THIS WEEK: Club Assembly

This week’s meeting will be a Club Assembly where President Rod will discuss with us a possible presidential scenario for the 2019-2020 year.

You will recall in the last Beacon Rod outlined that the Board had discussed possibly sharing the presidential role through the coming year between several former Club Presidents and he wants to discuss this with us all this week. Rod said our Assistant District Governor Allan Russell said there is a precedent where one club rotated the presidency every three months so that a 12-month commitment was not required.

Our Board agreed to this in principle and there was some interest from Board members to nominate, but it was agreed that we should put the idea to members at this Club Assembly. If that is the Club’s wish, the Board would seek nominations as soon as possible.

The Busking Festival committee will meet at 5pm at the Golf Club.

THE FORTNIGHT THAT WAS 

Anzac Day

Our Club was well represented at the Anzac Day services with four of our members in the community choir – Robyn Miller, Lynda Ord, Sandra Doyle and Chris O’Brien, Laurelle Pacey marching, and John Doyle attending.

Narooma Oyster Festival

At the Markets on Sunday, it was decided to withdraw from taking the food van to the Oyster Festival’s community concert, largely because of the difficulty with manning the van at that time, what with so many members being away.

Holiday Markets

The gate takings were down a bit even from the last market at $835. We only took $364.55 at the van and the wishing well was $63.70. All of which suggests that many holidaymakers were heading home that day. The town had certainly been buzzing up until then.

Last meeting

At our last meeting which was on the 18^th April, Laurelle Pacey spoke about how Narooma has a plethora of war memorials with only two referencing its own servicemen and women; most are generic. She explained how Narooma has come to have seven different war memorials between Dalmeny and the Uniting Church in Narooma. They are:

• the Memorial Hall (Kinema) – built 1925 as the town’s memorial to its soldiers at the First World War and containing the Honour Roll to all soldiers from the district who went to war. All Anzac Fay and Remembrance Day services were held here until 1975. The first function in the Hall was the crowning of the Queen of Narooma, all related to raising funds to pay for the Hall.
• The central window in the Uniting Church Tower, erected in 1933 in memory of soldiers who gave their lives for their fellows during the Great War. More recently the RSL installed a plaque stating it was also a memorial to subsequent wars.
• The CWA Rooms were erected in memory of those who served in the 1939-1945 War. Erected between 1948 and 1950.
• Clock Tower in Thomson Park, now without a clock, was erected in 1975 as the Narooma War Memorial by the RSL Sub Branch and Narooma citizens. It was erected in memory of those who gave their lives in all wars the cause of freedom. Called. Anzac Day and Remembrance Day services were then held in front of this memorial from then until the new war memorial was built at Club Narooma in 2012. An Honour Roll to the district’s servicemen and women was only installed in 2013, an initiative of Trevor Bennett and Narooma Historical Society.
• Avenue of Remembrance of New Zealand Christmas Bushes on the Flat – an RSL Sub-Branch initiative, dedicated in 1995 as part of the Australia Remembers programme commemorating 50 years since the end of the Second World War. It honours the men and women who served Australia during World War II.
• Club Narooma war memorials – dedicated i18 August 2012 to all conflicts.
• The Anzac Memorial Drive on part of Dalmeny Drive, established in 2018 to commemorate the centenary of the end of the First World War.

International toast at the last meeting

Lynda Ord proposed the International Toast to the Rotary Club of Paris Notre-Dame, after the devastating fire at the Cathedral earlier that week. She wrote to the Club beforehand and was delighted to receive the following response from the Club’s Public Relations Secretary Laetitia Andreu.

Dear Lynda and Friends from the Rotary Club of Narooma. Thank you for your support and your kind message. The structure and most of art works were saved.

She welcomed the support by many French and other billionaires and multinational companies which will help ensure the Cathedral will be rebuilt.   The Notre-Dame Rotary Club was founded in 2006. Interesting to see the Club’s average age is 42 years, over 65% of its members are women, and it meets twice a month.

NEXT THURSDAY: Board meeting at 5pm

Rod’s Ramble

Hello Rotarians

What a great night last week at the Pride of Workmanship presentations. Laurelle has the details below but I would like to congratulate Laurelle and her helpers for firstly attracting 10 awardees and secondly putting on a great night. Thanks also to Lynda Ord for a great job as MC.

