Bob’s Blog

Hello everyone

Last week the Club received a letter from Batemans Bay Rotary Club seeking support from our Club for a Global Grant Application for a water and sanitation project in conjunction with the RC Intramuros in Manila, Philippines.

The project will build toilet facilities for the three Aetas communities of Sitio Flora, Sitio Kalawang and Sitio Babo to address their current problem of inadequate access to sound sanitation facilities.  To me it sounds like a worthwhile project to support, it is a great example of how we can support another Club and ‘Make a Difference’ internationally.

I have also been contacted by Ron Finnegan from Merimbula Rotary. Ron is also the chair of the Sapphire Coast Arts & Sports Youth Development Fund. The Fund was first established in October of last year with the specific purpose of supporting the youth in the Bega Valley Shire in an effort to relieve the cost constraints for children and their parents associated with travel and other expenses to major population areas of Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra to participate in regional and state-wide sporting and cultural activities.

The Fund is its own organisation; it seeks and enjoys funding support from service clubs, business houses, community clubs and arts groups in the community. Since inception it has supported 20 performing arts students and athletes and the list grows. Ron is keen to come and talk to us about the Fund and how it operates. It is something we may wish to consider as another way of ‘Making a Difference’ in our own community.

Thank you to Michael O’Connor who has organised time slots with the Council to sell Whale Watching raffle tickets. Michael fronted up at the newsagency and IGA last Wednesday, Friday and Saturday to sell tickets. I helped on Friday and Saturday and John Rungen last Wednesday. Michael is a fantastic salesman, his skills enabling us to sell 10 of 40 books to date, without his willingness to take on this role our task of selling would be that much harder.

Speaking of Michael, he will be our guest presenter this week. I know all members are keen to hear the highs and lows of his epic trek. Remember it is a partners’ and friends’ night; it would be great to see a room full of people on Thursday.

Have great week.

Bob

 

The Week That Was

Jenni Bourke’s talk last week was a delight. While we see aspects of her work and influence most days around town, that is just a small part of an extraordinary range of Jen’s work and creativity. Jen is a local ceramic artist, sculptor and potter. What impressed us was her passion and enthusiasm for her art, for teaching (not only kids but her Wednesday ceramics class which includes dedicated students Peter Hartley and Donna Anderson), for our community, and for expressing through her art issues that deeply affect her.

Jen was born in England and grew up in North Narooma where her parents ran Wagonga Slopes cabins (where Fishermen’s Crescent is now). She trained in Canberra in the mid1970s at the Canberra School of Art and then received a Diploma of Education.

Her first involvement with Narooma Rotary was in 1979 when she installed three tall wooden people sculptures in Rotary Park. Our Rotarians cut trees Jenni had selected from the forest, carted them to her studio where she painted them, and then installed them in the Park. They proved very popular.

From 1979, Jen taught Art and Ceramics at Narooma High until retiring a couple of years ago. Her students also painted telegraph poles around town and later large murals around Narooma, including on the toilet blocks at Kianga and Bar Beach.

Some of her sculptural works she showed us are powerful, realistic and moving statements on social issues, such as the life-size sculptures of abandoned babies in Afghanistan prompted by Mahboba’s Promise and then from meeting Mahboba.

Her amazingly detailed dog sculptures are exhibited regularly in a Sydney gallery.

She throws herself 150% into projects she cares about, like making 200 ‘boob candle pots’ and ‘bra bowls’ to raise funds for the Breast Cancer Network and the National Breast Cancer Foundation, or in the renovations to the Kinema.

In thanking Jen, her former boss President Bob described Jen as ‘an outstanding teacher’.

Busking Festival thank you to sponsors

We are working towards having a thank you evening for sponsors of the busking Festival on Thursday 31 August. Details to come.

This week

As Bob mentioned, this Thursday Michael O’Connor will be talking about his walking of the Bibbulmun Track. This is a partners’ and friends’ night so please don’t forget to let Anthony know numbers so we can ensure you have a seat.

The Renewable Energy Expo committee will meet beforehand at 5pm at the Golf Club.

Cheers

Laurelle

Bob’s Blog

Hello Everyone

We held our first markets for the 2017/18 Rotary year on Sunday. While July is traditionally our smallest market being mid-winter, stallholder numbers were well down compared to those who had booked in. Some members guessed it may have been because some stallholders may have thought it was only the third Sunday of the month.  Whatever the reason, the sun came out and we were treated to a magic winter day with plenty of locals checking out stalls.

When I first joined Rotary, we held the markets in Narooma Plaza carpark. As you can imagine, cars intermingled with stall holders on a sloping carpark wasn’t the best way to conduct a market. The markets in those days were more a trash and treasure (actually mostly trash), rather than the variety we have today including fruit and veg, clothing, art and craft, plant stalls, jumping castles and freshly made gourmet pizzas.

Narooma Rotary Markets have been at NATA Oval since early 2000. They are now a vibrant and important part of our community. Since 2000, I estimate the markets have raised more than $175,000 for our small Club. These funds have been used to support local charities such as the Rural Fire Service, the Volunteer Rescue Association, Surf Club, local schools and pre-schools, and international and national charities such as ShelterBox, the Rotary Foundation, Australian Rotary Health, and those affected by natural and man-made disasters.

The challenge for us of course is how do we make a great fundraiser even better? When Chris returns from overseas we will undertake a quick review of our markets to make them better and more relevant to our community.

