Ange’s Chat

What a Year 2020 has been!

Last Thursday we had our Board meeting. Duck tickets are selling well with the community eager to witness once again the 1,000 ducks plunging en masse off the bridge. Race steward Charmaine White has determined the race time is now 10am with a race to the finish to Apex Park boat ramp.

The big Christmas market on Sunday 27 December was discussed and it will be all hands on deck for a great day.

Our Busking Championship has been deferred until May 2022. We will do some publicity in the New Year to let the public know.

We will have a social get-together for fish & chips at Quota Park Thursday 21 January, 6 for 6.30pm.

Our next formal meeting will be Thursday 28 January for our Youth Night when current and former tertiary scholarship winners from Narooma High will be invited by counsellors to come and speak about how they are going.

Our AGM got off to a great start and we are all elated and relieved to have all positions filled for the 2021/22 Board. Congratulations to President Elect Andrew Lawson, Vice President Ange Ulrichsen, Secretary John Rungen, Treasurer Mike Young, Public Officer Rod Walker and Directors Chris O’Brien, Laurelle Pacey, Lynn Hastings and Robyn Miller.

Andrew Lawson, recently inducted into our Club, gave a brief and inspiring talk to us. As a newcomer to Rotary, Andrew promises to be consultative, team orientated and is seeding some interesting ideas to light up our small but vital club again as we move forward with a spring in our step. One condition the DG has put on Andrew’s rapid promotion since induction is that he attend PETS (President Elect Training) which is at Temora on 20 – 21 February; Andrew is keen to attend with Mike Young also expressing interest. The year ends on a high note!

I wish you all a joyful and safe Christmas and New Year.

Hope to see you Thursday.             

THIS WEEK: Thursday 17 December

We will have a great end of year party at The Inlet 6 for 6.30pm. The cost is $40pp and the menu promises to be as good as last year. Members are asked to bring a present to the value of $5 – $10 dollars and Santa will also be there with his helper for a fun night.

The Week that Was

We toast a kindred club

Last week we toasted the Rotary Club of Mariefred in Sweden as kindred spirits. You might recall in the Beacon a couple of weeks ago that the RI Council on Resolutions rejected a proposal to consider adding a fifth question to The Four-Way Test: ‘Will it be sustainable?’ That addition which resonates with what Frank Eden and the Renewable Energy Expo was all about , was proposed by the Rotary Club of Mariefred in Sweden and endorsed by their District 2370.

The Mariefred Club is currently not meeting, following the strict advice of the Swedish Public Health to try to contain the Corona 19 virus. They would normally meet on a Monday night at 7.30; current President is Lena Bruhn.

Rachel McInnes and team win State award 

Wonderful to see the extraordinary efforts by the Mid-South Coast Branch of WIRES helping wildlife devastated by the recent bushfires has been recognised by winning the 2020 NSW Volunteer Team of the Year. They were joint winners with the NSW Foodbank Distribution Centre.

The Branch consists of 97 volunteers covering the area from Milton to Tilba, including our very own Rachel McInnes. The group rescued more than 2750 animals from early 2019 to early 2020, with a 60% increase over the bushfire period.

The NSW Volunteer of the Year Awards are an annual program run by The Centre for Volunteering to recognise the outstanding work of volunteers in every region across NSW.

Out and About

Moruya Rotary lights up

Vulcan Street in Moruya will be the focus of The Luminous Festival this Thursday, Friday and Saturday Nights, thanks to Moruya Business Chamber, Moruya Rotary, River of Art and Southern Phone. Sounds like a treat!

The Business Chamber, led by Jude Manahan, has worked hard to produce an innovative project that aims to bring Moruya out of the Covid doldrums and capture the imaginations of locals as well as visitors currently in this area. Moruya Rotary has made a significant financial contribution towards its success.

It’s a new venture and Moruya Business Chamber hopes this will be an annual project that encourages the Christmas Spirit, lifts the main street to supplement the Christmas Decorations and . This year a magnificent effort has been put in by a number of people to reinvigorate the town. The facades of shopfronts and heritage buildings, including Moruya Courthouse and two murals created during the River of Art Festival, will be lit up with multi-coloured static lighting and textured lighting programmed on a changing loop

Thursday and Friday nights should feature food stalls and buskers. During these evenings, Vulcan Street will be a focal point for mini mural painting by local artists on temporary walls, live music performances and late-night shopping. Saturday night will be quieter.

Pre bonbon Christmas jokes

BTW: The Oxford English Dictionary records the use of cracker bonbons and the pulling of crackers from 1847.

How do the elves clean Santa’s sleigh on the day after Christmas? They use Santa-tizer.

Why are Christmas trees so fond of the past? Because the present’s beneath them.

What do you call cutting down a Christmas tree? Christmas chopping!

Why does Santa always enter through the chimney? Because it soots him.

How much did Santa pay for his sleigh? Nothing, it was on the house!

What goes “Oh, Oh, Oh”? Santa walking backwards!

