Ange’s Thoughts

What a great market on Sunday! More details below.

It was such a pleasure last Thursday to welcome guests Lachie Penglase as well as Moruya Rotarians Shirley Cornish and John Gillett. Our Area 6 Governor Adam de Totth also paid us a visit as he was unable to attend our Changeover this Thursday; it was his last visit as our Area Governor.

Lachie, Yr 9 student at NHS, was selected by District for the 2024 Rotary Youth Exchange. Our Club’s last Outbounder was Erin Fahey in 2009 who was hosted in Germany. We are thrilled that Lachie will be venturing to Japan (his country of choice) in January for an amazing year being hosted by families, attending school, speaking Japanese – such a wonderful cultural experience. Lachie, so personable, relaxed and engaging described the formal Rotary District interview process in detail. He sailed through it and impressed the panel with his knowledge of Rotary and his enthusiasm to embark on this unforgettable adventure. Congratulations Lachie and family. To Susanna and Gordon, thank you for mentoring him so well.

Shirley and John took turns sharing their experiences at the Rotary International Convention held in Melbourne recently. The 12 Moruya Rotarians who went said it was an awesome experience. The convention had big-name speakers, breakout sessions, the international flag ceremony and the House of Friendship – all sessions full of pageantry and inspiration. Rotary experts shared tips on how to live the Rotary Action Plan to address the world’s biggest challenges and grow club diversity. Jennifer Jones, RI President this year was there to meet all delegates. Imagine! 13,000 Rotarians from around the world did the wave at one point in the Rod Laver Arena. The entertainment was fabulous. All agreed it was an unforgettable opportunity to see firsthand the internationality of Rotary and feel proud to be a part of it.

THIS THURSDAY

This Thursday night is our Changeover, the culmination of our Rotary Year and will be a great night. It’s 6 for 6.30. It will bring many members, friends and distinguished guests together. Our special guests will include Member for Eden Monaro Kristy McBain, PDG Phil Armstrong representing DG Geraldine Rurenga, and Eurobodalla Shire Deputy Mayor Alison Worthington.

The Week that Was

Great markets

Once again, a fun market with perfect weather. David McInnes noted that “over the last year it has transformed into a very enjoyable day for all members”. It was the first market with the later winter hours and it seems a success with most people; it was certainly welcomed by the early morning Rotary crew on the gate. September’s market will return to the normal hours.

While a small market being in winter, the Club did quite well financially. Treasurer Mike Young reports the gate took $ 940.00, the van $450.50 plus square sales (still to be noted), and Wishing well $ 65.00.

Last Week’s meeting

Shirl and John’s report on Moruya Rotarians escapades at the RI Convention in Melbourne outlined the serious and social. Shirl was really impressed with RI President Jennifer Jones who sh said was so gracious and caring as she acknowledged Rotarians who had devoted their lives to helping others.

In breakout sessions and speeches there was much inspiration and pride in Rotary’s life changing projects. John was staggered at the sheer number. Jan and Steve Young were excited to meet Sandi and Tracey in the Hall of Friendship from the End Trachoma Project which Moruya had participated in.

Shirl really enjoyed driving to Melbourne in John’s Mustang; a few of them in convoy. John spoke of lots of dining out, Flemington Racecourse and an AFL game, some part of the RI Convention’s extra-curricular activities. He said the “fellowship” was one of the main reasons the 12 went down.

Shirl summed it up rather well saying it’s so good “to be part of something big and wonderful. People want to belong and be part of something…”

Out and About

Moruya’s Year in Review

It’s interesting to see how far Moruya Club has come in 12 months. President Shirl says in their Changeover Bulletin the Club started the year “with some soul searching”, having 31 aging members, a medium age of 75 and dwindling numbers. A meeting discussed what to do; their concern was as one member put it, “If we don’t do something we’re stuffed’”. But “events seemed to take over”. Moruya decided to initiate the move to establish Carers’ accommodation for the planned Eurobodalla Regional Hospital, following the initiative of Bega Valley Rotary Clubs. They set up a temporary committee that became the conduit to an incorporated community company – Carers Accommodation Eurobodalla Regional Hospital – CAERH. This helped put Moruya Rotary in the public eye. Nine months later, the independent committee was appointed with four Moruya Rotary members on that committee. CAREH Inc is up and running with wide community support, including from Narooma Rotary, and a long list of possible donors. It’s likely to be a five year project.