Planning is well underway again for our 2017 Renewable Energy Expo to be held on Saturday 25 November. Our goal is to build on last year’s event and to provide as much information as possible to our community about renewable energy, reducing energy costs and reducing carbon emissions. If you have any suggestions about the Expo, please let Frank know; he is keen to hear your ideas. He and Laurelle checked out a forum hosted by Clean Energy for Eternity on Sunday afternoon at Bermagui.

Have a great week everyone.

Bob

The Week That Was

 Only 10 members were at last week’s meeting with many members away in search of warmer climates.  We were fortunate to have many guests including Gordon Bentley, his wife Di and son Scott, Enid and Colin Holmes, Merinda Antill, Rachel McInnes, her mother-in-Law and her friend, and of course our guest speaker Anthony Mayne.

Anthony told us about his role as a Eurobodalla Shire Councillor and Deputy Mayor. He enjoys being on Council and felt all councillors and staff worked hard to improve our local communities. He said councillors often became involved in issues that weren’t necessarily the role of local government because community members felt they were contactable and understood local issues.

One question that arose during Anthony’s talk was the origins of the shire’s name of ‘Eurobodalla’ (see note at the end of The Week that was’).

 Our MUNA team

Our Club will again sponsor a Narooma High team to the Model United Nations Assembly (MUNA) in Canberra’s Old Parliament House 18-20 August. This has proved to be a hugely successful program with our local students in recent years, thanks to the initiatives and dedication of some of our Rotarians and the support of teacher Lachlan Reilly.

Our team of Cyann Vlatovic (who went as an observer last year), Campbell Allison and Isaak Anderson, all from Year 11, will represent France. Sandra Doyle reports they have been busy researching France for some weeks now and working on the five resolutions they will debate in Canberra from France’s viewpoint.

Our students are now in the middle of exams but once they are over ‘the team will be back in full swing’.  Sandra says they had hoped to meet up with Batemans Bay and Moruya teams before MUNA, as they had in the past, but at this stage it looks as if that day will coincide with their exams. She will continue working with the team and Narooma High teacher Lachlan Reilly during lunchtimes.

CEFE and Powering Bermagui

Clean Energy for Eternity (CEFE) organised an impressive forum in Bermagui on Sunday afternoon –‘Powering Bermagui’ – which Frank Eden and I attended. It attracted about 200 people. The outcome was the possibility of a solar farm for Bermagui and a challenge suggested by Dr Mathew Nott of a competition between Tathra and Bermagui for the most solar panels by 2020.

The eight speakers included company representatives at the forefront of technology aimed at cheaper power, improved reliability and lower emissions, and included Professor Ross Garnaut, now with Zen Energy. Speakers were allowed only 10 minutes each, with 30 minutes questions at the end.

Bega Valley Shire Mayor Cr Kristy McBain opened the forum, fresh from the launch of the Climate Council’s Cities Power Partnership in Canberra. The four south coast councils were among the 30 signatories to the initiative designed to tackle a zero emissions future despite what some described as ‘the political lethargy’ on the issue at the Federal level.

Needless to say Frank gathered lots of ideas for our Expo in November.  Frank of course would love to see Narooma also respond to Dr Nott’s solar panel challenge.

 More Tertiary Scholar results

Carl McEvoy, our 2015 scholar, received three credits in his recent exams for his Bachelor of Media and Communications – Media Production at UTS in Sydney. His counsellor Angie is delighted and sent congratulations to Carl from Amsterdam.

Carl’s subjects were Communicating Difference (about gender relations and cultural differences), Media Power (broke down the stereotypes of the media, from news to television shows), and Fictions where everyone in the class wrote a four-minute script and the best three scripts were made. Carl’s film, for which he did the production design, sound and was the chief producer, was in the top five.

Post script on ‘Eurobodalla’

A couple of our members asked me about the origins of ‘Eurobodalla’ following Cr Anthony Mayne’s talk last week. So… Eurobodalla was a small settlement that developed along the Tuross River west of Bodalla, in the area around Tyrone Bridge (to Nerrigundah), from the 1860s. The name is derived from an Aboriginal word for the area and supposedly means ‘land between waters’ or ‘another boat harbour’.

While Thomas Sutcliffe Mort was developing his Bodalla property, others selected land in the adjoining area of Urabodalla [sic] near  the junction of the Bega, Wagonga, Bodalla and Nerrigundah (then a gold mining area) roads. There was a store near the road junction in 1865 and the mailmen between Moruya and Bega passed twice a day. At that time the main south ‘road’ between Moruya and Bega went through Eurobodalla and skirted around the Inlet to the west of Gulaga.

It is interesting to note Eurobodalla ‘nicked’ the post office from Bodalla in 1869/1870, much to the disgust of Bodalla residents who soon had the post office at Bodalla reinstated. For some years the two post offices co-existed. There were three inns around Eurobodalla about this time – Manusu’s Grecian Inn on the south side of the Tuross, and two on the north side on the road between Nerrigundah and Moruya.

Eurobodalla had the first public school in the area (which lasted at least until 1927) and for many years a tennis court, cheese factory (until early twentieth century), School of Arts and Roman Catholic Church (moved to Dalmeny in 1950s). Bodalla soon overtook Eurobodalla in importance and after the ferry was installed at Narooma in 1894, traffic bypassed Eurobodalla and it gradually  declined.

 

Bob’s Blog

 Hello Everyone

As I mentioned at last week’s Club Assembly one of our major funding raising efforts will be to support Australian Rotary Health.