At the Board meeting last week, I am proud to report that we committed funds that achieved most of my fundraising targets for the year. These were $3,000 to each of our Tertiary Scholarship Fund, Rotary Health and The Foundation ($1,500) and Polio Plus ($1,500). These donations are a testament to everyone who has sold or bought raffle tickets, worked at the Markets and cooked or cleaned at other BBQs or participated in other events.

We have one target to meet and that is $3,000 to local charities. I have one more raffle to run, a quilt made by my very clever wife which I will start after Easter. Monies raised will go towards the $3,000 local charities target.

Re: 2019-2020 – please consider carefully

At the last Board meeting, we discussed options for filling the President vacancy for 2019-2020. Our Assistant District Governor Allan Russell said he had seen another club rotate the presidency every three months so that a 12-month commitment was not required. So that would mean four presidents over the year.

The Board agreed to this in principle and there was some interest from Board members to nominate. It was agreed that we should put the idea to members at our Club Assembly on 2 May. If agreed, we would also seek nominations as soon as possible. The Board is still happy to take an expression of interest for the full year up until 2 May so, if you can make the commitment for a full year, please contact me ASAP.

See you Thursday. Happy Easter to those already away or unable to attend.

This Week

Laurelle Pacey will talk about how Narooma has remembered those who have gone to war over the years. Please bring your friends!

The Week that was

Last week, 10 local businesses recognised valued employees at our annual Pride of Workmanship Awards at a special dinner at Narooma Golf Club. Lynda Ord was our MC.

“This is a great night, always so uplifting, and a highlight of our Rotary year,” she said. “It’s our version of the Logies or the Academy awards but without all the carry-on. It’s a chance for employers across the broad spectrum of businesses and service providers in our community to publicly recognise key staff members for their contribution and excellent work across all aspects of their job, and how much that’s appreciated. Our community as well as these particular businesses benefit greatly from what they do.”

The great strength of these awards is it’s not a competition, so everyone nominated is a winner. We couldn’t do these awards without the support of all the various businesses, some who come on board most years.

Those who received awards this year were:

• Elise Dixson (Anton’s Café)
• Ria Manolias (Bodalla Dairy Shed)
• Daniel Smith (Dalmeny Electrical & South Coast Lighting)
• Jo Donkin (Dalmeny Long Day Child Care Centre)
• Jeannie Willoughby (Estia Health Dalmeny)
• Kimberley Clunne (IRT Dalmeny)
• Karen Grindley (IRT Home Care)
• Ali Elmasri (Rapley’s Mid-town Quality Meats)
• Melissa Burke (Tilba Real Dairy)
• Scott Curry (Will’s Water Worx)    

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Rotary Christmas Races 2019

The beneficiary of our joint fund raising with Batemans Bay and Moruya  Rotary clubs and the Moruya Jockey Club at the Christmas Races will be Yumaro and Eurobodalla Meals on Wheels. The aim will be to raise at least $15,000 towards a people mover bus for use by both organisations.

NO ROTARY NEXT WEEK – Anzac Day

THIS WEEK

This Thursday is the club’s annual Pride of Workmanship Awards, one of the most prestigious nights in our Club’s calendar. President Rod will be presenting 10 awards to employees nominated by their employer because of their outstanding approach, attitude, dedication and commitment to their job.

There will be 50 people all up, including Rotarians. Lynda Ord will be our MC. Should be a great night. It’s normal time – 6 for 6.30pm. Cost is $35 for a two-course meal (choice of two dishes each course).

OUT AND ABOUT

Last Week

Sandra Doyle gave an interesting account of their day with students from Narooma High last Tuesday for the Rotary Youth Driver Awareness (RYDA) at Moruya Jockey Club. Sandra, Ang Ulrichsen and Geoff Robin were our representatives. Batemans Bay students were also there that day.

This was the second day of this year’s RYDA. All up, 240 Year 11 students attended this year from the Eurobodalla’s five high schools. There were six different sessions presented by qualified and experienced presenters to small groups of students.

This is the 12^th year RYDA has been held as a joint project of the Eurobodalla Rotary Clubs; during that time more than 2,200 local students have benefited.

RYDA Eurobodalla coordinator Neil Simpson of Batemans Bay Rotary paid tribute to the many Rotary and community volunteers, presenters and school staff who support this program each year:

• Coastal Auto Group each year provides a car for the stopping demonstration
• NSW Police each year provides three officers and a highway patrol car for the two days
• Moruya Jockey Club allows us to use their premises free of charge each year
• Our presenters come from Rotary, two local learn-to-drive schools, NSW police, Eurobodalla Shire Council or the community. Lunch for everyone is donated and prepared by Moruya Rotarians. It is truly a joint effort!

