffering, the people who live in the most dreadful conditions. What you see when you look into their eyes is a total lack of hope. And it is Rotary that stretches out and gives them that hope. Be that in the hay runs, now almost a distant memory, be that in the recent Bushfire appeals through RAWCS. And now all that is about to be vastly superseded by the potential horror of a COVID-19 pandemic. Without getting unduly sentimental, Lorna and I love our family. But very, very strongly Lorna and I love Rotary. Everything we have seen throughout the world, everything we have seen here at this wonderful District Conference, leads us to believe that this is a wonderful organisation to be part of.”
OK, it was 1st April, but this was not an April Fools joke; this was very real [can a virtual meeting can be described as real??]. At 07:30 this morning, some 18 members logged on and, while not quite as good as meeting in person at the Surf Club (my suggestion to my better half to put on a buffet of bacon, eggs, sausages and baked beanz fell on deaf ears...), certainly much better than not meeting at all! Some 18 members logged on - that much for the mistaken view that elderly gentlemen would be severely challenged by technology! The only one who seemed to have some issues was one of the "young 'uns", Simon Brook, whose Audio was all garbled up... ☺ We had apologies from Ray Higgs and Karen Holland, both already on building sites at 07:00. Some key points:
President Mario Fairlie welcomed all. He briefly elaborated on the Vanuatu X-Ray building:
A big thank you to Geoff Croad for arranging the donation of trusses by Premier Timbers & Trusses. So, if you need timber, please get in touch with them.
Ben Illes has been very active in organising building materials, most of which he reckons we can obtain by donations or at real 'mates rates'
The project is, however, on hold until the Covid-19 situation has abated and we are back to normal. We also need to consider the time of the year when it will be implemented on site, due to seasonal weather and temperature.
Treasurer Doug Lipp presented the account balances of the General and Wheelchairs accounts. He also confirmed that a firm assessment has been done in relation to insurance cover at the Project Shed, both for the buildings as well as its contents.
Youth Services Director Darrell Brown advised that, in essence, all Youth Programs in the district had been suspended indefinitely, including the upcoming RYLA camp (we had a candidate lined up for it). Spare a thought for our beleaguered District Chairman for International Youth Exchange, Chris Thurtell: Not only do our currently residing Overseas students want to come back early, the Japanese students who are with us at present (including our Ayana) don't want to return for the time being!
On a much more pleasant note: District Treasurer Mark Twyford advised that he has become a Grandfather! Baby Charlotte May Rix and mum are all well. Congratulations! (Picture left)
Keeping up the club's finances: In "normal" times, we have a contribution of $10.00 per person, per meeting, plus any fines etc. Since, due to the general lock-down and social distancing rules, we are unable to conduct any fundraising events, not even the Bunnings Sausage Sizzles. Yet, we still have our obligations, including our obligation to contribute $100 per annum / per member to The Rotary Foundation. Therefore, it was decided that foreach member, for each week's meeting, a contribution of $15.00 will be raised. This is made up of $10.00 being the usual meeting fee, plus $5.00 to contribute to a monster raffle, to be drawn at a time to be advised. President Mario indicated that he, for one, will donate a major prize towards this (do I feel a bottle of Grange Hermitage coming up??) You can pay directly into the club's bank account - look out for an email in your Inbox.
The meeting concluded at 08:05 am due to the 40 minute limit for the free of charge Zoom subscription. We have now subscribed to the Pro version, which provides for unlimited time of up to 24 hours per meeting.
There seems to be some ambiguity, so let us make this totally clear: we much regret it, but the Project Shed needs to remain closed until the Government lifts the restrictions. We'll of course keep you all posted. Also, please feel free to contact us by phone or email if we can provide you with assistance, or if you simply would like to have a good ol' chinwag! ☺
Every age before this one has performed or permitted acts that to us are morally stupefying. So unless we have any reason to think we are more reasonable, morally better or wiser than at any time in the past, it is reasonable to assume there will be some things we are presently doing- possibly while flushed with moral virtue – that our descendants will whistle through their teeth at, and say ‘What the hell were they thinking?’ Douglas Murray, ‘The Madness of Crowds’, 2019.
Since everybody started to wash their hands like we are supposed to, next week we'll start working on colours and shapes.
Andy's post of the week (picture right):
Gerald's post of the week: To go to the grocery store, they said, wearing a mask and gloves was enough. They lied... everyone else had clothes on! [The mind boggles. There I'm visualizing Gerald... ☺]
Neil's post of the week: I have the most loving wife. Last night I woke up whilst she held a pillow tightly over my head to protect me from Covid-19.[I think this was a joke. Francine's methods would be far more elegant...! Ed. ]
And meanwhile, Col sent me a list of about 20. Here is the best of them: Women sometimes make fools of men, but most guys are the do-it-yourself type
OK, it was 1st April, but this was not an April Fools joke; this was very real 
Ed. ]