Australian Rotary Health is one of the largest funders of mental health research in Australia. It also provides funding into a broad range of general health areas, provides scholarships for rural medical and nursing students including Indigenous health students. Australian Rotary Health also provides funding into areas of health that do not readily attract funding and promotes findings to the community. To find out more about Australian Rotary Health click here to check out their website.

With the changeover gone and the cooler weather about it is interesting to note that many of our members have decided take a well-earned holiday and head to warmer climates. Peter Bull is trying to improve his golf on the Gold Coast and Mal has headed off in the caravan to seek the sun. If Facebook is any guide Chris and Ang are having a great time exploring Northern Europe. Iris has even left Frank to his own devices and headed off to Germany to catch up with family. Lyn Hastings is heading to the USA and Rod will be heading off to Canada soon.

These absences combined with other members tasking short breaks significantly reduce the number of members available to help at Club events and activities. The best way to address this is to increase our membership, something we need to discuss and act on in the not too distant future.

Have a great week.

Bob

The Week that Was

 Some points from the Board meeting and Club Assembly

• Busking Festival thank you to sponsors’ night – Board has proposed for Thursday 31 August 5.30-7pm at Golf Club. Details to come.

  

• Barbecue for old Falcon car rally Sunday 15 October – Board agreed to request to provide a barbecue, requiring two shifts. Details to come.
• Our 60^th next year – Board is looking for ideas of how best to celebrate it.
• Membership ideas – President Bob raised possibility of associate membership as a way of interesting potential members, and of ensuring current members feel involved with current projects.More items next week.

Narooma Lions thanks for the Busking

We had a lovely letter from Narooma Lions President Margaret Latimer congratulating us ‘for the outstanding success’ of the busking festival in May. She said, ‘Rotary’s foresight, energy and commitment were exemplary’. She thanked us for asking Lions to be part of the event and said how much they all enjoyed  it.

More updates from our Tertiary Scholars

Melanie Miller, our 2016 Scholar, has done really well in her first semester for her Bachelor of Clinical Exercise Physiology at UNE. She achieved a distinction in Human Anatomy, a credit for Exercise Science and a distinction in Human Physiology. Mel had a gap year in 2016. Bob Antill is her counsellor.

Sabine Kildea, our scholar this year, received a credit in all four subjects – Criminology, Politics, International Relations and International Security. She is doing an Arts degree at ANU. Michael O’Connor is her counsellor.

Meanwhile Carl McEvoy, our 2015 scholar, is waiting on his results which won’t be out until later this month. He is doing a Bachelor of Media and Communications – Media Production at UTS in Sydney. Angie Ulrichsen is his counsellor. This will be his final scholarship payment.

Narooma Lions Drug and Alcohol Forum

Narooma Lions plans a community forum on Saturday 11 November to raise awareness about the impact of drug and alcohol abuse on individuals, families and the wider community. A session for high school students will be on the day before. Our Board has agreed to Lion’s request for support, but asked for some clarification on how we might best do that.

District merger’ ‘in the wind’

President Bob mentioned in the last newsletter that there is a proposal to merge our Rotary District 9710 with the neighbouring District 9700 from 1 July 2020. That’s ‘redistricting’ in Rotary jargon. We will be asked to vote on the proposal at club level soon.

D9700 covers clubs in central and southern NSW including Orange, Bathurst, Wagga Wagga, Griffith, Forbes, Parkes, Cowra and Young as well as Grenfell and Lake Cargelligo (where Bob started his teaching career). Should the two districts merge, the distance from clubs at the District’s extremities will be over 550km.

This proposal has come about because a Rotary International (RI) policy states the RI Board may eliminate or change the boundaries of any district with fewer than 1,100 Rotarians or move the clubs from such districts into adjacent districts. D9700 in April had 1143 members and falling. Short of a hike in membership, D9700 is heading for that 1,100 number. (Interestingly, our D9710 has 1306 members, 18 less than July last year.)

RI Director Noel Trevaskis stepped in and pre-empted this mandatory change so the two districts could have a say about their future. He met with the current DGs, DGEs and DGNs late last year and discussions continue. Our DG Steve Hill says should the merger proposal go ahead, a committee would be formed to look at how it should happen.  He adds it would not affect what happens at club level.

Interestingly Steve also noted that before 1977-1978, our Rotary District was called D270 and included most of the area now known as D9700. He wondered if this merger proposal is ‘Back to the Future’.

Can anyone help OzHarvest August-October

OzHarvest is looking for two volunteers to collect good but excess fresh food and vegetables from Bermagui Woolworths and the 777 Store, and from Narooma Woolworths on Tuesdays and Thursdays 8.30-9am, particularly from August through to October. That’s while their two regular volunteers are away, although they are also looking for more assistance longer term. That food is then to be dropped off at Katungul Aboriginal Medical Centre in Narooma and Bermagui and Wallaga Lake Preschools

OzHarvest is a national food charity which collects such food from supermarkets. growers and restaurants that would otherwise end up in landfill and deliver to local charities. If you are interested, please ring the OzHarvest Sapphire Coast Coordinator Christine Welsh on 0438 407 364.

Rotary International President Elect dies

RI President Ian Riseley has passed on the following news.

It is with the heaviest of hearts that I share the sad news that the President-elect of Rotary International, Sam F. Owori, died last night as a result of post-operative complications from a planned surgery. Sam was a special person in so many ways, and his unexpected death is a huge loss to Rotary, his community, and the world.