That, plus an “excellent run of guest speakers”, two sometimes three a month, and active support of many youth and community projects and Rotary programmes see six new members join the Club which Shirl says has made a huge difference. They ended the year with 34 members and a lower average age.

Moruya Rotary has put almost $91,000 back into the community over the year, much of it raised through the Moruya Racecourse kiosk.

Narooma President Elect Lynn Hastings and VP Julie Hartley will represent our Club at Moruya’s Changeover on Tuesday when Shirl will pass the chain of office to Derek Anderson.

The great Cinders Trivia Challenge

Our Club will be seeking to regain the Cinders Trophy from Moruya Rotary on Tuesday 11 July at Moruya Golf Club. Moruya Rotary is our host. So please come with friends and family who can help us in our quest. Details next week. This will be instead of a meeting in Narooma on Thursday 13th.

NEXT WEEK

No Meeting on Thursday 6 July, being the first Thursday in the month.

On Friday 7^th July at 4.15pm – New Board meets at Narooma Golf Club.

Ange’s Thoughts

A reminder that our monthly market is on this Sunday. Please note the hour later ‘winter’ start time. It’s a move appreciated by our early team AND most, if not all, stallholders.

We are currently finalising arrangements for next week’s Changeover, including the Changeover bulletin. All systems are ‘go’ as we near the end of this Rotary year.

The monthly CAERH (Carers’ Accommodation for the Eurobodalla Regional Hospital) meeting took place last Thursday. President Elect Lynn Hastings represented our Club. CAERH Secretary Steve Young said points covered included documentation regarding the Australian Charities and Not-for-Profit Commission (ACNC) application. The 4WD Electric car raffle with the Coastal Auto Group is progressing. The committee will be applying for tax deductibility for donors. 

This Thursday (22^nd June) we’re in for a great night. First, it’s an opportunity to personally congratulate Lachie Penglase on being selected by District for the 2024 Rotary Youth Exchange. Then it will be hearing from our guest speakers Shirley Cornish and John Gillett from Moruya Rotary Club about their experiences at the Rotary International Convention in Melbourne recently. Just imagine! Twelve Moruya Rotarians went, all accommodated in an apartment building arranged by a Rotary mate. They headed out together each day and tried a different restaurant at night. Apparently they had a ball!

Adam De Totth will also be joining us for the last time as our Area 6 Governor.

THIS THURSDAY 22^ND JUNE

We welcome Moruya Rotarians President Shirley Cornish and PP John Gillett who will give a PowerPoint presentation on ‘Twelve Moruya go to the RI Convention in Melbourne’, or something like that… A great effort by Moruya.

The Week that Was

News from Moruya Club

Moruya Rotarians have put together toiletry kits for Rotary Australia’s ‘End Trachoma Project’ over the last 18 months. Trachoma is the leading cause of infectious blindness in the world, caused by the bacterium Chlamydia trachomatis, yet it is preventable. It is in 40 countries, mostly poorer counties, with Australia the only developed country affected in any major way by the disease.

Sandi Fulcher of RC Chadstone/ East Malvern, the overall co-ordinator of the project, said they are working with the World Health Organization to end trachoma in Australia. There’s a high incidence in Australian Indigenous communities; the project’s major focus is on the goldfields of Western Australia, Alice Springs, and central and remote communities of the Northern Territory.

End Trachoma is a simple project – to provide these communities with assistance in sanitary measures, and with facial and environmental cleanliness. Rotary provides hand wash stations, toiletry kits, towels, dust suppressors and water transport trailers, among several other measures, to encourage improved facial cleanliness.

Moruya Rotary has now delivered five boxes of 17 family toiletry kits, six extra kids’ kits and a few spare toiletries to Pack and Send in Camberwell, Victoria where they will go with the latest boxes from the Rotary clubs of Frankston North and Rochester to Alice Springs. Moruya Rotarians made and labelled the drawstring bags before filling them with appropriate toiletries.

