Rotary Stawell Inc.

The one’th of the month,  1 to 8 October 2013      STAWELLTALK

Hello To all our readers,  well the big night has  come and gone, we have had our visit from the District Governor.  And we had him induct our latest member into the Family Stawell, In PP John Artz  late of the Swan Hill Club,  we also had the pleasure of The company of Johns Lady Wife Judy,  AG group 7 in Douglas Ball and his lady PP Pauline, and guess who ?  the whole room brightened up when Kaye arrived followed  very shortly by Joy-Belle,  Jud with an I, Judi, Sue Qin, so we had a great night.

Pres Kim asked that the night be as near as a usual meeting for us so that  DG Ken would see us as natural as possible, and Ed seems to think it worked, it was an informal evening  so the Boss could relax after his strenuous day out on the Golf Course.  But his short talk , well lets just say it developed somewhat.

We did have some assistance  however with the meals  and we have to thank Friend of Rotary Mrs Debbie Gehan and Mrs Noelene Mitchell, who assisted with the meal, thank you very much ladies, your efforts made the evening smoother than otherwise it would have been, thank you so much. .

Thanks also to Rtn Robin for his assistance in the set up of the room, we needed some  alterations and his assistance was invaluable.

Back to the DG’s visit shortly

We were given a only used twice, 6 burner BBQ complete with removable drip tray and cover, all but brand new, a friend of the club  Bruce asked PDG Ted if we could use it , and the rest is history. Thanks to PP Des who picked up the BBQ and had it stored at the apex shed.

PDG Ted spent most of his Sunday, travelling to and from, and  in Warrnambool at a District Rotaract  meeting , and the effort to get a Rotaract Club up and running here in Stawell was re visited. Amongst many other things.  So that will be on the Clubs Future planning. But the meeting was a success and the old bloke was pretty happy about it all.

The news that PP Pauline is back in Hospital is a concern, one of her sons took her to hospital, and at last report she is coming along slowly little by little , while the Medical staff are trying to establish the particular antibiotics that may give Pauline some respite and help her breathing.. It is an on going and  terrible problem for her. And so there is a great deal of worry and concern for Pauline.

Rtn Wendy is still attending to her family problems and is remaining positive or as much as she can,  and PP Val has lost yet another member of her family, and again one has to wonder  when all of this  is going to abate, hope we can find some 4 leaf clovers and a rabbits foot or two for luck for some of our family here at Rotary Stawell.

At this time in the medical report we should not forget PP Kevin is still suffering the effects of his illness, and is  still  months away from complete recovery.

Better try for a little education, to lighten up things, up a bit. And to do this we enter the weird and wonderful word of Normans nonsense

“STEWARDESSES”  is the longest word typed only with the left hand

And “LOLLIPOP’  is the longest word typed entirely with the right hand.

There is no word in the English language that rhymes with MONTH, ORANGE, SILVER OR PURPLE.

The word DREAMT is the only word in the English language that ends in MT

Only 2 words in the English language  that have all 5 vowels , in order ABSTEMIOUS & FACETIOUS

And to finish off your education for this week, TYPEWRITER is the longest word that can be made  using only one row of the keyboard.

So be honest now, how many of those things did you know before Normans  exposé ??

PP Kenneth William Agnew, is our master of ceremonies this month of October for us. We all know how busy PP Ken is , but we have great faith in him and  who he has lined up for us this month.

 3 &4 October 2013 MOW Thursday 3^rd   Big John L, Friday 4^th Dessie Thank you to the Boys for that.

8  October  2013    Board meeting  reports to the sec please.

10 October 2013    Meeting for student s at venue  7.00 PM

13 October 2013    Pre PETS PE Vaughan.  [Horsham]

15 October 2013   Speaker   TBA. 

20 October 2013    Multi District Foundation Forum  PDG Ted

22 October 2013   Trivia evening with the winning team to come to the meeting of 29^th free

29 October 2013   Speaker  TBA

As  can be seen from above the Board meeting is next Tuesday, . As usual reports in to The Sec on or before Thursday this week 5 October 13.  Thank you.

The members may recall that the Club applied for a refurbished Computer from the Shire, we are told that there was 51 applicants, and that we were successful, that is great news, at this time as President Kim is using her phone etc.to send and receive e-mails,   the decision was made to give her the use of the computer until at least the end of her presidential time..  But is  a great  thing and the sec is to write to the Shire and thank them for the enterprise shown in support of the local volunteer organisations, and also for their selection of us as one of the recipients.

And so back to our DG’s visit.   DG Ken is a Rotarians,  Rotarian. He is fastidious  in his thought and actions,  always with the best of intention, and is seldom wrong in his summation of a situation,  one only had to listen to the ways he had the district conference all joining in and clapping along at the conference before last, to recognise the touch he has.  He cant help being born in Adelaide, that was not his fault and of course as good Rotarians we make allowances for that,  but his impact in his working life particularly in Bordertown have been, and still is outstanding, he is a bit like pepper and salt, he is in everything, and is held in high esteem, far and wide  in the desert country.

But we digress, back to Tuesday.  Ken is attempting to bring a newer fresher approach to Rotary, as per the request by the RI President, Ron Burton. In general The thought is good But it will not happen overnight, and small steps will need to be taken to change the  thought process of some.

Ken spoke at length on Membership, and the Ed hopes that some of this applies to us here in Stawell, It is believed that we are half way there, as Rotary is well known in the town, as  we can attest by the amount of Mail we receive requesting assistance.  We also have good access to the local paper, but as it has been mentioned many times in our club there is no replacement for speaking to people.  It is also accepted that Rotaract needs to be given more acceptance by the Rotary Clubs, as here is a ready made source of  Rotarians, that if brought along in a fair and reasonable manner will be come Rotarians, and in part help solve some of our membership problems.

Ken went on to speak on such areas as RLI,  The Rotary Foundation,  In Club Training,   Centurion Program. All with the direction of change and how these changes Might take place, displaying a knowledge of various plans that might be used to increase membership, and the likely effect that non attendance may have,  to the point where a members may never attend a meeting, but carry out many hours of work in any given program or project. He was not overly enthusiastic about that but this is the type of change that Clubs may be putting in place.

So change is on the way and there is every possibility that not all of us will like some of it,  but it is in no doubt that the change will come,  and we might as well embrace it , and the sooner the better.

DG Ken finished with an add for conference, and then Inducted PP John Artz into the Stawell Club. That rounded out the night nicely,  And a hearty welcome to PP John and the lovely Judy and we hope for nothing but success for you both here  in the Stawell Family.

So Folks that about all for this evening , a reminder about reports for the Board meeting, also we now have the tickets being distributed for the B’rat South raffle, so when we get them , we need to ‘flog em”  And finally the RYLA applications are to be with district by mid December, so we need action on that as well.

Cheers for now and have a great week in Rotary,  Ed.

Remember: Never take life too seriously.  Nobody gets out alive anyway !!