Ange’s Thoughts
Wonderful to hear from Françoise Cleret last week with a glimpse into her life so far. What a great intro Françoise and done with such flair. French parents from Paris and Lyon, her father was a geophysicist, family lived in New Zealand for a while. They moved to Australia when his contract finished in New Zealand and bought a cattle and sheep property at Bombala, having never had a farm before. Françoise spent her high school years at a boarding school in Goulburn.
Francoise thrives on adventure and variety, travel, sport and cooking. She’s done lots of travel with John on their motor bikes through Asia. She also likes to change jobs every five years. Works with the Public Service in Canberra. She says her strength now is ‘pen pushing’, excels in her job leading her team and happy she also gets paid well.
She and John split their week between Canberra and Dalmeny. They’re doing major renovations at Dalmeny including installing a swimming pool. I love she rode her Ducati to help out at our last market. Welcome Françoise!
Then on Tuesday, thanks to all those who came along to meet Lachie Penglase’s family – Mum Julie, father Tony, and twin sister Elly. Lachie is our potential exchange student. Such a lovely family. Also great to have Gordon, Lachie’s co-counsellor with Susanna, meet Lachie and his family in a more informal setting. Thank you Susanna for organising it. Thank you also to Gero for your contribution of a savoury plate, brownies and soft drink (and the suggestion of Rotary Park as a venue). Perfect! To top it off Susanna showed off her brand new Pole Star Electric car… Fabulous!
THIS WEEK
This Thursday (16th) is our Business Breakfast at 7am at Narooma Surf Club with guest speaker Jacqui Van Teulingen of Business Australia. Breakfast $10 p.p.
Local businesses have until the end of June to benefit from free access to professional business consultants of the calibre they could possibly not normally afford. Jacqui says, “We’ve been through fires, floods and Covid over the last few years which have impacted on everyone. Every business person who feels they could do with some professional advice or support can apply. It may be a free reality check, or digital help, or marketing advice, or peer to peer support, or something else entirely, we’re here to help. Our role is to hook people up with professionals who can help, if we can’t do it ourselves, but time is running out for that free access.”
This weekend – PETS at Merimbula
Eight (!) of our members are off to Merimbula this weekend for the District 9705 PETS (President Elect Training) and Learning and Development (previously a separate Club Assembly). It should be a real boost for our Club to have so many of us getting up-to-date with Rotary thinking and stimulating our ideas.
The Week that Was
From last week’s meeting
President Ange has said it all about Francoise’s wonderful talk last week. Lynn Hastings did a great job chairing the meeting. She outlined some recent Board decisions including donating $500 to Rotary’s Disaster Relief for New Zealand and $500 to Narooma Public School’s STEM Project. Mike is transferring half the proceeds from the Whale Raffle and all proceeds from the Duck Race to the Carers’ Accommodation account for the new Eurobodalla Regional Hospital.
We have four (!) applications for membership which have now been approved by the Board. – Nicole Keith, Annemarie Narraway, Ana Koen and Greg Heath. That should be quite an induction ceremony!
Moruya Rotary celebrates
Moruya Rotarians were very much involved in Moruya’s big community celebrations last Saturday to celebrate their community and people – ‘Moruya Celebrates Yesterday’s Heroes, Mardi Gras and River Lights’. More details coming in their next bulletin, but they certainly had a stall at the big Moruya Celebarates Market.
NEXT THURSDAY (23rd) – Pride of Workmanship Awards
This top event will be in the Members Lounge (go past the bar and stairs upstairs, and turn left). The cost is $43 p.p. for a two course meal. Please bring partners. Hope to see you there. Please confirm your numbers with Gero by Monday (20th) noon at the latest
Some background – Rotary’s Pride of Workmanship Awards give employers and managers, through Rotary, a chance to publicly recognise an employee who goes above and beyond in their work. It’s intended to cover all aspects of work performance and ethics and aims to encourage pride in personal performance in the workplace with the theme: ‘Do it once, Do it well.’ Pride of Workmanship is not a competition. It is a recognition of individual achievement and commitment.
So far three nominations are in, with another four possibilities. Laurelle hopes for at least six.