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

Bob’s Blog

Hello Everyone,

Welcome to the first Narooma Rotary Beacon for the 2017/18 Rotary Year. The Rotary Theme for this year is ‘Rotary Making A Difference’. The challenge for us as small Club is to make a difference locally, nationally and internationally.

Locally we make a difference by supporting local organisations such as the surf life saving club, volunteer rescue and the rural fire service, without our support these organisations would find it much harder to operate effectively in our community. We have made a difference  through the provision of defibrillators in key locations around the town, just think if a difibrillator we have purchased saves one life we have made a huge difference to that person and their family.  Our various youth projects expand opportunities for our young people, opening their eyes to the broader world and the opportunities that are available to them, and perhaps even making a difference nationally and internationally.

Nationally we hope to make a difference this year by supporting Australian Rotary Health, especially the fight to shine a light on mental health.

Internationally we will continue to make a difference by supporting our charity ‘The Rotary Foundation’, especially the fight to eradicate polio from the world,  we are so close to meeting our goal, however, the last efforts are the hardest, what a difference Rotary has already made saving thousands of lives through massive vaccination programs, just think of the difference we will make when polio is eradicated from the world.

Last Thursday night’s Changeover was a great success, thank you to the team who organised the event making sure that everything went smoothly.

As Narooma Rotarians we must acknowledge Bob Antill’s outstanding leadership of our Club. Bob stepped in earlier this year when Michael was no longer able to continue in the role, he carried out his duties with dedication and consideration. Bob has been ably assisted by Merinda who has helped out behind the scenes as well as front and centre, keeping us entertained with her wonderful voice, innovative guest appearances as our speaker and engaging smile.  As I said on Thursday night Bob and Merinda have been the glue that has held the Club together in recent years, thank you to both of you for your service to Narooma Rotary, I hope you enjoy this year in a slightly slower lane.

This week we have our first ‘Rotarians Present’ nights. Thank you to Rolf for agreeing to be the first cab off the rank.  We will meet at 6:00pm at Rolf’s Patisserie  following Rolf’s presentation we will move to the Golf Club for dinner.

Warm regards

Bob

The Week that was

Our changeover last Thursday was really enjoyable and a wonderful time to reflect on what ended up being quite an extraordinary year.

Michael started the year as President with great enthusiasm but stepped down in February partly to focus on his preparations for walking the Bibbulmun Track in Western Australia to raise funds for the Global Polio Eradication Initiative and for a school in the Kenyan village of Rangi.

Bob Antill stepped back into the president’s role as well as continuing as treasurer and Assistant Governor. President Bob referred to Bob Antill and Merinda as ‘the glue that has held the Club together for many years’ with good reason.

Bob Antill reflected on the year’s impressive achievements, outlined in more detail in the Changeover Bulletin. While we are all well aware of them, it’s only when you reflect on what we achieved through the year that the extent of everyone’s’ dedication and hard work really sinks in.

Among those achievements were launching two very successful community events – the Renewable Energy Expo and the Busking Festival. The Renewable Energy Expo received the prestigious Rotary District 9710 Community Service Award in Canberra the previous weekend, which Bob passed on to Frank as the instigator and coordinator at the Changeover.

Bob also presented Frank with the Club’s Rotarian of the Year Award recognising his work with our web page and assisting other clubs with there’s, taking over and simplifying the marking out of the markets, and his initiative with the Renewable Energy Expo.

Bob Antill paid tribute to Michael O’Connor’s initiative at the Changeover. He raised $6,000 towards the worldwide polio eradication campaign and $6,000 for the Rangi school, a cause dear to Michael.

His substantial contributions were recognised by the Club by making him a Paul Harris Fellow, awarded to him at a special afternoon at Charmaine’s place last Saturday.

Also amazing on reflection, our club gave over $54,000 last year to local, national and international communities, funds raised from Narooma Markets, Michael and other initiatives.

Special mention was made of 12 defibrillators for the Eurobodalla Shire, purchased with the proceeds from the Moruya Races last December organised by Narooma, Batemans Bay and Moruya Rotary Clubs in conjunction with Moruya Jockey Club.  Bob Antill presented the final of

our allocation of four to Phil Constable for Mitre 10.

Now we are into a new year under President Bob Aston and it too is shaping up to be a big but fun year under the new Rotary International theme ‘Making a Difference’.

 

 

Short Words

This is my final short words as we power towards the changeover on Thursday night.

On Sunday I attended the District changeover with Michael O’Connor. Michael was able to present DG Steve Hill with a cheque for $6,000 to go toward the fight against Polio a fantastic effort.

Soon after I was up accepting the District Community Service Award 2016/17 for the Renewable Energy Expo. Wow this was fantastic to represent our wonderful Club in accepting the award. Congratulations to all, especially Frank and his committee for their outstanding work and to  Laurelle for taking the time to write up our nomination.

Last Thursday night Merinda and I attended Batemans Bay Changeover with Jeff Thorpe handing over to Maureen Manning and this Wednesday I’ll be in Moruya to see Pauline Gleeson hand over to Mike Dent before I hand over to Bob Aston on Thursday night…… that’s a lot of handing over.

Well done to everyone who held the fort at the markets on Sunday, thank you.

My heartfelt thanks go to Rod Walker and Laurelle who are organising Thursday nigh’s changeover and to Linda who will be our MC. Should be a great night with a few surprises.

