Bob’s Blog
Hello Everyone
David Ashford from Batemans Bay Rotary has finalised funds raised at the Eurobodalla Rotary Clubs’ Christmas Race Day. In all, $12,000 was raised. A great effort. The funds will be divided between the four surf clubs in the Shire; this means Narooma Surf Club will collect $3,000 to help them purchase much needed resources. The funds will be presented at a combined Rotary Dinner at Moruya on 21 February. It would be great to have a strong turn out from our Club at the dinner – see a separate email for more information.
Last Thursday we held our annual Youth Night where we introduced Alicia Bate our 2018 Narooma Rotary Scholar. Alicia will be having a gap year this year before commencing her studies in Animal Science at Charles Sturt University. Alicia hopes to transfer to Vet Science if her marks are up to scratch. Whilst on her gap year, Alicia intends to travel to Texas to study animal husbandry. Alicia’s mum, Sharon also came along to the meeting.
We also welcomed Tahlia Arnold to our meeting. Tahlia was interviewed for our Rotary Scholarship last year. The panel was very impressed with her desire to do well at university and decided to award her a one-off scholarship for 2018. Tahlia intends to study Psychology at the University of Wollongong. Tahlia’s mum, Michelle also attended the meeting.
Carl McEvoy our 2015 Scholar was also present. Carl has just about completed his degree and has developed a strong interest in film making. He is currently looking for jobs and hopes to get an internship with the ABC.
Last Thursday was fairly busy with our first Board Meeting for 2018 before the main meeting. The Board agreed to:
- Participate in Clean Up Australia on Sunday 4 March – about six volunteers are needs to help clean up around Mill Bay and the Board Walk to the Apex Park boat ramp.
- Donate $500 to the Surf Club in recognition of their assistance with the Duck Race.
- Donate $500 to Bermagui CRABS (Cancer Research Advocate Bikers) in recognition of their assistance with the Duck Race – we borrow their ducks.
- Purchase some Fluoro vests so that we stand out better at events such as the Busking Competition
- Form a 60th anniversary committee consisting of Bob Aston, Rod Walker, Sandra Doyle and Laurelle Pacey.
This week we welcome well-known mixed media artist and author Rita Wagner as our guest speaker. Rita lives in Mystery Bay. Her entertaining books include ‘Menopause Makes Mummy Mental’. It should be a fun night so please invite partners and friends along.
Have a great week.
Around about
Narooma Scouts re-form and occupy Rotary project
Good news in Narooma News online that Narooma Scouts will soon start up again after a break of a number of years. Narooma Scout Hall on Taylor Lane, behind Bill Smyth Oval, was our Club’s first major project; it was built by our members in 1959/1960 re-using timber from renovations to Hyland’s Hotel. Narooma has not had a Scout troop for several years so the Hall has been neglected and looks somewhat sad with a fair amount of graffiti.
The new Scout leader Ross Tornabene asked parents and children aged between 10 and 15 to come along for a free ‘Try Scouting’ night on Wednesday this week, so hopefully he gets a good response. Mr Tornabene has a wealth of Scouting experience, most recently with the combined Moruya/Batemans Bay troop; for the last two years has been a Venturer Scout leader working with youngsters 14-18 years of age. He lives in Narooma so jumped at the chance to be a Scout leader here. He was also a member of the Volunteer Rescue Association back in the days when Neville Gough was leader.
Busking Festival Report
Organisation for the Busking Festival on Saturday 26 May is well underway. Festival coordinator Sandra Doyle reports Chris O’Brien has done an excellent job with almost all the Prize Sponsors filled ($8,000 worth) and many of the Busker Spots as well. We are also using NATA Oval as a site for some of our remote businesses to host a busker.
Registration forms have been sent to all schools up and down the coast and to all buskers on the Australian National Busking Championship database. Already some buskers have registered. All Service Clubs have been invited to again assist and all emergency services have been alerted to the date.
It’s all in the name, courtesy of Peter Bull
A tourist was walking through San Francisco’s Chinatown enjoying the artistry of the Chinese shops and signs. Then he saw a sign: ‘Moishe Plotnik’s Laundry’. He was intrigued.
He walked into the shop and saw a fairly standard dry cleaners, although it was obvious the proprietors were clearly aware of the uniqueness of the name with baseball hats, T-shirts and coffee mugs emblazoned with ‘Moishe Plotnik’s Chinese Laundry’ for sale. The tourist selected a mug and went up to the smiling old Chinese gentleman behind the counter who thanked him for his purchase. The tourist asked about the name. The old man answered, ‘Ah, eveebody ask me dat. It name of owner.’
Looking around, the tourist asked, ‘Is he here now?’
‘It me, me him!’ replied the old man.
‘Really? You’re Chinese. How did you ever get a Jewish name like Moishe Plotnik?’
‘It simple,’ said the old man. ‘Many year ago I come to this country. I standing in line at Immiglation. Man in front of me was from Poland. Lady at counter say to him, ‘What you name?’ He (Polish man) say to her, ‘Moishe Plotnik.’
Then she look at me and say, ‘What your name?’ I say, ‘Sam Ting.’