Bob’s Blog
Hello Everyone
We survived a busy weekend with the markets on Sunday and RYDA on Monday.
With many of our regulars away over the weekend, it was great to see so many members and friends step up and take over key roles at the Markets. A special thank you to David and Rachel McInnes who organised and staffed the gate at the market in the absence of Chris and Laurelle; I understand there were no complaints from stall holders or potential shoppers. Lynn reports we took $685.00 at the gate, grossed $359.80 at the van and collected $101.15 from the wishing well.
On Monday, Ange Ulrichsen and Michael O’Connor, along with our regular visiting Rotarian Gordon Bentley, headed off to Moruya Racecourse for RYDA. Thank you for giving up your time I look forward to hearing how the day progressed.
On Monday I also attended Narooma Probus Club’s AGM. I can report that the Club had an interesting and varied year and a new team of office bearers are ready to the reins for the next 12 months.
Last Thursday we had 16 members and guests at our normal meeting. Our guest speaker was Jane Taylor from Bega who spoke about the ‘Teen Clinic’. Teen Clinic was set up in Bega and expanded to Narooma late last year. The Clinic operates out of the Lighthouse Surgery, it provides an informal drop in service for teenagers to discuss health issues that they may not wish to discuss with their parents or their GP. At the Clinic a nurse assesses that patient and either provides advice or if appropriate refers them to another health professional. Although the Narooma Clinic has started out slowly with fewer turn-ups than expected, the Practice Nurse at the Surgery Chrissi Moody expects the service to pick up steam once it’s better known and understood within the community.
This Thursday: Don’t forget there is no meeting this Thursday evening at the Golf Club. Breakfast in the park has been cancelled.
Next Thursday (5 April) we will start at the Narooma Plaza Pharmacy at 5.30pm where Anthony Whittle will tell us about the pharmacy and how it all works.
Have a wonderful Easter everyone. Enjoy the chocolate!
Warm regards
Bob
Out and about
Rotary Youth Driver Awareness (RYDA)
Our Club was well represented at RYDA on Monday by Ang Ulrichsen, Michael O’Connor and our regular visiting Rotarian Gordon Bentley (Dubbo). They accompanied Narooma High students; our Club is paying for their bus.
The RYDA programme is run over two days each April at Moruya Racecourse by Batemans Bay Rotary in conjunction with Moruya and Narooma Clubs. Different schools go over the two days.
It targets pre-learner drivers from Eurobodalla Shire’s five high-schools. RYDA coordinator Neil Simpson (former Batemans Bay High Principal) said it’s an opportunity for students to learn and talk about how they will function as a driver or as a passenger. The theme of the day is ‘My Life, My Choices’ and covers topics such as hazard perception, fatigue, stopping distances, vehicle safety and the opportunity to listen to and speak with a crash survivor. Ang said Narooma students stayed fully engaged the whole day.
This was RYDA’s 11th year in the Eurobodalla and in that time over 2,000 Year 11 students have been through the course; on Monday, a student from Narooma was the 2,000th student.
It is a significant youth project for our clubs and particularly involves Batemans Bay and Moruya members in the organisation and catering, as well as Council, Moruya Jockey Club and the Coastal Auto Group.
The RYDA programme is written and resourced by Road Safety Education Ltd and is presented to students from 600 schools across Australia.
Busking at Ballarat
On Saturday, our intrepid Busking groupies Sandra and John Doyle were at the Ballarat Regional Final of the Australian National Busking Championships, hosted by the Rotary Club of Wendouree Breakfast. Like us, this was also Ballarat’s second year.
Heavy rain on Saturday put a dampener on the Festival’s first few hours, but the spirits of the 200 performers at the 39 Busking Hot Spots defied the deluge. ‘Buskers never give up,’ says Sandra. Sunshine soon followed and it turned out to be ‘a super day’.
Needless to say, Sandra kept very busy spreading the word among the buskers about the attractions of the Narooma festival; a few might well venture our way in May.
District Conference
Unfortunately no one from our Club could attend the District Conference in Mittagong, but we can glean a few insights from Moruya President Mike Dent’s comprehensive report in their bulletin this week. Seven Moruya Club representatives went. Mike mentioned several inspirational speakers:
- Libby Weir who has volunteered in Natal, South Africa for three months a year over 13 years. Originally she worked in an AIDS orphanage and more recently has been engaged in the wider community training women to sew, people to build and weld, and teaching computer skills to school children. She has raised funds to build a house, equip a library and school football teams.
- Former Governor General Michael Jeffery, now 81 years old, talked about eliminating trachoma in isolated Aboriginal communities and coordinating the Soils for Life program that promotes long term farm sustainability practices. He is very passionate about the programs for which he is Patron (19 separate organisations!)
- Seb Cox, a trainee teacher from the University of Canberra, was coaxed to help for three months at St Jude’s school in Tanzania. He stayed two years, setting up a Rotaract Club, Interact Club and an Earlyact club at the school.
- Aminata Conteh-Biger was kidnapped from her father and spent six months as a sex slave in the civil war in Sierra Leone. Eventually she escaped and was saved by UNHCR and sent to Australia (she thought it was Austria!). She has established the Aminata Maternal Foundation to reduce the rate of maternal and child mortality rates. Her story can be found on the SBS program: Daughter of Sierra Leone.
RI Director Noel Trevaskis, well known to many of us, suggested:
- to ensure each club’s survival we need to embrace new members and try to break down any cliques that may exist within a club. He suggested we should sit with someone different each week.
- we need to encourage and promote attendance at Conferences so we all appreciate the wonderful work Rotary is doing throughout the world.
- we need to promote what we do in the community and not concentrate on fundraising AND we need to engage in fun activities rather that just attend meetings. So when someone asks, ‘What does Rotary do?’, you can talk about the wide range of programs Rotary provides to enhance opportunities for our young people (RYDA, RYLA, MUNA, RYPEN, Tertiary Scholarships), our vocational support (Pride of Workmanship), and all of our community support (books for new babies, ShelterBox, defibrillators, Surf Club, VRA, Oncology Unit etc).
Thanks Mike.
Cheers
Laurelle
A few aphorisms*, courtesy Peter Bull
The nicest thing about the future is that it always starts tomorrow.
Money will buy a fine dog but only kindness will make him wag his tail.
If you don’t have a sense of humour you probably don’t have any sense at all.
Seat belts are not as confining as wheelchairs.
A good time to keep your mouth shut is when you’re in deep water.
Why is it that at school reunions you feel younger than everyone else looks?
No one ever says ‘It’s only a game’ when their team is winning.
* Look it up!