See you then

Bob Ant

The Week That Was

Last week 17 members were in attendance at our Dinner meeting. We welcomed Colin Holmes, husband of Enid and, of course Franks’s wife, Iris.

Unfortunately our guest speaker was unable to get to the meeting so Chris O’Brien filled in at the last minute with a game of ‘Scattergories’. It was a  close fought game with lots of fun and the occasional challenge.  The winner? I have no idea as I was so engrossed in the game I forgot to take note.

Last Sunday the 2017/18 Board met to finalise planning and priorities for the the 20-17/18 year.

Our priorities for the year are:

To make difference locally and internationally

Have fun

Promote Rotary within the local community

Increase Club membership

We also discussed Board roles and responsibilities, major projects and fundraising. We also agreed yo ask members to assist by being on committees to help manage our major projects as well as Director Portfolio areas. We will discuss this in more detail at our first Club Assembly.

The major projects for the year include, The Renweables Expo, The Busking Competition, The Monthly Markets, The Combined Clubs’ Race Day, Pride of Workmanship and the Duck Race. We also agreed to carry out an evaluation of the Markets when Chris returns from holidays and to do a through check of the food van to determine what needs to be done address maintenance issues  to update it to meet our needs.

Fundraising for the year will support the following:-

• Narooma Rotary Scholarship Fund
• Rotary Youth Projects
• Australian Rotary Health
• Rotary Foundation
• Local organisations, especially volunteer organisations

The Board agreed to set membership dues for the year at $250.00 payable in 2 six monthly installments. (Invoices will hit your in box shortly). We also agreed to charge $22.00 for our meals with $2.00 going towards administration.  If members wish to continue to pay $25.00 each week, $3.00 will be allocated to the Foundation in the member’s name. We will review these charges in December.

Board meetings will be held at 5:00pm on the second Thursday of each month, the Club meeting after the Board meeting will be an Assembly. The first Thursday of each month will be a ‘Rotarian Presents Night’ with Rolf being the first cab of the rank followed by Michael O’Connor in August. Ange has organised great guest speakers for the 3rd and 4th Thursday of each month, check out the events page for more information.

The Week Ahead

Lynda Ord received the great news on Sunday night that our nominee, Ruby Christmas, has been accepted as a Global Youth Exchange student to Norway in 2018. Ruby and her mum will join us on Thursday night so that we can get to know her a little better and to help her plan for her year way.

And don’t forget Sunday is market day. Please see John if you can help out.

After Hours Medical Help

With winter and the flu season upon us, COORDINARE – South Eastern NSW Primary Health Network has implemented a campaign to help raise awareness of the after hours medical options that are available within the region.

The campaign is targeted at local residents and encourages us to:

1. first determine the availability and after hours arrangements of our GP, or nearest general practice (details can be found at nhsd.com.au)
2. if that is not an option, call the after hours GP Helpline (1800 022 222) for free medical advice and support
3. in an emergency, call 000 or attend the emergency department of your nearest public hospital.

 

South East Regional Hospital – Carers Accommodation

There have been a couple of articles recently in the Bega District News about construction of the carers accommodation at the hospital. Members will remember that the Club contributed to the project. Click here and then here for more information.

Change Over

Don’t forget that next Thursday is Changeover. Laurelle is putting a special edition of the Beacon together so this is my last Beacon for 2017/18.

 

 

Short Words

I hope that everyone enjoyed the long weekend with some time to destress, relax  or even to catch up on some light reading.

One thing I have been reading is the Rotary Health News Letter. What struck a chord with me was this statement “Evidence suggests 3 in 4 adult mental health conditions emerge by the age of 24 and half by the age of 14.” Having dealt with this within my own family, I understand where this is coming from. Research dollars are still lacking, hopefully we have enough left in our charity funds to give a sizable donation to this vital cause. After all, youth are a big part of Rotary.

Finally, we have paid all the prize winners from the Busking Festival. Thank you to Lynn for her support and diligence in getting us over the line.

Last week, our meeting was full of “fishy stories” of sharks and seals which made us think of snorkelling with them off the Island. It was truly a great night.

Soon all the Changeovers will be taking place for the Clubs that I look after as Assistant Governor. I am happy that our Club will be in excellent hands with Bob Aston along with Mike Dent at Moruya and Maureen Manning at Batemans Bay.

Cheers

Bob Ant

Presidential Peace Conference

By Arnold R. Grahl

For more than a decade, the Rotary Peace Centers have been developing leaders in peace and conflict prevention and resolution. But that program isn’t Rotary’s only contribution to a more peaceful world. Every time Rotary members provide clean water and sanitation, support basic education, grow local economies, or stop the spread of infectious diseases, they’re building peace. To read the full article click here.

Global leaders and key donors affirm their commitment to ending polio

By Ryan Hyland and Teresa Schmedding

With polio on the brink of eradication, nations from around the world and key donors pledged more than $1 billion on Monday to energize the global fight to end the paralyzing disease.

The historic pledges of new funds at the Rotary Convention in Atlanta, Georgia, USA, will go toward drastically shrinking the $1.5 billion gap in the funding that the partners of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative say is needed to reduce polio cases to zero worldwide. Just five cases have been reported this year, the lowest number in history.  Click here to read the full story.

Vale Bill Hardie

Bill died suddenly last week in Glen Innes. Bill joined Narooma Rotary in 1999.