Neil Simpson also managed to get extensive media coverage for RYDA; it was also a great promotion of Rotary. He said nearly 50,000 students across Australia and New Zealand are expected to attend a RYDA course this year organised by Rotary.

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While there are several different driver education courses available, he said RYDA is considered best practice, most current and very relevant to learner drivers. The next local RYDA is 30-31March 2020.

An added bonus last week was welcoming back from Antarctica and Galapagos Islands our much travelled Charmaine White. She gave an impromptu talk about her travels. Fascinating.

Rotary Emergency Services Community Award

Do you know anyone from one of NSW Emergency Service Agencies who perform Community Service above and beyond the call of their normal duties?  Nominees must be appointed as paid or unpaid (volunteer) members of either Fire + Rescue NSW, Marine Rescue NSW, NSW Ambulance Service, NSW Rural Fire Service, NSW State Emergency Service or the Volunteer Rescue Association.

Check out Tuesday’s email from Bob Aston for more information.

NEXT WEEK

Laurelle Pacey will talk about how Narooma has remembered those who have gone to war over the years. Please bring your friends!

Rod’s Ramble

Off to Canberra again this week – President in absentia again. Laurelle will be in the chair. I hope though to be around for the rest of April’s meeting.

I thought last week’s meeting had a really good vibe with a wonderful number of guests, mainly thanks to Ange’s efforts. Dr Denis Muller was certainly an interesting guest speaker.

We also had a visiting Rotarian, Colin Lyle from the Rotary Club of Sète. Sète is a major port in the southeast French region of Occitanie. It’s bordered by the Étang de Thau, a biodiverse saltwater lagoon and across a narrow isthmus, Sète’s Mediterranean coast which is lined with sandy beaches. The top of Mont St Clair offers views of the city, known as “Venice of the Languedoc” for its canal network. The Musée Paul Valéry has displays on the history of Sète, plus an art collection. 

We have plenty of action coming up.

OUT AND ABOUT

Last Week

Last Thursday we had 32 members and guests at our meeting. We were delighted to have Colin Lyle with us from the Rotary Club of Sete as well as our guest speaker, Dr Denis Muller.

Colin Lyle is in Australia to visit family and decided that Narooma was a good place to stop over on his way to Melbourne. Like Narooma Rotary, the Rotary Club of Sete is finding it difficult to attract new members, the average age of members is over 70. The Club has two dinner meetings as well as two informal meetings a month.

Denis Muller spoke on Fake news and the decline in credibility of the media. Denis is a Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for Advancing Journalism at the University of Melbourne. Denis believes that the main reasons for the loss of public trust in the media include political partisanship, the perverse effects of competition, the culture of competitiveness and individualism, and the lack of accountability.

Denis believes that although ‘Fake News’ is not new (he provided numerous examples of fake news from well before the Internet and social media) the rise of the Internet makes it all the more prevalent with many journalists, social media companies and media organisations failing to check the facts before a story is published.

RYDA

This Thursday, Sandra, Ange and Geoff will tell us all about their experiences at this year’s Rotary Youth Driver Awareness (RYDA). They will have accompanied Narooma High’s Year 11 students around the various stops on Tuesday. RYDA targets pre-learner drivers from Eurobodalla Shire’s five high-schools. It is run by Batemans Bay Rotary in conjunction with Moruya and Narooma Clubs. Our Club pays for the bus to get Narooma students there.

District 9710 Changeover

Incoming District Governor, Peter Ford has advised that the District Changeover is on  Sunday 30 June 2019 at Gold Creek Station, Victoria Street, HALL ACT. 12 noon for 12.30pm start. Details re cost and registration still to come.

NEXT WEEK: Pride of Workmanship Awards

Next Thursday is the club’s annual Pride of Workmanship Awards, one of our most prestigious nights of the year. It will be wonderful to have a few of our partners along.

We look like making about eight awards. Each person receiving an award has been nominated by their employer because of their outstanding qualities in terms of approach, attitude, dedication and commitment to their job. This Rotary program aims to encourage 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.’ Another way of saying that might be, ‘Good enough is just not good enough’.

It’s normal time – 6 for 6.30pm. Cost is $35 for a two-course meal (choice of two dishes each course; please let Bob know numbers and any special dietary requirements). Hope to see you there.

On a lighter note

• Every time you clean something, you make something else dirty.
• Many animals probably need glasses, but nobody knows it.