A note on Changeovers

Clubs in the Bega Valley seem to stagger their Changeovers so members from other clubs can attend and support their neighbours. In the Eurobodalla, while Moruya’s Changeover is on Tuesday next week, the Bay’s and ours are on the same night. Moruya is expecting about 65 at their Changeover next Tuesday, including seven from Batemans Bay Club and our VP Julie Hartley. Perhaps something to consider for next year…

NEXT THURSDAY 29^th

Our most prestigious event of the year is next Thursday 29^th June – our Changeover. Please make sure you have informed Gero if you are/ are not coming by this Friday, preferably by noon. Your booking will be confirmed by direct deposit into our Administration account at the same time – details on the invitation. Cost is $50 p.p. Hope we see you there.

Ange’s Thoughts

What a fantastic night we enjoyed last week with the RoboRebels telling us about competing in the recent World Robotics Championships in Houston, Texas. They attracted many interested guests as well as a good roll up of members. Narooma High’s team of five students – Kye Potter, Harmony Canon, Harrison McKee, Matthew Brooks and Linc McLeod-Scott took us on an amazing journey. They had won the FIRST Robotics South Pacific Regional Championships in Wollongong qualifying them for the World Championships. 

These wonderful, inspiring students took the stage and ran the show to everyone’s delight. We enjoyed the clever, short film made about their unique US experience which also included dinner with the Australian Consul-General in Houston, visit to NASA and the Texas Medical Centre Innovation Accelerator. Each spoke enthusiastically about their experiences at Narooma High designing, building, programming and coding their competition robot. We were also treated to some other demo robots.

Congratulations RoboRebels. You have done Narooma proud under the dedicated and ongoing mentorship of teachers Gayle Allison and Christine Potts.

It was our pleasure to donate $500 towards their costs. We hope that their participation in this international event will encourage them all to dream big and seek opportunities to use their fantastic skills in the future. They are inspiring many other students.

NO MEETING THIS WEEK

The meeting originally scheduled for this Thursday has been moved to Thursday 22^nd. This was due to a slight miscommunication between us and the Golf Club. Not having a meeting this week has been welcomed by many because it was otherwise going to be a really full on month.

The Week that Was

More on RoboRebels

The RoboRebels experience at the Robotics World Championships in Texas really was mind blowing. They were one of 600 teams competing in front of 30,000 people. It was huge! While everyone was competitive, the Narooma team was really touched about how so many other teams genuinely offered any assistance they needed.

Unfortunately we did not get to meet the competition Robot 5988 which was on its way home, but the team introduced us to their three different stages of robots from the small and basic through to larger more complex competition robots. This team have been into robotics since primary school, and have been mentoring others throughout their secondary years. Hats off to Narooma teachers Gayle Allison and Christine Potts; with four of the five team finishing school this year, Gayle and Christine had some initial fears about finding students for a whole new competition team. Those fears are now over; these students are inspiring others.   

You have been officially invited

Changeover is our most prestigious event in the year. This week Secretary Gero has sent to all members an official invitation to Changeover. Please note Gero asks that you please let her know by Friday 23^rd June if you are coming with the number of guests; please pay at the same time online into our Administration account (detail on invitation). It should be a great night.

Bay Rotarian will be District DG 2025-2026

Robert Shore from the Rotary Club of Batemans Bay has been selected as District Governor Nominee Designate. If his selection is not challenged, he will be DG in 2025-2026.Congratulations Robert from Narooma Rotarians!

NEXT THURSDAY

Guest speakers Moruya Rotarians Shirley Cornish and John Gillett will report on Moruya Rotary contingent at the recent RI Convention in Melbourne.

We will also have as our special guest our 2024 International Exchange Student Lachie Penglase.

The final month of every Rotary year is Fellowship Month. Fellowship is particularly to the forefront with changeovers being very much the priority in all clubs in June. Fellowship is of course one of the five core values of Rotary, the others being service, diversity, integrity and leadership.

