Bob’s Buzz
Hello Everyone
For our Youth Night last Thursday we welcomed our 2020 Rotary Tertiary Scholar Rory Spurgeon to our meeting along with his parents, Chris and Alison. We also welcomed Tahlia Arnold, Crystal Elmasri and Aisha Thomas and Aisha’s father Andrew to our first meeting of 2020. The Club has assisted Tahlia for the past two years at the University of Wollongong; the Board has agreed to assist Crystal this year in a similar way as she begins her studies, also at UOW. Unfortunately, our 2018 Scholar Alicia Bate could not join us. These young people are great ambassadors for their school and community I am sure that with our continued support they will do well in the future.
Due to some scheduling issues, the combined meeting with Moruya and Batemans Bay set down for 26 February has been cancelled. Funds raised at the Christmas race day will now be presented to Meals on Wheels and Yumaro at the next Moruya race day on Monday 16 March. The Christmas Race day at the end of last year was an outstanding success enabling a donation of $24,000 to Yumaro and Meals on Wheels towards the purchase of a ‘people mover’. A fantastic result.
Organisation for this year’s Busking Championship is well underway thanks to the committee led by Friend of Rotary Di Riley. This Thursday we will present a cheque to Narooma Preschool from profits made at last year’s Busking Championship.
Once again Narooma was fortunate not to be impacted by fires on the weekend; sadly those to the south and west of us were not so lucky. Our thoughts continue to be with those impacted by this ongoing natural disaster.
Regards Bob
THIS WEEK
We welcome Narooma Preschool committee President Michael Gardner and Preschool Director Kathy Phipps who will receive a cheque for $500 from the money raised at last year’s Busking Championships.
The Preschool will put the money towards their musical instrument programme. They intend purchasing a few more drums to add to their collection.
THE WEEK THAT WAS
It was wonderful to have four young people associated with our Club as our guests last Thursday.
Our Rotary Tertiary Scholar for 2020 is Rory Spurgeon. He heads off this weekend to the Australian National University in Canberra where he has been accepted into the Bachelor of Health Science course with hopes to swap to a Bachelor of Philosophy (Honours) – Science which is a research-based four-year degree. He will live on campus and is looking forward to playing a lot of sport including AFL and soccer.
Crystal Elmasri is being assisted with her expenses this year as she heads off to the University of Wollongong to study Law with a particular leaning to Immigration Law. She said she is really grateful for Rotary’s assistance. She said she has always had a passion for law and for knowing her rights, and loves discussing controversial issues. She was a member of last year’s MUNA team.
Tahlia Arnold is now starting her third year of psychology at the University of Wollongong and has been accepted as an honours student. As part of her course this year, she will attend a week-long course or conference in Singapore.
Aisha Thomas was also in Narooma High’s MUNA team last year. She is now doing Year 12.
Unfortunately our 2018 Tertiary Scholar Alicia Bate was unable to join us last week; 2019 was her first year on the scholarship. She wrote:
Dear Rotary
Unfortunately due to our current situation I have made the decision it is better to stay home and wait for what is to come and so I can not share your story with you all myself tonight. On a more positive note. I’d like to let you know what I have done over the past year and my plans for the future.
I began my Bachelor of Animal Science at Charles Sturt University. I was staying on campus and this led me to make some wonderful friends. Unfortunately the overall experience did not live up to my expectations… As my long term goal was to become a vet, an extremely long course, I decided Charles Sturt University was not for me. This has ultimately led to me making a new decision in my career path.
Thankfully 2019 was not so bad for me. I would officially like to announce to you all my engagement to my fiance Denny who is a local boy from Moruya.
This year I will begin a Bachelor of Science at the University of Wollongong at the end of February. I will do a Biology major, with Chemistry and Earth and Environment minors. I have also decided to pick up two mathematic units to fill my credits from Charles Sturt, as well as pick up some distance education Agriculture subjects to widen my teaching subject capabilities.
I look forward to seeing you all again when this monster leaves us. Alicia
On the Evacuation Centre
Bob thanked everyone who assisted at the Evacuation Centre in early January, particularly on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day when we were inundated with evacuated holidaymakers and residents from other areas as a result of the bushfires. Bob said he was very proud of the community’s efforts and “how people just came together”.
Our Club was again asked to be on standby should we be needed to man the barbecue at the Evacuation Centre last weekend. However that call never came.
OUT AND ABOUT
More on Moruya Christmas Rotary Races
The Rotary Race day Committee did extremely well both with the race meeting gate and ticket selling. David Ashford reports the combined Rotary Clubs, assisted by a $6,000 Rotary District Grant and a $250 donation from Moruya Golf Club, raised $18,430.80 (after taking out costs of $1,489.25). Moruya Jockey Club donated a further $5,569.20 to make the combined total of $24,000 raised for Yumaro and Meals on Wheels.
The cancellation of the 26th combined meeting means we will not celebrate Rotary International’s anniversary this year with our neighbouring clubs, nor will there be any dinner associated with the presentation. The Race Day committee hopes to get some coverage from Sky TV of the presentation, publicising Rotary and the work the Moruya Jockey Club does in our community.
Batemans Bay guest speaker on insurance
Insurance man Brett McDonald had everyone at Batemans Bay Rotary’s full attention when he was their guest speaker last week. The Bay Rotary newsletter reported he said present losses from bushfires on the South Coast amounted to $1.65 billion and was expected to rise to at least $2 billion.
NEXT WEEK
A board meeting at 5pm at the Golf Club, followed by a dinner meeting.