Bob’s Blog

Hello Everyone

Well we had a bright and sunny day on Sunday for our biggest April Market in many years. It was wonderful to see so many stallholders and potential shoppers in attendance. Thanks to all who helped make the Market such a success.

Last Thursday we had 25 guests and members at our meeting to hear our guest speaker Lei Parker. Lei gave us a great insight into his online newspaper ‘The Beagle’. Lei is certainly passionate about the Eurobodalla and keeping its residents informed and up to date with all that is happening. The Beagle continues to support our Club by publishing our media releases to promote our activities including BowelCare, Pride of Workmanship, the Renewable Energy Expo and the Busking Competition.

Di Reid and Lec Swadling representing Relay for Life also attended our meeting to receive a donation of $500 from the Club. Di, Lec and their committee have done a wonderful job organising the Relay for Life, this year. Over $31,000 was raised to support research in cures for cancer, and money is still coming in.

As members know, Bob and Merinda Antill have moved onto the next phase of their five-year plan. They finally sold their home in Narooma and made the move fully to their new home at Lake Conjola. Bob and Merinda have been a significant and important part of Narooma Rotary for many years; to recognise their achievements and to wish them well for the future we will hold a farewell to Bob and Merinda on Saturday 12 May commencing at noon. Please keep the date and time free, I will provide you with some more details next week.

Therese and I are heading off for a few days R&R so Laurelle will be in the chair this Thursday.

Have a great week everyone.

Out and About

Tonight

This week we welcome a particularly fascinating speaker in Dr Ian Noble, Emeritus Professor at the ANU’s Climate Change Institute, based in Fiji. He will talk around climate change from a Pacific – Australian viewpoint.

We won’t be in the normal location, nor in the adjoining room, but most probably in the Members’ Lounge.

Busking Festival

Our Busking Festival coordinator Sandra Doyle says busker registrations are really starting to come in now. She has 21 busker groups confirmed to date from Sydney, Canberra and across south-eastern NSW, with more registering each day. She expects the number will exceed the 57 last year; they have until 12 May to register. There are 33 hotspot so far with a couple more in the wind. They will compete for over $9,000 in prize money.

Post recent Drug and Alcohol Forum in Moruya

Moruya Rotary President Mike Dent and fellow Moruya Rotarian Rob Richmond will represent their Club at a forum this Thursday where they hope plans will be developed to address alcohol and drug abuse in Eurobodalla Shire. The forum is hosted by Local Health Network provider Coordinare. In Moruya’s Rotary bulletin this week, Mike says he expects all key agencies to be there which will hopefully mean they can have some meaningful discussion to address this growing problem.

Asha Foundation update from Pauline

Since the devastating 2015 earthquakes in Nepal, the Moruya-based Asha Foundation has rebuilt three schools in the remote foothills north and east of the capital Kathmandu. The last school to be completed is the Radha Krishna School, a 2½ hour drive east of the capital.

During Keith Armstrong’s presidency, Moruya Club donated $6,850 to The Asha Foundation’s Earthquake Appeal. Those funds were directed to the rebuild of this school resulting in 10 classrooms, a Principal’s office and an underground water storage tank. The total cost of construction was just under $40,000. Construction began late 2016 and with delays due to monsoon rains, landslides, political turmoil and logistical difficulties, the school was finally completed earlier this year. The students and teachers now have a lovely new school, properly constructed using earthquake building codes. The rebuild of the entire village has been a mini United Nations effort – The Asha Foundation built the school, a German charity rebuilt the houses, and a team of French doctors funded the construction of a medical clinic. We may speak different languages but our objectives were the same – rebuild this shattered village.

In October, Rohan and I will be travelling to Nepal and visiting the school. On behalf of the Principal, teachers and students at Shree Radha Krishna School and the Asha team, thank you to Keith and the members of Moruya Rotary for your support. You have helped make a difference.

Asha Foundation President Pauline Gleeson (reprinted from the Moruya Bulletin)

Bicycles to wheelchairs

Some of you might have seen the moving story on ABC National TV last Sunday night about the Rotary Club of Surfers Sunrise’s converting old bikes to homemade wheelchairs for disabled children in developing countries.

Wheelchair Aid Project co-founder Daryl Sanderson said he and Des La Rance, both Rotarians, started the project together with a third person  21 years ago after one of them travelled to Fiji and saw children immobilised by their disability. Since then more than 7,000 wheelchairs have been built and shipped to 31 countries including Vietnam, Vanuatu, Cambodia and Nigeria. He has seen first-hand the impact the wheelchairs have on people’s lives. ‘Having been to quite a few countries and just seeing the look on the kids’ faces,’ he said. ‘So I get a lot of pleasure out of that.’