FYI, Monday was World Environment Day and this Thursday is World Oceans Day.

Ange’s Thoughts

Some late breaking amazing news!! Lachie Penglase has been selected by District for the 2024 Rotary Youth Exchange Program. He has also been given Japan, his country of choice. Congratulations Lachie and well done Susanna and Gordon who assisted with his preparation for District interviews at the weekend. We hope to be able to personally congratulate Lachie at our meeting on the 15^th June.

Our Board meeting last Friday:

• Finalised the menu for Changeover
• Determined remaining disbursements for the year
• Mike Young is preparing a yearly planner for the 2023/2024 Rotary year that can be printed as a hard copy. (Laurelle Pacey pointed out a detailed list for those who want it of all Club events can be printed from our website by going to the right hand column, click ‘All events’).
• John Rungen is keen to update the sheet detailing the organisation of our Club
• David McInnes has started work on the Club’s application for charity and Donor Gift Recipient status which will also involve setting up a separate bank account. This will allow potential donors to our Scholarship scheme and projects, such as the new food van, to receive tax deductions.
• John Rungen has confirmed he is willing to be Secretary from 1 July until the end of December. Then he and Denise will be travelling. Julie Hartley has agreed to then take on the role as secretary, and will be mentored by John over the next six months.
• We now have a dedicated secondhand mobile to use for the squares, thanks to Chris O’Brien. Lynn Hastings will arrange for the data to be erased and organise a sim card.
• The Board agreed that Club dues for 2023-2024 will be $285 p.a for those who want a hard copy of the Rotary Down Under magazine and $280 p.a. for those who are happy with a digital copy.
• Need to action John Rungen’s Volunteer Declaration form as a matter of urgency.

We are in for an inspiring night on Thursday when we will hear from the RoboRebels (see below). Looking forward to it.  

THIS WEEK

We welcome all five members of Narooma High RoboRebels and their teachers/ mentors recently returned from a possibly life-changing experience in the USA. Recently the RoboRebels won the FIRST Robotics South Pacific Regional championships in Wollongong qualifying for the World Championships in Houston, Texas . On Thursday they will share the story of their trip with a short film and their demonstration robot.

Please invite partners and friends and let Gero know by noon on Tuesday if you are coming and how many guests you are bringing.

The Week that Was

Moruya Rotarians loved RI Convention

Moruya’s 15-member contingent (!) had a great time at Rotary International’s recent Melbourne Convention. President Shirl described it as “totally wonderful”. Moruya delegates were Annette and John Nader, Shirley Cornish, Bronwyn and Col Jay, Jan and Steve Young, John and Brenda Gillet. Robyn Armstrong, Keith Armstrong, Rohan and Pauline Gleeson, Vere and Garry Grey.

Shirl said China was a surprise entrant in the almost endless parade of country flags. In the last 12 months China’s number of clubs has grown from two to nine plus Rotaract clubs from two to four.

In this week’s Moruya bulletin, Shirl described Project Rozana as an example of the forceful Breakout Sessions on world changing projects she attended. The forum at the Convention had one Muslim, a Christian (Tim Costello) and a Jew who said Project Rozana ‘transports Palestinian patients to hospitals within Israeli borders, and providing treatment options for Palestinians where access to specialist and/or quality healthcare is limited.’ It enables cooperation between Israelis and Palestinians within health on the personal level so, ‘Palestinians and Israelis coexist peacefully, with a sense of mutual respect, dignity and safety for all.’

The Pakistan report on Polio Plus revealed the sad and tragic cost of polio vaccination. Sixty-four of its brave front line workers died, many from gunshot wounds.

We will hear more about the Convention next week. The 2024 Convention is in Singapore; Shirl has already registered!

Out and About

The next Bega Rotary Book Fair is on 7th and 8th July at Bega Showground; this is Bega Rotary’s major fundraiser for the year. They are limiting book donations this year to shopping bags and small boxes of books but no big collections

NEXT THURSDAY 15^th June

We will hear firsthand from Moruya Rotarians who attended the recent RI Convention and hopefully from Lachie Penglase.