Bill and Lillian came to town to run and edit the ‘Far South Coast iMag’ a monthly tourist magazine covering holiday areas from Batemans Bay to Merimbula. After they sold the magazine Bill and Lillian ran a takeaway shop in Lynches Arcade (where the pizza place is now located) for a short period before setting up a picture framing business, also in Lynches Arcade. When Lillian became ill they closed the business and headed north to that they could be closer to Lillian’s daughter who lived in Brisbane.

Bill was president of the Club in 2003/4. He the club treasurer for a couple years and he also held several other board positions whilst a member of the club. Bill honoured as a Paul Harris Fellow in recognition of his contributions to the club.

Bill played a significant role in fund raising for the current food van that was purchased late in 2002, selling raffle tickets for a newfangled ‘surround sound’ system at the Narooma Sporting & Services Club on Friday nights for many months. Bill also spent many hours fixing up the van with new cupboards and helping to install fridges and the food warmer, whenever the electrics failed Bill was the one who had the skills to get everything working again.

Bill’s funeral service will be held in Inverell on Wednesday. Lillian passed away early last year.

The Week that Was

14 Members were present at last week’s meeting. We also welcomed our guest speaker, Bill Barker and his partner Barbara. We also welcomed Iris and Lynda Ord’s partner Ashley.

Frank three minute talk about his colleague, associate and boss, Brand Hoff, who set up the IT start-up ‘Tower Software’ in 1985. Frank worked for Brand foe many years helping to develop software packages and writing code to make them work. The most notable product developed was TRIM, an electronic records management system used extensively across government and industry.

Bill gave a most interesting presentation on marine life in the Batemans Marine Park, especially the waters off Montague Island.  Bill’s photography and videos, especially of grey nurse sharks and seals was excellent.

Charmaine won the bread, our guest speaker Bill won the white wine and Peter Bull took home the red.

This Week

This week Belinda Lenihan will update us on the latest happenings with the PCYC in the Eurobodalla and Bega Shires.

Meeting of the 2017/18 Board  

A reminder to all 2017/18 Board members that there will be a meeting a Bob Aston’s home on Sunday 18 June at 10:30 am to finalise plans for the next Rotary year. An agenda will be emailed out later in the week.

 

 

 

 

Short Words

A much quieter weekend to catch our breath after the Busking Competition and Market last weekend.

Last Thursday night we held our last Board meeting before changeover. We discussed using the Whale watching raffle proceeds to go toward the race day and not sell race day raffle tickets. This is because, three raffles in a row is taking its toll on our small band of ticket sellers. All members were very enthusiastic about this change.

Bowel Scan has now finished and much thanks goes to John Rungen for chasing up the final numbers, collecting the money which we banked. John then took the cheque to Dalmeny for Lyn to counter sign before putting it in the mail. Thank you again John for going above and beyond.

We’ve started transferring the prize money from the Busking Competition to the various winners. This will take a few days as we have a limit on how much we can transfer in one go. It is not worth the hassle to increase the limit then drop it again after we have finished making the payments.

We still have funds to disperse from the Charity Account, I would like to finalise donations before the Changeover.

Please let me know if you have any suggestions.

Rolfe excelled himself again with a wonderful cake he made and was presented to Chris O’Brien to celebrate her birthday. Chris was not only happy because it was cake but it also meant we had desert on Thursday night.

Have a great week

Bob Ant.

The Week that Was

As Bob, has indicated it was a quiet Rotary week after a few weeks of intense effort with various functions and activities.

14 Members also with Iris attended our Thursday meeting as usual the Golf Club provided us with some excellent meals with lots of choice. At the Club Assembly, we discussed ideas for the next Rotary year including raffles, guest speakers, funding priorities and social activities.

Bob also updated us on Michael O’Connor’s decision to end his epic walk due to injury. All members were grateful that he made a sensible decision to pull up stumps. Hopefully we will see Michael back to Rotary in a week or so.

Frank worn the lemons (for lemonade), Peter Hartley won the chocolate almonds, Laurelle the red wine (again!) and Lynda Ord the white wine.

The Week Ahead

This week we welcome Bill Barker  who will talk to us about marine life in the Batemans Marine Park.

The Batemans Marine Park extends from the most northerly point of Murramarang Beach near Bawley Point to the southern side of Wallaga Lake entrance at Murunna Point.

The marine park:

• covers approximately 850 km², extending from the three-nautical-mile offshore limit of NSW waters to the mean high water mark within all rivers, estuaries, bays, lagoons, inlets, and saline and brackish coastal lakes (excluding Nargal Lake);
• include offshore islands including Tollgate Islands and Montague Island.

The park was established in April 2006 and its zones and management rules commenced in June 2007.

An outstanding feature of the park is the large expanses of rocky reef that support a diverse array of fish, invertebrates and algae. Rocky shores, offshore rocky reefs, kelp beds, seagrasses, mangroves, sponge gardens, sandy beaches, estuaries and open waters are key habitats.

Within the park, Montague Island Nature Reserve is:

• a breeding place for over 40,000 sea birds;
• an Australian and New Zealand fur seal haul-out site;
• a nesting location for three shearwaters (mutton bird) species, crested terns and silver gulls;
• a nesting site for 8000 to 12,000 little penguins – Australia’s only native penguin.

Large aggregations of morwong, trevally and snapper are found off Montague Island, along with pelagic species such as kingfish, albacore and yellowfin tuna that follow the warmer currents.

Many of the park’s highly significant coastal lakes and lagoons, which include Durras, Brunderee, Tarourga and Brou Lake, have been recommended for protection. These smaller lakes intermittently close and open to the sea, creating the unique environments predominantly found along the state’s south coast.

