Bob’s Blog

Hello Everyone

I have just finished reading the latest edition of Rotary Down Under and as usual the magazine is packed full of interesting articles. I found the article on our new Rotary International President Ian Riseley most informative and in some ways challenging.

Ian mentions that when he was first asked to speak at and then join a Rotary Club, he wasn’t sure what Rotary did. I wonder how many people in our community aren’t sure what Rotary does other than to run a monthly market and sell sausage sandwiches from the food van.

Ian believes that Rotary needs to do a better job of communicating with people outside the organisation about our work and our ethos. When we reflect on our work we do a great job raising money for a variety of international and local causes. However, the credit is often limited to articles in Narooma News, both hard copy and online.  The question for us is how do we ensure our work and efforts are recognised after that news story is forgotten?

Ian also says that Rotary must do more to welcome younger people into the organisation. He states that younger people are interested in service and are eager to do good. However, we must offer them involvement that doesn’t waste their time. So another question for us is, what do we need to do to make Rotary in Narooma more interesting for younger members?

Members may be aware that there are plans to merge districts 9710 and 9700 from 1 July 2020 with Club members required to vote on the proposal. We will discuss this at our Club Assembly on Thursday. District 9700 covers clubs in central and southern NSW including Orange, Bathurst, Wagga, Griffith, Forbes, Parkes, Condobolin, Cowra and Young as well as smaller towns in between. It even includes my old home town of Grenfell and Lake Cargelligo where I started my career as a teacher.

Our first Board meeting will be held this Thursday commencing at the Golf Club at 5pm. The dinner meeting that follows will be a Club Assembly. Please bring your ideas and suggestions to meet our 2017/18 challenges.

Thank you to Rolf for being our first ‘Rotarian Presents’ last week. It was great to hear about Rolf’s work and the secrets of bread making.

Have a great week

Bob

The Week that Was

Our first ‘Rotarian Presents’ night was with Rolf at his Patisserie. It was great fun hearing about making the perfect dough for different uses, seeing his equipment, and hearing about the structure of his working week. The resulting bread rolls made under Rolf’s instruction were absolutely delicious, fresh out the oven. However, Rolf will not be taking on any apprentices from our group… Frank certainly takes the dress prize… (see photos at end of The Week that Was

We find new home for old equipment in Samoa

Some quick thinking by Lynda Ord and Bob Antill and a prompt response by Fred Fawke and Brian Goldstraw from Canberra will give new life to some discarded equipment from Narooma Community Health Centre. Lynda was told about the old

equipment destined for the scrap heap, spoke with Bob, and in double quick time Fred and Brian were down with a large trailer to take back five old wheelchairs, five wheelie walkers, two walking frames and two hospital beds.

One of the ever energetic Fred Fawke’s many roles is chair of District 9710 Donations in Kind (DIK) committee. Fred said they have cleaned them up, done a few minor repairs and they will now take them to Melbourne with similar equipment from Canberra. ‘They’ll then go as a back load in a container, courtesy of a private company, to the Rotary Club of Apia in Samoa which will distribute them where they are most needed,’ he said.

This is part of an ongoing programme between DIK and Rotary Australia World Community Service (RAWCS).

We hear from one of our Tertiary Scholars

We have four Rotary Tertiary Scholars at the moment. Two – Connor Ross and Carl McEvoy – complete their scholarships this year; the other two have only just begun – Melanie Miller and Sabine Kildea. We forward the next instalment of their scholarships to them at the beginning of each semester, subject to them receiving a satisfactory exam results the previous semester.

Charmaine, Connor’s counsellor [the President for the year the Scholarship was awarded becomes their counsellor] has just received Connor’s results, again outstanding, plus a lovely note. Connor is doing a Bachelor of Arts (Music Industry) at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology. He writes:

‘Hope you and everyone at Rotary have been well… This semester I took on one less subject to allow myself a bit of breathing space while I completed an internship with Melbourne Theatre       Company working on their mainstage production of Macbeth, which was an incredible experience. This means that I’ll be taking on an extra subject next semester in order to complete my degree on time… My unending thanks once again for your continued support over the past few years.’

Connor received a high distinction in Music: Career Pathways, and a distinction in New Perspectives in Popular Culture. He will finish his degree this semester with a major music project, The Spectacle of Music Video, Introduction to Psychology, and Ambisonic Modelling. Hopefully we will be able to get him to talk to a future meeting, in amongst his busy schedule.

Bega’s pre-loved books raise funds

Our ‘mother club’ Bega held a three-day Winter Book Fair last weekend with over 30,000 books for sale. People were even lined up at the doors on the first day in anticipation. The Club estimated about 2,000 people visited over the weekend and bought about 10,000 books.

The book fairs are a major fundraiser for Bega Club. They also hold a book fair in January which is particularly popular with holidaymakers. Their projects include community carers’ accommodation at the South East Regional Hospital, Volunteer Rescue Association, State Emergency Service, and Rural Fire Service.

Cheers

Laurelle