Rod’s Ramble
This Thursday many of us are attending the Band of the Royal Military College concert at the Golf Club. For those of you not coming, this is what you are missing.
Often referred to as RMC Band or the Duntroon Band, it is based in Canberra. Its role for the Army and the Australian Defence Force is predominantly ceremonial in support of Vice-Regal and government agencies, Defence Headquarters and the Royal Military College, but off the parade ground it performs as a concert band and has several smaller ensembles as well. These ensembles include a concert band, marching band, stage band, woodwind quintet, brass quintet, jazz ensemble, rock band, Dixie band (known as the Steamboat Stompers), saxophone quartet, clarinet quartet, and woodwind trio. This versatility enables the band to cover all ceremonial tasking in the ACT and to perform a regional role engaging with the community, such as with this concert tour.
The band has been deployed in many areas – support to OP BELISI II – Peace Monitoring Group – Bougainville, OP WARDEN – International Force East Timor (INTERFET), and OP ANODE – Regional Assistance Mission to the Solomon Islands. International engagements have included representing Australia in Paris for the 50th Anniversary of Armistice Day in 1968, ceremonial activities in London commemorating the Centenary of Federation in 2000 and ceremonial duties at Gallipoli on Anzac Day 2003.
The band is also a respected participant in the arts life of the wider community in Canberra. In addition to concerts at many of Canberra’s national institutions, the band is well known for its regular Music at Midday series held at the Canberra Theatre which raises funds for local charities.
RYPEN returns
Rotary Youth Program of Enrichment (RYPEN) is a three day personal development camp, sponsored by Rotary Clubs, for boys and girls 14-17 years old. It targets those who show qualities of decency, courage, persistence, sincerity and application that deserve further development. They don’t have to be school leaders or top of the class. The next RYPEN Camp is 17-19 May at Old Mogo Town.
We need your help to find students to participate in this extremely worthwhile program. There are 64 places to fill across our Rotary District and we hope for an even mix of boys and girls. RYPEN aims for the average student and not the outstanding few. If you know anyone who might be interested, please let us know ASAP.
I hope to see you all at our meeting on 21 March.
Rod
THIS WEEK
Our meeting this Thursday has been replaced by The Band of the Royal Military College Duntroon concert, also at the Golf Club. Over 20 Rotarians and friends are going. Starts at 6pm. Two-course dinner and concert. Over 20 of our Rotarians and friends are going. Charmaine’s daughter Liz will be starring. $10 from each ticket is going to the local Rural Fire Service.
Out and About
Last week
Bob Aston kept us entertained with some interesting Maths puzzles… all good fun although few got the correct answers. Bob then informed us they were aimed at Grade 5s…. groan.
International Toast:
John Rungen made our international toast last week to Rotary International and the ShelterBox team. Rotary partners with ShelterBox to help communities devastated by disasters. “We all know that 2018 was a year of global disasters and conflicts,” he said. “Rotary and the ShelterBox responded 18 times to eight conflict zones, four tropical cyclones, two earthquakes, two floods, one drought and one volcanic activity.”
Countries affected included Antigua/Barbuda in the West Indies, British Virgin Islands, Chad, Cameroon, Dominican Republic, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Iraq, Kenya, Nigeria, the Philippines, Syria, Somaliland and Bangladesh.
In 2018, Rotary International and ShelterBox provided support to 30,000 families by providing them with emergency shelter and other household items including tents, blankets, mosquito nets, water carriers and filters, and basic tools. A further 12,000 families were provided with essential household items.
Rotarians around the world spent 1,120 days helping in many of these areas.
Rotary Youth Driver Awareness 1-2 April
This year’s Rotary Youth Driver Awareness (RYDA) for Year 11 students will be held at Moruya Jockey Club Monday 1st and Tuesday 2nd April. Narooma High students are going on the Tuesday and Sandra, Geoff and Ange will be helping.
This programme targets pre-learner drivers from Eurobodalla Shire’s five high-schools and is run by Batemans Bay Rotary in conjunction with Moruya and Narooma Clubs.
The RYDA programme is written and resourced by Road Safety Education (RSE) Ltd (www.rse.org.au) and is presented to students from 600 schools across Australia. The theme of the day is ‘My Life, My Choices’ and covers a broad range of topics including hazard perception, fatigue, stopping distances, vehicle safety and the opportunity to listen to and speak with a crash survivor.
RYDA is a significant youth project for our clubs and particularly involves Batemans Bay and Moruya members in organising the days and in catering, as well as Council, Moruya Jockey Club and the Coastal Auto Group.
NEXT WEEK (21 March):
Our very own Geoff Robin will talk about The Australian Constitution.
Geoff is a former journalist (Canberra, Melbourne), Federal public servant, and advocate for Australian Local Government Association, and much more. He is passionate about the democratic process and therefore our Constitution which he believes needs urgent reform to safeguard our Parliamentary democracy. Should be interesting….