Bob’s Blog
Hello Everyone
Well, the heavens opened early on Sunday morning with steady rain most of the day, so another cancelled market for us, the second in a row. It’s frustrating for Chris, John and Ang who spend so much time getting the markets organised only to see the rain ruin the day. Hopefully the weather for our March market will be fine and sunny with lots of stallholders and plenty of customers.
Last Wednesday, I along with six other members of the Club, attended a combined meeting at Moruya to mark Rotary’s birthday and to hand out cheques to the four surf clubs in the shire. It was a great night, especially as the three NYSF students sponsored by the three Eurobodalla Rotary Clubs also gave a presentation. Laurelle has more information elsewhere.
As mentioned last week, there is a change of plan for this week’s meeting. Unfortunately, the High School was not able to host us this week so instead this Thursday we will have a Club Assembly and normal meeting at the Golf Club. At the Assembly we will discuss the feasibility of conducting the Renewable Energy Expo again this year. The Expo Committee met a couple of weeks ago to discuss options for 2018. Discussion focussed on the need to have more members nominate for the Expo Committee; many on the past committee indicated that they would not be able to help around that time this year because of other commitments. The bottom line is that if we are to run the Expo again this year we need some new faces on the team.
Our meeting at Narooma High will now be on 8 March. I am assuming that members who indicated they will attend the High School on 1 March will still be able to attend on the 8th. Please let me know urgently if this is not the case.
A reminder our District Conference is at Mittagong 24-25 March. I know this clashes with our Market day; however, it would be great if some members could attend the Conference. For more details click here.
Have a great week
Out and about
Rotary races donate to Shire’s surf clubs
As Bob said, seven of us joined Moruya and Batemans Bay Rotarians in Moruya last Wednesday to celebrate the 113th birthday of Rotary International and to make donations to the Shire’s four Surf Life Saving Clubs. The donations were the proceeds of the Rotary Christmas Race Day on 24 December.
Our Race Day Committee chairman David Ashford said this was the fifth Rotary Race Day, having in previous years supported the Oncology Unit at Moruya Hospital and installed 12 defibrillators across the shire. ‘This time we supported Batemans Bay, Broulee, Moruya Heads and Narooma Surf Clubs,’ he said. ‘Despite the handicap of the Christmas Eve date, thanks to the hard work of everyone, the success of the raffle and the generosity of Moruya Jockey Club we were able to present each Surf Club with $3,000, a total of $12,000.’
David paid tribute to Moruya Jockey Club, to the ongoing enthusiasm and hard work of the Race Day committee, to the willing Rotarians, partners and friends, and to volunteers from the surf clubs. He also thanked the raffle (Mitre 10 Moruya, Travel Team, Moruya Jockey Club and Bunnings) and race sponsors. He said it is not possible to hold these events without everyone’s help and support.
Passionate science students praise NYSF experience
Three Eurobodalla students selected for the National Youth Science Forum (NYSF) in Brisbane in January spoke at the combined Rotary meeting last week about their ‘life-changing’ experiences at this two-week residential programme. NYSF is designed to encourage young people in their passion for science.
To get to NYSF, they were first vetted by a panel from the three local Rotary Clubs and then by a District Board. Competition was strong. The three students –Nicholas Goddard, Chelsea Rowley and Matthew Henry, all from Moruya High – said NYSF’s visits, practical exercises, interactive teaching and social bonding were exceptional and have helped guide them towards future careers.
NYSF is expensive, but regarded as well worth it. This year the basic cost increased to $3,100 per student. The three Eurobodalla clubs had agreed to share the costs; however, Moruya President Mike Dent gained a Federal Government grant of $4,500 to offset the cost, and Matthew Henry won a $1,000 NYSF Equity Scholarship to support his participation. The other two students each contributed $400, leaving the three clubs to pay $1,000 each.
As the Moruya Rotary bulletin put it this week, ‘NYSF is fertile ground for growing our scientists, technology buffs and engineers, the leaders of the future in fields which will shape all our futures’. Rotarians helped establish NYSF (then known as the National Science Summer School) 35 years ago, and continue to play a key role. Today, Rotary clubs around Australia continue to play a key role in supporting NYSF by conducting selections for the NYSF Year 12 Programme.
Update on global initiative to eradicate polio
The world is on the brink of eradicating polio, a vaccine-preventable disease that once paralysed hundreds of thousands of children each year. Significant strides have been made but it continues to be a threat in hard-to-reach areas and conflict zones. As long as one child has polio, all children are at risk, which underscores the need for continued funding and political commitment to eradication. Last year there were 22 confirmed cases of polio in the world; this year only three to date.
Rotary is giving $53.5m this year to support immunisation and surveillance activities led by the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI). More than half the funds will support efforts to end polio in Afghanistan and Pakistan where polio remains endemic. Further funding will support efforts to keep 10 vulnerable countries polio-free (The Democratic Republic of Congo, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Ethiopia, Iraq, Niger, Somalia, South Sudan, and Syria), research by the World Health Organization (WHO), and technical assistance in West and Central Africa.
Rotary has committed to raising $150m over the next three years which will be matched 2-to-1 by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, yielding $450 million for polio eradication activities, including immunisation and surveillance.
Rotary started its polio eradication programme PolioPlus in 1985; in 1988 it became a partner in the GPEI with WHO, UNICEF, and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation later became a partner. In that time, the incidence of polio has plummeted by more than 99.9% from about 350,000 cases in 1988, protecting more than 2.5 billion children in 122 countries from polio.
Some random thoughts, courtesy Peter Bull
- If you attempt to rob a bank you won’t have any trouble with rent/food bills for the next 10 years, whether or not you are successful.
- What if my dog only brings back my ball because he thinks I like throwing it?
- The letter W, in English, is called double U. Shouldn’t it be called double V?
- Every time you clean something, you just make something else dirty.
- 100 years ago everyone owned a horse and only the rich had cars. Today everyone has cars and only the rich own horses.
- The doctors that told Stephen Hawking he had two years to live in 1963 are probably dead.
- If you rip a hole in a net, there are actually fewer holes in it than there were before.