Rotary Stawell Inc.

Well here we are again and we hope you are “all good” Our last meeting was the AGM, and it went   well, we did good.

It was also excellent to Have P.P. John ‘Hi Jack” Launder, back with us again, from his O/S  trip to China, a week early as well , and while away John became involved in a few things that were different in custom than we are used to, as always he has many photos  and allied with his narrative, we are in for a great night when we can fit John into the program, to show those things that different cultures than our own do, to celebrate and commiserate life.

 

Quiz BIZ:    Answers to last week were In the early days of 1947 prior to Paul Harris departure from this mortal coil,  he wrote an article for the “Rotarian “ in which he mentions how many clubs and members there were in Rotary International  at that moment in time.  Your questions were, what  were those numbers, in January 1947, how many Clubs, and how many members?  in round figures.

Paul Harris in January 1947 wrote that there were 6,000 Clubs, and 300,000 Male, Members.

 

That leads us to this week’s question, at its charter evening, what Club had the most recorded nationalities, in its active membership, and for a lick of my half used all-day sucker, how many nationalities were there?

A clue to assist in your search, it was not an Australian Club.

 

And so to the AGM:  John Launder PP extraordinaire was reaffirmed as President for 2012/13,  A major part of John team was notified straight way,  Immediate Past President  Val, Secretary Robin.

Treasurer   Vaughan, this left the selection of several positions, Sargent at arms and Vice President  for John , while the nomination for President Nominee, and four directors, was in the hands of the members to make a decision.  Then it was time for the Nomination of President Nominee,

The nominations committee had done their work well and informed us all that their selection for nomination was Rtn Kimberley Gehan.  This was greeted with loud and prolonged acclimation, and proved to be a very good choice, and from the reaction of the members a popular one as well.  Kimberly has all the attributes needed, and will be our youngest president as far as we have been able to establish, in the Clubs History.  There was hardly reason for a vote but it was done and was unanimous, we had nominations for 4 Directors as well and they were moved in a block.  PP Pauline Shirrefs, PP. Wilton Wells, PP Kevin Erwin, and Rotarian Wendy Slorach. PE John indicated that he now had a team and would allocate the positions and inform the Board at the next board meeting.

PE John will also inform us of the elected positions of Club Training Officer, and Vice president.

Notices of motion were read out and both passed, the position of Club Training Officer, and the three year plan also that additions to the by laws be made. All votes unanimous including the allocation of Fine monies. And so the meeting ran to schedule and smoothly, thanks to the members..

Our Honorary Members were approved, and one most worthy gentleman was added to our short list,  PP PHF Hal Fry ret.,  PHF  Ray Cooper ret. both for past services to the Club. Mr Brian Hancock, from the Amcal Pharmacy,  for his long service to Bowel Scan. and Mr Chris Waack local baker, for his assistance to The Rotary Club events over many years.  We congratulate all members of our honorary membership Most particularly Mr Chris Waack, who was nominated for the first time this year and approved by unanimous vote.

An area of information not covered was the hard working Nominations Committee, who carried out an exhaustive process, they were PP Pauline Shirrefs,  Rotarians Dr Norman Castle,  and Deb Hooke. As was said at the AGM it is not any easy task, and they were thanked for their nomination that turned out to be an inspired selection, our thanks again.    

There was some other stuff going on, but we have covered the most important bits

All reports were given and Circulated were passed,

The adoption of the Three year plan is not new to the Club but had never been ratified and is to be so now..

 

And so to the Chinese festival, she’s all organised, we wish Kimberley well but also wish she wouldn’t stress.so,  Kim has put it all in place with an expert hand, all we have to do is to turn up and assist with the set up.  Demonstrations, a small  row of shops, workshops, kid’s play spot, a Dragon, Lion Dancers, Drummers, crackers, and a host of other entertainments, lanterns kite making face painting and more.  It all kicks off at 4.00 PM with some exhibitions of various Martial Arts, and runs from there to about 7.00 PM.

So for the members, arrival for us is 1.00 PM to assist with tents and decorations and such.  A short spell for a bite of lunch cooked by our own ‘JL’ is also in the mix, the Boss for the day, and course announcer will be our PN Kim.  So as we said early she’s right to go..

Norman’s Nonsense

I was telling Norm about the other day at work, and I had a problem that needed my attention for a couple of days, but I knew the boss wouldn’t let me go.  Then I thought if I acted strangely he might let me go due to stress; so I hung upside down from the ceiling, and made some strange buzzing sounds.  The boss walked into the office and looked at me and said what on earth are you doing?  I’m a light globe, I said.. The boss shook his head, and said it is obvious your stressed out you had better have a week of to get over it.  I jumped down, and walked out of the office.  Then my co-worker, who has light coloured hair, followed me, the boss asked her “where do you think you’re going”.  She replied, I ’m going home too, you can’t expect me to work in the dark!!               Oh Dear.