Now more than 550 people involved directly and indirectly in the international operation, including prisoners from the Palen Creek Correctional Facility at Strathpine who make about 30 wheelchairs a month and source bicycles. The wheelchair design has changed over the years with air-filled tyres now replaced with foam tubing, which makes the chairs puncture proof.

 

 

 

Bob’s Blog

Hello Everyone

We had a great night last Thursday celebrating the achievements of loyal and hardworking employees at our annual ‘Pride of Workmanship Award’ dinner. One of the great things Rotary does is to recognise the work and achievements of individuals in our community, Pride of Workmanship gives us the opportunity to say thank you to those who make a difference in our local businesses.

The Oyster Festival is not far away and we have agreed to have the food van in operation at the Friday night community event. Last year we were run off our feet feeding the hungry hordes, let’s hope that this year’s event is just as good, so if you can volunteer for a couple of hours it will be appreciated. The community event will take place at Quota Park on Friday 4 May.

I understand that planning for the Busking Competition is continuing at ‘light speed’ with all sponsor spots sold and entries rolling in. It will be a great event and a wonderful advertisement for our community in general and Narooma Rotary in particular.

Last week Rod, Sandra, Laurelle and I meet to discuss get planning underway for our 60^th celebrations. We plan to have a gala dinner at the golf club on 4 August. I will fill you in with a little more detail on Thursday evening.

In June, Rotary’s Board of Directors and Trustees approved a new vision statement for the organization: “Together, we see a world where people unite and take action to create lasting change — across the globe, in our communities, and in ourselves.” To find out more read the article by Stephanie Urchick, chair of Rotary’s Strategic Planning Committee in this week’s Rotary Weekly. Click here to read the article.

Have a great week.

Out and about

Pride of Workmanship

Six Narooma businesses recognised their valued employees at our annual Pride of Workmanship Awards last Thursday. President Bob emphasised that the great strength of these awards is it’s not a competition and everyone nominated by their employer receives an award.

Those who received awards this year were:

• Janette Fitzpatrick (Estia Health)
• Deb Ebbott (IRT at Home)
• Debbie McDougall (IRT Dalmeny)
• Kyle Snell (Meads ABC Bakery)
• Madeline McCauley (Surfbeach Café)
• Pete Churchill (Narooma Motors) who was unable to be there to receive his award.

More on Narooma Oyster Festival

Narooma’s Oyster Festival launches with a bang on Friday afternoon 4 May with a free family concert, an extraordinary freestyle motocross display from the FMX Showtime motorbike stunt crew, and fantastic fireworks, all making a great warm up to the big day on Saturday.

Friday’s action starts along from the festival site Quota Park at 4.30pm with the first 20-minute show by what is widely regarded as the most spectacular and experienced freestyle motocross team in Australia. Their second and final show is at 6. In between local musicians will play at Quota Park.

Then the Steve Edmonds Band will play until the fireworks at 8; they blend Blues, Rock, Soul and Roots music.

Last year over 1500 turned up on the Friday night; this year organisers anticipate even more but there will be more food stalls. President Bob mentioned we will again provide a barbecue but just on the Friday night. Other food stalls on the Friday night will be  the Oyster Bar, Anton’s seafood, Riverside pizzas, Tilba P & C tacos, the Ice Creamery’s ice creams, local coffee vans and Narooma Public P & C cakes (and glow sticks).

Some background info: Narooma Chamber of Commerce instigated the Oyster Festival as a signature experience to attract people from outside the region. It showcases oysters from eight estuaries on the south coast, one of the world’s most environmentally sustainable oyster growing regions, as well as other local produce and the area’s many features. Saturday’s programme (10-4pm) includes the celebrity chefs’ cooking demonstrations, the Ultimate Oyster Experience, the oyster shucking competition as well as many stalls showcasing local produce especially oysters. This year live music will continue on Saturday to 6pm, as will the bar and Oyster Bar.

Busking Festival

Our Narooma Busking Festival coordinator Sandra Doyle is calling on all buskers to register by 12 May. Already she’s had registrations from Sydney, Canberra and across south-eastern NSW. Narooma regional Busking Championships is part of the Australian National Busking Championships (ANBC).

Publicity has gone out this week to this effect, highlighting that the first to register was Narooma guitarist Eddie Tierney and among the first was Felicity Dowd of Bega who made her busking debut in Narooma last year.