Ange’s Chat

We had a great roll up for Jeff Lean’s presentation last week; his topic ‘Climate Change, Consumption and Mindfulness’. He began by saying how complex the problem was and that ‘global pollution’ in his opinion would be a more accurate term than ‘climate change’.

He talked about Earth’s warming, what was causing it, and the accelerating rate of extinction of many species on our planet as a result. He showed an interesting graph with fossil fuels and carbon emissions responsible for only about one-third of global pollution, with human consumption the rest.

Jeff spoke about what drives people’s personal consumption and the resultant waste and its impact down the track. Waste is a huge problem worldwide, such as from agricultural runoff, breakdown of drugs, and micro beads used in many beauty products, just to name a few.

He said we are all influenced by the psychology behind advertising. Planned obsolescence means many goods are deliberately designed not to last and we’re all pressured to replace things more often than was the case in the past.

Jeff asked, “do we really need so much stuff?”. He said each of us can make a difference by being more “mindful of our purchases” and consider what effect they might have on some remote part of the world; question what we buy and what’s in it (avoid products containing polycarbonates). His message was simple: “Buy less and think more”.

Jeff’s message was sobering. Many people are now more aware of the warming of the planet and its serious implication for our future. CSIRO has predicted a temperature rise of 3 °C by 2030 unless everyone takes urgent action.

Welcome Andrew Lawson 

Last Thursday it gave me great pleasure to induct Andrew Lawson from Wandella into our Club. Andrew’s presence brings us new, much needed energy and commitment.

THIS WEEK

Our Annual General Meeting is this Thursday, 10 December. Secretary Rod is delighted to have received some nominations for our Board for 2021-2022 but more are needed.

The AGM will be preceded by a Board meeting at 5pm.

­The Week that Was

Last week’s international toast by Mike Young was to the Rotary Club of Windsor-Roseland in Ontario, Canada. Mike chose that club because it is the club of Jennifer Jones, the RI President Nominee who will be RI President in 2022-23 and the first female President of Rotary International. 

The club’s board is largely female and they are heavily involved in various Youth, Community/Vocational and International  Service Projects, including some Peace Projects (eg. Peace Schools), as well as The Rotary Foundation. Their Club meetings are all via Zoom at the moment because of Covid-19 issues in Canada.

Out and About

Zoom on membership with Evan Burrell

President Ange encourages us to take this opportunity and tune in to the District 9705 Membership Forum via Zoom Tuesday 8 December at 5.30pm with Evan Burrell. He will talk about ‘Telling the Rotary Story’…using social media and developing a good public image in a way to share the stories of Rotary doing good in the world. You need to register; details have been circulated.

So who is Evan? He is a Digital Media Consultant for Rotary Down Under, manages a digital consultancy start up, is a member of the Rotary Club of Turramurra and been involved with  Rotary for almost 20 years, a member of the RI Communications Committee, as well as an Assistant Rotary Public Image Coordinator for the whole of Australia in Zone 8.  He is also a big Superman fan.

Evan uses social media to show that Rotarians are not only making a positive difference in the world, they are also having fun doing it. He presents Rotary in a lighter more engaging way, showing the more fun and humorous side to our organisation, He finds it grabs people’s attention, member sand non-member alike. This makes the idea of Rotary more relatable, especially to new generations, who may feel disconnected with some of the formalities of Rotary but are avid users of social media.

Sad farewell to Maureen Manning

PDG Maureen Manning is leaving the District. This is a huge loss to Batemans Bay Club; she has also been a great friend of our Club. For years she was the driving force behind the Rotary Youth Program of Enrichment (RYPEN) weekends for high school students at Mogo.

Request for Stamps

Chris O’Brien asks members to please save your used stamps and give them to her. They will be sent to a charity. Chris says it would be appreciated if you could ensure there is a border of at least 1cm around the stamp.

From Moruya Rotary

Moruya Rotarians had their Christmas party at the Golf Club last week “a splendid gathering” of 52 members, partners and guests “the like of which we not seen since pre-Covid days”. President Peter saw it as a sign “we seem to be on the road to recovery from a year that has been a once in a lifetime event”, describing 2020 as “a year that none of us will ever forget, and which will forge our aspirations and plans for the rest of our lives”.

Moruya has lost a large number of members during the year for various reasons but President Peter says “the Club is not diminished”. Members are doing some soul searching about the reasons why.

Peter notes in this week’s bulletin that much attention is given to recruiting new Rotary Members. “It appears to me that as we look to emerge from 2020 into better times, wiser and hopefully stronger, we also need to imagine a broader Rotary world where some of the energy put into and satisfaction derived from service to the wider community can also be directed back towards the needs of our fellow Rotarians in our lives… Rotary must be Fun!”

NEXT WEEK

Our Christmas Party is on Thursday 17 December, 6 for 6.30pm, at The Inlet. If you haven’t already done so, please let Chris O’Brien know if you are coming and who you are bringing, partners and friends.