WOT’S Next: Rtn Vaughan is the man of the November month, and we are sure he will delight and educate us in this very important Foundation Month.

13 November, Chinese Festival, all hands on deck please folks by 1.00 PM on the 13^th Nov.

15 November speaker TBA

22 Nov Fellowship Evening.

29 Nov Speaker TBA

District Stuff:

13^th   College of Governors   meeting Ararat, SES.

19, 20^th   RYE, final   briefing   weekend in Warrnambool.

22-24^th DGE Training, Brisbane.

22.- 27^th  Zone Institute    Brisbane.

The district newsletter will be delivered by E-Mail as per discussion.

The RYPEN, D9780 program also has been supported, to be a R.I. committed program

Notification,  from PDG Ric. Robertson re the District Fellowship exchange is at hand and to be discussed further

 

From the editor:  Congratulations to the New Look Team for 2012/13, and we wish those new members to positions of leadership within the Club well, as we do for the whole team.  We are in exciting times, changes mean re-adjustment and that can only be good, it tends to move us out of our comfort zone, at least to some degree,  To those members continuing on, we are sure of the commitment you bring to the Club,  and to those who are stepping down, we are  grateful for the work achieved over the time spent on the board or in positions of leadership within the Club.  Every few years the Club enters a transitional period,  when the guard changes, It is such a time at the moment, and it is exciting to see  a resurgence in vigour.  Congrats to all, for past, present and future endeavours of our Club.

 

A quick gag: Two elderly Ladies were sitting  having  breakfast , when one noticed something and said to her friend, Mabel, do you know you have a suppository in your left ear?  Oh that good, Mabel replied to her friend, “Now I know where my Hearing aid is”..

 

Thanks to PP Des of community fame, the smart start, bags were completed and issued to the young’uns leaving school, 62 this year:

 

Young Rtn, Wendy, had a request, for as many Members as possible to attend the Secondary College  at 10.00 AM on Friday the 18^th November  to listen to a group, called   Samaritans Purse, they are travelling the country to engage youngsters in events that are of value to the community in which they might find themselves in, as well as giving them some pride of achievement, while being a useful member of the community. This is of interest of our new generations committee and is aimed at an outcome the same or similar to Rotary Kerang and their work in Cambodia at a Children’s orphanage,  over the Schoolies week.   We will hear more about this on this in next bulletin, but please keep this date/time available for this discussion and possible action by our new generations committee.   But for more information see Page three of the bulletin for the Invitation direct from Rtn Wendy

 And remember: We have a very Special Moment   11^th hour of the 11^th day of the 11^th        month of the 11^th year [of 2000]

But fame is theirs- and future days on Pillar’d Brass shall tell their praise;

Have a great week in Rotary, keep safe , keep well  and above all keep happy,  until next week,  Cheers   Ed.

Rtn Wendy’s Letter to the members.

November 9 2011

 Dear Stawell Rotary

I would like to invite members to attend a meeting at Stawell Secondary College on Friday November 18 at 10 am.

The meeting has been scheduled to discuss a proposal to create an alternative to ‘schoolies’ week for Year 12 graduates in the Stawell area.  Schoolies week is the week immediately after Year 12 exams when students head to resort venues to celebrate the completion of their secondary schooling.  The alternative will give students a chance to do volunteer work in a community; possibly/preferably overseas?

Although not a new idea, the plan to create an annual ‘volunteers abroad’ opportunity for local students is the initiative of Stawell Rotary.  I believe Rotary will be best positioned to achieve its aim with the support of other groups.

Kerang Secondary College has participated in such a project for about six years.   After speaking with a representative from KSC I have sought the assistance of Samaritan’s Purse, the Northern Grampians Shire and Stawell Secondary College (specifically the Social Justice Group) in an effort to get the project started.

These groups have been invited to be represented at the meeting in November.  The education officer for SP, Mr Rodney Trinidad, will attend the meeting with the SP project officer who has recently returned from overseas.  It is my understanding they are in Victoria to attend meetings at other schools already involved in student volunteer programs as a joint venture with SP.

I look forward to as many local Rotarians attending as possible so that the project can move forward with their wisdom, input and advice.  Members able to attend the meeting please go to the front office at SSC at 9.55 am where you will be met by a student guide. 

Cheers

Wendy Slorach