Sandra said last year’s Festival was a huge success with 57 buskers performing at many busking hot spots around town. ‘This year we’re expecting even more buskers to compete for over $9,000 in prize money from our wonderful sponsors, and we have many more busking hot spots around town,’ she said. Major sponsors Narooma Golf Club will sponsor the $1,000 People’s Choice prize and host the finals, Club Narooma will sponsor the $1,000 Opens Champion, and Easts 4 Holiday Park will sponsor $500 for the Best Band as well as the Registration Office.

Winners from the regional events can compete in the National Grand Final in Cooma in November.

 

 

Bob’s Blog

Hello Everyone

Thank you to Anthony who took us on a tour of the Plaza Pharmacy as a part of our ‘Rotarian Presents’ program last Thursday. Anthony’s presentation was most informative; Laurelle has more information about the visit elsewhere in the Beacon.

On Sunday John and Sandra Doyle, Ange and I cooked breakfast at the Cancer Council ‘Relay for Life’ at Bill Smyth Oval. Although numbers were down on last year and at time business was quite slow, the whole event was a credit to the organisers and their supporters, through their hard work much needed money was raised to help fight cancer.

This Thursday we hold our annual Pride of Workmanship dinner. The purpose of ‘Pride of Workmanship’ is to recognise the many valued and hardworking employees in our small community.  I am sure Thursday will be a great success. Thank you to Laurelle for all her hard work in organising the event.

We are due to have a Board meeting this Thursday, however, because of the Pride of Workmanship dinner I have postponed the meeting until the following Thursday. Board members are asked to have their reports uploaded  or emailed to Sandra by 14 April.

 

Out and About

Last Thursday at the Pharmacy

What a fascinating insight Anthony Whittle gave us last week into what’s involved in running the Plaza Pharmacy which recently moved into new premises. Interesting to go behind the counter and out back to see where a lot of the work actually happens.

Everyone had a host of questions particularly about the changes in legislation as to what medicines are now no longer sold over the counter but require a prescription. Interesting too that unlike ‘days of old’, most pharmacists no longer make up potions and medicines; only a very few specialist pharmacists still do. This ‘Rotarian Presents’ series, introduced by President Bob, has proved to be quite fascinating.

Some points from the Drug and Alcohol Forum at Moruya

About 200 people attended the Drug and Alcohol Forum in Moruya on Monday night hosted by the combined Eurobodalla Rotary Clubs, including Bob Aston, Chris O’Brien, Ange Ulrichsen, Laurelle Pacey and Gordon and Di Bentley represented our Club. Does the Eurobodalla have a drug and alcohol problem? The answer from the forum was overwhelmingly ‘yes’. Interestingly the  women who spoke at the Forum about their experiences, two about their kids and the impact on their families, were all from Narooma.

Keynote speaker was the former Director of Emergency Services at St Vincent’s Hospital Gordian Fulde, 2016 Senior Australian of the Year.  His initial talk was on the dramatic reduction in trauma cases presenting to Sydney hospital emergency departments from the early closing of licensed premises in parts of Sydney including Kings Cross.

Gordian also spoke about drugs being big business, and that Ice is the most evil drug we have at the moment. ‘It has the biggest profit margin, is easy to make, is very addictive and it destroys the person very quickly, their family and their friendships.’

In response to a question about why people become addicts, Gordian believes a lack of self-esteem makes people more vulnerable but added there are many variables and each person  is different. An early sign of a problem is when someone dramatically changes friends. ‘Drugs take their pain away from reality,’ he said.

Michelle Preston said in her experience, addiction was brought on by someone not feeling any connection with other people. She spoke of the need for people to talk with each other, look each other in the eye, and interact with each other. Donna Falconer of Narooma said she is now responsible for raising all her grandchildren because of their parents’ Ice addition.

Psychotherapist and addiction counsellor John Falcon said addiction was an illness and spoke of the culture of denial of alcoholism and depression and shame when individuals succumbed. He said because addictions are illnesses, society should move from punishment to treatment but often the addict doesn’t think they need help. He said the most effective treatment was to work through families wherever possible and put family members first. They need to set boundaries and spoke of ‘tough love’. By working with and supporting families they often eventually can help a person recover. Progress can be painfully slow, particularly if the patient lacks family support.

Aboriginal woman Marilyn Campbell of Narooma spoke movingly about her own recovery and the importance of recovering addicts coming out of gaol or rehabilitation having jobs, training or work experience to help them gain self-esteem and a sense of belonging and respect.

Moruya club President Mike Dent said the aim of Monday’s meeting was to try to bring together the relevant people and organisations to come up with a formal drug action team. We await news hopefully of such a team being formed.

A word from Uni

Lynda Ord received a lovely note from Tahlia Arnold who is in her first year at Wollongong University. She received some financial assistance from the Club just for her first year, as runner-up in the Tertiary Scholarship considerations.

