Outside the Square
What a week, so much went on that it seems a blur.
Last Wednesday 23rd saw me at the IGA Narooma selling the last of the race day tickets. It was freezing cold and I
had no jacket, but it was great to meet the locals and visitors impressed with what we were doing.
This was followed by an EXPO meeting to finalise the event planning.
Thursday, saw us having our regular Rotary meeting at Donna’s and my home. By the response it seemed that the idea of eating a ‘Meals on Wheels’ meal was a great way to introduce the service. Carol Meindl gave us a wonderful rundown on the service and by the noise of the conversation it seemed everyone had a good time. Some even said it was a “fun” night.
Friday had many of us setting up the leisure centre for the Expo.
What an EXPO! The response from the community was to put it mildly, amazing. It shows that vision and passion of one of our members can lead to a great outcome. Once again thank you Frank for encouraging Rotary to take up the challenge.
Not only did we get a great number of visitors, the exhibitors were delighted. The excellent speakers on Saturday night just added to the event.
One interesting outcome was the positive reception to Charmaine’s idea
to promote the provision of solar lights for communities in Timor Leste, Cambodia and Vietnam. My experience was that the majority were not really interested in a light but rather in what we were trying to provide for children and
families in those countries. I think the quote of the EXPO was when I was explaining what Narooma Rotary were trying to achieve by selling the lights one customer said. “If you stop talking I will make a donation” I promptly got the donation.
Finally, Sunday saw us working at the markets and at the EXPO. Unfortunately, I was unable to get to the EXPO as I was at the markets, but by all accounts it was just as good as Saturday. At the markets I think I may have embarrassed the Rotarians who came with me when I was hustling for donations to our 1000km walk. It worked – I got $425.50 in donations.
Bit tired now so I will sign off
Michael
The Narooma Rotary Renewable Energy Expo
To everyone who helped with the expo, a big thanks!
It definitely proves that there is a lot of interest in renewable energy, with one installer telling me he has 50 leads to
follow up!
Saturday saw a big crowd of over 400 people in the Leisure Centre which was just big enough for some 20 exhibitors, mostly local with some from Bega and Canberra. On Sunday there were fewer people but we still had over 200; we think that those with a keen interest to make savings on their power-bills had come the day before.
At the time of writing, final figures are not in yet but I expect them to show that the event was very successful. Attendance was at the high end of expectations and in dollar terms vastly more than expected, which is not bad for a free event.
We had two tables at the entrance to the Leisure Centre. At the first we asked for people’s postcode which allowed us to collect some attendance numbers (not everyone filled it in) and an idea of the demographic. A large number were from out of town, some obviously travelling (Adelaide, Wodonga and Melbourne), but many came from across south-east NSW and some from Canberra. One Canberra couple had come down especially for the Expo.
We gave people tickets for a lucky door prize.
On the second table we promoted solar lights organised by Charmaine White. Loads of people donated $10 or $20. We quickly sold out of the stock we had pre-purchased.
The Lions Club also sold out early with yours truly leaving it too late for a burger-with-the-lot. And the pancake lady
sold out too!
The highlight of the weekend for me was the information night. A great buffet dinner for $30 pp was provided by the club which definitely set a convivial mood.
John Grimes, CEO of the Solar Council was first up with a very interesting account of past and present situation. Some $45 billion has been spent in recent years providing mostly unused grid capacity. He also provided a very clear explanation of net metering and smart meters.
Our MC for the night, David McInnes introduced Lawrence McIntosh from SolarShare Canberra. Lawrence also does work for UTS in Sydney and was involved in some recent work looking at virtual net metering and mini grids.
Our third speaker, Lisa Miller from the Office of Environment and Heritage, spoke about ‘Demystifying Solar’, with a ton of practical advice and a free USB stick with lots of information.
I love Narooma. Local businesses were so generous in sponsoring this event. Thank you all!
The expo committee also deserve a special thank-you. Without your efforts, this event would not have happened. John, Angie, Mike, Chris, and Laurelle, thanks for your expertise and enthusiasm. One committee member is so fired up she wants to do it all again – in ten years time…
Frank Eden
Committee Chair
The Week that Was
I think Michael and Frank have summarised the week very well – it was full on and a great one for Narooma Rotary. The Expo certainly put us front and centre in our community. Check out our Facebook page to see a Narooma News video highlighting the event. Click here to access the page.
Some Humour
What is a Grandparent
Answers by 8-year-old Children
Grandparents are a lady and a man who have no children of her own. So they like other people’s.
A grandfather is a man grandmother.
Grandparents don’t have to do anything except be there when we come to see them. They are so old they shouldn’t play hard or run.
It is good if they drive us to the store and have lots of quarters for us.
When they take us for walks, they slow down past things like pretty leaves and caterpillars.
They show us and talk to us about the colour of the flowers and also why we shouldn’t step on “cracks.”
They don’t say, “Hurry up.”
Usually grandmothers are fat, but not too fat to tie your shoes.
They wear glasses and funny underwear.
They can take their teeth out.
Grandparents don’t have to be smart. They answer questions like “why isn’t God married?” and “How come dogs chase cats? “.
When they read to us, they don’t skip. They don’t mind if we ask for the same story over again.
Everybody should try to have a grandmother, especially if you don’t have television, because they are the only grown-ups who like to spend time with us.
They know we should have snack-time before bedtime and they say prayers with us every time, and kiss us even when we’ve acted bad.