The park lies within the country of the Yuin people, who maintain a strong connection to the area’s sea country.

(Notes from Batemans Marine Park website. For more information click here)

Upcoming membership webinars for 2016-2017

Learn more about the ways you can strengthen Rotary by participating in a membership focused webinar.  Hear how other clubs have adopted new club structures, increased membership, raised diversity, enhanced member satisfaction and raised the profile of Rotary in their communities.  And understand more about the resources available to support you in your efforts to strengthen Rotary.

The webinar features guest panellists with direct experience, as well as a host of useful ideas and tips for Rotarians.  Webinars last forty minutes, and are recorded for wider distribution.  No special software is required to participate in a webinar; you simply need to register via the link provided.

Telling our story: Communicating about Rotary in the community

Thursday 8 June 2017, 8.15 am (AEST)

A strong brand, and high levels of community awareness and understanding are critical to the future of Rotary.  In this very exciting webinar event, we feature David Alexander, Chief Communications Officer for Rotary International, based in Evanston.  David will focus on ‘telling our Rotary story’ and Rotary’s latest ‘People of Action’ campaign.

Learn how to ensure Rotary resonates in your community:

Register:        https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/1455062179133675523

More information? Contact Jessie Harman, Project Lead, Regional Membership Plan (Zone 8) at jessieharman@gmail.com

Golf Club Membership

A reminder that all members of the Club should also join the Narooma Golf Club. 2017/18 memberships are now due. Social membership for the year is $15.00.

Some Humour

Getting Old (Stolen from Moruya Club)

A group of men, all turning 50, decided they would lunch at Maxims in Bondi because the waitresses had big breasts and wore mini-skirts. Ten years later, all turning 60, they agreed that they would meet at Maxims in Bondi because the waitresses were attractive, the food and service was good and the beer selection was excellent. Ten years later, all turning 70, they again selected Maxims at Bondi because there was plenty of parking, they could dine in peace with no loud music, and it was good value for money. Ten years later, all turning 80, it was again Maxims at Bondi – the restaurant was wheelchair accessible and had a toilet for the disabled. Ten years later, all turning 90, the friends discussed where they should meet for lunch. Finally, it was agreed that they would meet at Maxims at Bondi because they had never been there before. Editor’s note. This scurrilous ageist yarn comes from John Gillett.

60th High School Reunion (thanks to Di Lovatt). 

He was a widower and she a widow.

They had known each other for several years being high school classmates and having attended class reunions in the past without fail.

This 60th anniversary of their class, the widower and the widow made a foursome with two other singles.  They had a wonderful evening, their spirits high. The widower throwing admiring glances across the table. The widow smiling coyly back at him.

Finally, he picked up courage to ask her, “Will you marry me?”

After about six seconds of careful consideration, she answered, “Yes,….. yes I will!”

The evening ended on a happy note for the widower. But the next morning he was troubled.  Did she say “Yes” or did she say “No?”  He couldn’t remember. Try as he would, he just could not recall. He went over the conversation of the previous evening, but his mind was blank.  He remembered asking the question but for the life of him could not recall her response. With fear and trepidation, he picked up the phone and called her.

First, he explained that he couldn’t remember as well as he used to. Then he reviewed the past evening.  As he gained a little more courage he then inquired of her. “When I asked if you would marry me, did you say “Yes” or did you say “No?”

“Why you silly man, I said ‘Yes, Yes, I will.’ And I meant it with all my heart.”

The widower was delighted. He felt his heart skip a beat.  Then she continued. “And I am so glad you called because I couldn’t remember who asked me!”

A Blast from the Past

Do you recognise these two? Evidently they are showing off the Cinders Trophy from 1995! I understand that we had a big win.

 

Short words

On Monday morning, I walked into a shop, owner says “are you (Rotary) responsible for that fiasco on the weekend?” I suppose so “It was awful, no one was complaining, everyone was smiling, the town was abuzz” he then smiled and shook my hand “well done”.

This summed up the response to the Busking festival on Saturday. We (Narooma Rotary) with the support and help of other service clubs, businesses around town, the Council, River of Art and the community produced a great event for the town.

It is with enormous pride that I have accepted so much praise for our Rotary Club and the positive effect it has had on the community. It wouldn’t have happened without Sandra pushing it, John supporting her and the committee she led. Well done to all, and thank you to everyone who helped.

Last Thursday we helped with the Cancer Council Biggest Morning Tea at Anthony’s Plaza Pharmacy. Peter Hartley was on the BBQ despite being pestered by phone from his son. It appears that his son’s wife had gone into labour and Julie (Peter’s wife) was MIA and not answering her phone [ a terrible thing in this high tech instant communication world]. Pete was able to find Julie and they arrived in Canberra in time for the birth of their first grandchild, a daughter 2.9kg and all doing well.

Peter was able to make it back for the Busking Festival and the Markets on Sunday. Thank you to all who helped on Sunday as it was a big call to back up after Saturday.

This week we have a Club Assembly followed by a Board meeting, a difficult follow up after last week’s wonderful meeting where the String Family performed.

Spare a thought for Michael O’Connor as he is doing it a bit tough, following a couple of falls Michael made the hard decision to pull out of his epic walk to rest his body and to heal the significant sprains and bruises. Everyone in the Club and community is proud of Michael’s achievements. We will welcome Michael home at the end of the week.