Hi Lynda, I’d just thought I’d let you know how I’m going at UOW so far.
I’m doing Psychology courses with an elective that I’ve picked up called ‘Introduction to Indigenous Studies’ which I adore so far. Everything in every class has caught my attention and I’m keeping up-to-date with all the work by making a start on any assignments and readings as soon as I get them.
I can’t get over how beautiful the campus is and how nice all the tutors and lecturers are. I’ve even joined a PASS (Peer Assisted Study Session) group and made friends in that.
I’ve checked my course outlines and by the looks of it, the next few weeks are going to be busy with assignments and presentations. I better start buckling down even more! Thank you again for this opportunity.

Kind regards
Tahlia Arnold

See you this Thursday night for the Pride of Workmanship Awards. Usual time, 6 for 6.30, cost $30 (two-course meal). If you haven’t already booked with Bob and intend to come, please contact him immediately because tables will be set.

Cheers Laurelle

Bob’s Blog

Hello Everyone
I hope all members and friends had a relaxing and enjoyable Easter. It was great to see so many visitors in town enjoying all Narooma has to offer including wonderful weather and fantastic places to eat and hang out. Just for the record, Therese and I had a great weekend painting!
We have a busy week ahead of us. This Thursday we visit Anthony Whittle at Narooma Plaza Pharmacy as a part of our ‘Rotarian Presents’ program. We will meet at the pharmacy at 6.00pm and move to the Golf Club around 6.45pm.

This Sunday morning, we will have the food van at Bill Smyth Oval providing breakfast for those involved in Relay for Life; hope you can help. At Thursday’s meeting, John Doyle will be looking for volunteers to staff the van on Sunday.
Next Monday 9 April, Moruya Rotary Club will host a drug and alcohol forum at St Mary’s Performing Arts Centre in Moruya. Please attend if you can. Laurelle has more.
There is an excellent article in Rotary on the Move by Noel Trevaskis, about membership. If you have a few spare minutes it’s well worth the read.
Have a great week
Cheers
Bob

Out and About

Rotarians volunteer at Four Winds

Wonderful to see Rotarians Ang Ulrichsen and Lynne Hastings volunteering (yet again!) at the Four Winds Festival, south of Bermagui, over the Easter weekend, as well as one of our Friends of Rotary Heather Ferguson. An army of volunteers is needed to ensure this fantastic event happens. Well done ladies!

Relay for Life

Eurobodalla’s Relay For Life is on this weekend at Narooma’s Bill Smyth Oval. It is a fun and moving event that raises vital funds for the Cancer Council’s research, prevention, information and support services. It’s a chance for the Eurobodalla community to recognise and celebrate local cancer survivors, patients and their carers, to honour and remember loved ones lost to cancer, and to raise money to help save more lives.

The Relay starts at 2pm this Saturday and goes overnight ending at 10am on Sunday. We will be proving breakfast on Sunday. Hope you can help in  the van.

Drug and Alcohol Forum at Moruya

The combined Eurobodalla Rotary Clubs will host a meeting in Moruya on Monday 9 April called ‘Breaking the ice … does the Eurobodalla have a drug and alcohol problem?’ See flyer below.

Moruya club president Mike Dent says the idea came from a sense of frustration with drug and alcohol issues across the shire, following a discussion with a local paramedic. ‘As an organisation, we had two options – bury our heads in the sand, or pull a meeting together to discuss the issue,’ he said.

Mike says the aim of Monday’s meeting is to try to bring together the relevant people and organisations to come up with a strategy to inform the public and help affected families and friends. Keynote speaker is the former Director of Emergency Services at St Vincent’s Hospital Gordian Fulde, 2016 Senior Australian of the Year. A paramedic, police officer and a drug counsellor will also speak.

The meeting is next Monday 9 April from 7pm in St Mary’s Performing Arts Centre, Queen Street, Moruya.

Thursday 12 April – our Club’s Pride of Workmanship Awards

Next Thursday (12 April) is the club’s annual Pride of Workmanship Awards at Narooma Golf Club, one of our most prestigious nights of the year. It is a partners’ night. It’s normal time –  6 for 6.30pm. Cost is $30 for a two-course meal (choice of two dishes each course; please ensure the Club knows of any special dietary requirements).

At this stage, it looks like we will present about eight awards this year. Each person has been nominated by their employer because of their outstanding qualities in terms of approach, attitude, dedication and commitment to their job. This is not a competition. This Rotary program aims to encourage a pride of workmanship in the community by publicly recognising the value of a pride in personal performance in the workplace, hence the scheme’s motto ‘Do it once, do it well.’

See you at the Plaza Pharmacy this Thursday.

Cheers

Laurelle