Let’s make it a great end of year party. The cost is $40 pp and the menu promises to be as good as last year. Members are asked to please bring along a present to the value of $5 – $10 and Santa and his helper will join us to add to the fun of the evening.

Ange’s Chat

We were delighted to have PDG Phil Armstrong from Moruya Rotary join us last Thursday. With his wealth of knowledge and experience we had a­­­­­­ positive discussion on how Narooma Rotary might move forward.

Phil praised our small, dynamic Club and said he had always admired just how many things we had achieved over the last 60+ years. He noted our introduction of innovative projects like the Busking Championship, Renewable Energy Expo and the Duck Race.

Phil said Rotary is changing and we need to adapt and change to suit ourselves and the community we serve. Rotary International was initially a networking club for business leaders; then it became an organisation that saw achieving greater social benefits to individuals and communities in need, locally and globally as a key objective. We became a Service Club with the motto ‘Service above Self’.

He emphasised the critical need for Rotary Clubs to elect ‘Skill Based Boards’ in order to enable Change Management. Skills like the capacity to lead through participation by all, strategic planning, marketing, and the capacity to be creative. Above all we need to encourage participation and club membership of younger, more diverse people. AND have fun.

He noted that younger women are about to play key roles in Rotary: our District Governor Nominee Geraldine Rurenga from the Rotary Club of Wagga Wagga Murrumbidgee, Rotary International’s President Nominee Jennifer Jones of the Rotary Club of Windsor-Roseland in Ontario (the first woman to be RI President), and the RI Director-Elect representing Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands Jessie Harman of the Rotary Club of Wendouree Breakfast in Ballarat.

Phil was adamant that becoming a Satellite Club which meant we would lose our valued Charter would be tragic and should not be an option.

So, let’s rise to the challenge and take a hard look at our public image, new technologies, how often we meet, breakfast meetings, commitment and listen to the ideas and needs of younger generations to gauge new pathways for our community.

CHRISTMAS PARTY: Thursday 17 Dec

This our end of year party. The Inlet Restaurant has been booked 6 for 6.30pm. Please let Chris O’Brien know names of partners and friends. Let’s make it a great celebration to end 2020. What a year it has been…

THIS WEEK

We have a dinner meeting again this Thursday at the Golf Club with guest speaker Jeff Lean, rescheduled from October. Jeff will speak on ‘Climate Change, Consumption and Mindfulness’.  

Please invite partners and guests and let Secretary Rod know if you are attending and the numbers of guests by Wednesday.

Jeff is a retired Consulting Engineer and Environmental Engineer, a member of Earthwatch, Climate Council, Australian Conservation Council, NEC – New Economics Foundation, AELA Australian Earth Laws. He talks of the plant’s warming, the causes, and the accelerating rate of extinction of many species. Jeff will discuss how we can reduce our personal damage to the planet.

The Week that Was

Narooma Rotary Tertiary Scholarships

Many of you are aware that each year we award a three-year Narooma Rotary Tertiary Scholarship to a student from Narooma High School to help them pursue their studies and achieve their dreams. This is thanks to a bequest by Alexander Birch.

Bob Aston reports he has received four applications this year. A panel of Peter Bull, Lynda Ord and David McInnes will interview these students on 19 December. Whoever they select will be the 31^st student to receive this scholarship. That assistance will then total over $260,000.                                                                                   

Annual General Meeting 10 December

Secretary Rod is getting worried he has had no nominations yet for our Board for 2021-2022. Hopefully he will be inundated with nominations this Thursday.

Out and About

International Day of People with Disability

Every year on 3 December, people around the world take part in International Day of People with Disability (IDPwD), a day to celebrate the achievements of people with disability and promote awareness, understanding and acceptance in the community. One in five people, or 4.4 million Australians, have a disability. We all have a role to play to ensure people with disability have the same opportunities as others to reach their full potential.

From Merimbula Rotary

Merimbula Rotarians have been busy replacing and painting the fire-damaged fence at Cobargo Cemetery. Two members, Don and Cam, found the remains of this seat at the Cemetery and set about restoring it to its original condition.  They removed the steel frames and took them home, cleaned, undercoated with cold galvanise, and finished with killrust black paint.  The seat slats were coated with oil-based decking finish, and fastened with new galvanised bolts. On their webpage they ask if anyone would like to help with their fire recovery projects to contact the club through Facebook, messenger or the Club’s webpage.

Merimbula Club generally meets in Club Sapphire at Merimbula but is changing the format of their meetings to alternate with a social event so people are urged to check the club’s webpage or Facebook.

From Pambula Club

Pambula Rotarians recently enjoyed a weekend visit from their Rotary colleagues from out west … Ken from Parkes Rotary and Chris and Chris from Forbes. They checked on the installation of some of the bird boxes they built and donated for local burnt out properties. It was lots of fun.

NEXT WEEK

It’s our AGM. Hope to see you there. Don’t forget to put your nomination forms in beforehand.