Cheers

Bob Ant

A Message from Superwoman Sandra

I would like to say an enormous thank you to all the Rotarians who came out to help and make Saturday such a fabulous day.  Wow!  I can’t believe what happened.  I know I said at the beginning of the year “Please you must be around if possible for this day” and you were.  Even Peter who came back early from seeing his beautiful new granddaughter.

I must thank my wonderful Dream Team – John, Lynda, Chris and Nadine for all the hard work they put in to make this such a special day.  And thank you to others who were behind the scenes – Bob with banking and Rotary advice (eg Insurance etc) Laurelle with the paper media, Frank as the IT help desk, Rachel who helped me sort out Publisher issues to make our signs and banners look so good, Donna who came to help in place of Michael and Shelby Grace who controlled the Plaza events for me.  My only time up there was to thank The String Family at the end of each session so I couldn’t stay to manage the whole day.

Thank you, thank you, thank you

Sandra

Busking Festival creates buzz (Media Release, Thanks to Laurelle)

Narooma’s first Regional Busking Festival and Competition last Saturday was such a success, Narooma Rotary President Bob Antill said the Club would like to make it an annual event.

‘It was a great day with 57 buskers performing at the town’s 29 sponsored Busking Hot Spots and literally filling the town with music, but the event didn’t just happen,’ he said.

‘It was the result of a lot of work by a dedicated committee who did an amazing job and with the support of the whole community.’

The Festival was organised by Narooma Rotary Club, partnered with the River of Art, and was part of the Australian National Busking Championships (ANBC).

Over 500 people filled Narooma Golf Club auditorium late Saturday afternoon and evening for the concert by the Festival’s ambassadors The String Family, followed by a concert by the finalists in the busker competition and the presentation of prizes.

Three people associated with ANBC judged the buskers throughout the day.

The judges made 24 awards, the major ones being:

Open champion:

Tyler Strucklak &Skye Armstrong of Batemans Bay ($1,000 donated by Narooma Sporting & Services Club)

Open second:  Mariano Reggiani and Mike Jones of Fretz & Reedz of Tilba ($500 Narooma and Dalmeny IGAs)

Open third:  Liquid Sun from South Gundagai ($250 Blue Water Seafoods)

Secondary champion:

Matilda Rose of Bredbo ($500 Narooma High School)

Secondary second:  Will Stephens of Werribee, Victoria ($300 Narooma Seafood Direct)

Secondary third: Charlize & Eric of Akolele ($100 Narooma Mechanical and Automotive Services)

Primary Champion:

Narooma Rhythm Hunters ($300 Easts Holiday Parks)

Primary Second Place: Mitchell Loudoun of Dalmeny ($200 Montague Vets)

Primary Third Place: Bray Constable of Narooma ($100 Narooma Mechanical and Automotive Services)

Best Band (three or more performers):

Kumera Patch of Congo ($500 Narooma Pharmacy and Rotary)

Best local performer:       

Jacob Poyner ($300 Narooma Plaza)

The People’s Choice Awards (awarded to buskers who received the most Busker Votes):

Winner:  Narooma Rhythm Hunters ($1,000 Narooma Golf Club)

Second: Kumera Patch of Congo ($300 Narooma Plaza Pharmacy)

Third: Matilda Rose of Bredbo ($200 Lynch’s Hotel)

Festival coordinator Sandra Doyle was delighted with the number of people who turned out for the Festival, many coming from Batemans Bay to Bega.

‘It has been an awesome community event,’ she said. ‘We want to thank everyone who took part – spectators, buskers, our sponsors especially our major sponsors – Narooma Golf Club, Narooma Sporting & Services Club and Narooma Easts Holiday Park – and our team of volunteers including from our own Rotary Club, Lions, Quota, Probus, View, CWA and MACS.

Mrs Doyle paid special tribute to her ‘Dream Team’ of Rotarians Lynda Ord, Chris O’Brien and husband John, with assistance from her daughter Nadine Holland.

Narooma Festival winners will be invited to compete in the National Grand Final in Cooma in November.

Narooma News has some great photos and videos of the Competition. Click here to access them. For another link to the Narooma News coverage click here. Photos were contributed to the Narooma News by Laurelle Pacey and Bob Antill.

John Doyle has also loaded some photos on a google drive. Click here to access them. (Note you may have to request authorisation – clicking the link will alert John to give you access).

Other things that happened last week!

Last Thursday’s meeting was well attended by members. We were thrilled to have our Busking Ambassadors, ‘The String Family’ perform for us. They were fantastic. The family have been on the road for the past 15 months performing in all parts of the Country and from all accounts it has been going well with bookings continuing well into next year. And what was their being break? Winning the National Busking Competition in 2015.

As Bob has reported by email the Sunday market was well supported. The Van took $468.50, the Gate 895 and wishing well $105.85 plus a lot of foreign coins!!! not counted. $1469.35 in total.

A Camp for Everyone

For more than 90 years, the Rotary Club of Kansas City has been rallying all corners of the community to help thousands of kids attend camp. The club, whose members are among Rotary’s first People of Action, gave the first donation to The Rotary Foundation 100 years ago. Click here to read more.

Urgently Needed for the next Rotary Year

A Bulletin Editor. Let Bob Aston know if you can help out.

59^th Changeover Dinner

Thursday 29^th June

Narooma Golf Club

6.30pm  for 7.00pm

$35 per person (two courses main and desert cake, table wine)

RSVP to Rod by Friday 16^th June