Week of August 24th

We had a guest speaker at our weekly meeting, former club member and PP Marg Perkin.  Marg gave a talk on her trip to Cambodia in November of last year, and delivered supplies and amenities to a school in Pnom Penh and visited an eye clinic in Battambang (as well as taking in some tourist sites).  It was startling to see the conditions facing people in parts of SE Asia, but also heartwarming to see the bright faces of enthusiastic schoolchildren and their appreciation of the gifts and educational programs brought by Marg and the other members of the team of Help Cambodia.  The children entertained the visitors with performances of traditional dance and song, attired in handmade costumes typical of the region.  President Howard presented Marg with a token of appreciation of Marg’s talk, which made quite an impression on those in attendance.

As usual, the meeting concluded with an entertaining fines session led by Sargent-at-Arms Albert, and as usual, Grahame seemed to dominate the recipient list.  It must have been a slow week, because Albert actually fined himself for a bone-headed move, although it was probably a pre-emptive maneuver because he would have likely been fined by a member who was witness to the event (you’ll have to ask Albert for details, or better yet, come to our weekly meetings to hear these things firsthand!). Fittingly, Albert ended up winning the raffle.  Speaking of raffles, the street raffle held on Saturday was quite productive; thanks to the members who endured the chilly conditions to make it all possible (sorry, I can’t find the roster to mention the members by name).

OTHER NEWS

Henley Carey from Coolamon

There will be a story in the Coolamon Community Chronicle on the journey of Henley Carey.  The photo above was sent to us by Henley’s mother Alicia Carey.

REMINDERS

THE PUZZLER

Answer to the last puzzler: 1) red in the face, 2) green eggs and ham, 3) backrub, 4) all thumbs, 5) two left feet, 6) black sheep of the family, 7) big fish in a small pond, 8) tennis shoes (“ten issues” said quickly, but I prefer “lots of issues”), 9) long time, no see, and 10) all in a day’s work.

Can you solve these rebus puzzles that represent common sayings?

ROTARY NEWS

1. PAUL HARRIS FELLOW (PHF)

The Paul Harris Fellow award is the highest award and recognition where a Rotarian can nominate a well deserving person to receive this award.  That person can be a fellow club member, another Rotarian from another club or a member of the public.

The Paul Harris Fellow recognition acknowledges individuals who contribute, or who have contributions made in their name, of US$1,000 to The Rotary Foundation.

Rotary established the recognition in 1957 to encourage and show appreciation for substantial contributions to what was then the Foundation’s only program, Rotary Foundation Fellowships for Advanced Study, the precursor to Ambassadorial Scholarships.

Paul Harris Fellow Recognition is both an award for exemplary work in community service or helping those in need, or a method of recognising a substantial donation to The Rotary Foundation.

These awards have been presented to many outstanding leaders in the community, as well as to “ordinary people doing extraordinary things“.  Paul Harris Fellow recognitions have been awarded to over 40,000 people in Australia, and more than 1.3m worldwide.

You can learn more here about the PHF and Donor Recognition: 

Levels:

Recipient’s recognition amount level

US$1000 to 1,999 – first PHF
Level One US$2,000 to 2,999.99 – one sapphire
Level Two US$ 3,000 to 3,999.99 – two sapphires
Level Three US$4,000 to 4,999.99 – three sapphires
Level Four US$5,000 to 5,999.99 – four sapphires
Level 5 US$6,000 to 6,999.99 – five sapphires
Level Six US$7,000 to 7,999.99 – one ruby
Level Seven US$8,000 to 8,999.99 – two rubies
Level Eight US$9,000 to 9,999.99 – three rubies

If any member is interested on how we nominate those who have received the PHF recognition over the years, please email John Glassford for a full list of recipients.  This list is available on My Rotary web site under Coolamon Rotary. You will see from this list compiled by JG on how the points for a PHF recognition are allocated by donations from the club and from our own members.

2. MEMBERSHIP FORUMS

Membership is a critical element of Rotary.

Without members, our organisation would be unable to continue the vital work of Rotary in our local communities and around the world.

Our District Membership Team have secured five speakers for their upcoming Membership Forums, which will provide inspiration and ideas to recruit and retain members; different types of clubs; and how clubs can grow.

Our first speaker in this series will be our very own District Governor Nominee, Geraldine Rurenga from the Rotary Club of Wagga Wagga Murrumbidgee.

For further details about the upcoming forums, please refer to the flyer below.

3.  AFRICA DECLARED WILD POLIO VIRUS FREE

In 1996, the great African leader Nelson Mandela launched the Kick Polio Out of Africa campaign with Rotary International’s support, setting out a vision for a polio-free Africa. At the time, wild polio paralysed 75,000 children each year. To protect communities from this crippling disease, African leaders, health workers, volunteers, parents, global donors and organizations united to reach every child with polio vaccines.

On 25 August 2020, after four years without a single case of wild polio, the African region has been certified free of wild poliovirus. Decades of extraordinary investment has paid off.

Yet, the job is not finished. These efforts must continue to prevent wild polio from returning and to end all forms of polio for good – both in Africa and globally. #rotaryinternational #endpolionow

Victorian farmer moving his sheep to the other side of the border via a stop over at a Sydney hotel for a 2 week quarantine period.

Meanwhile in New Zealand

August is Rotary Membership and New Club Development Month

Week of August 17th

We’re fortunate to be able to continue to meet in person (with appropriate social distancing) considering the restrictions on gatherings in New South Wales.  We had a good roll-up at our weekly meeting, and those in attendance were rewarded with free drinks courtesy of Bern, whose horse Man of Peace won again at Randwick.  The evening feature our first guest speaker of the Rotary year (more on that later) as well as a special ceremony acknowledging the contributions of one of our members.  Howard kept the members in suspense as he described the contributions of this member, most notably extensive involvement with Gears and Beers and the construction of the food van shed.  Those who hadn’t already guessed the person were clued in when Howard noted that this person had served as president for 1-1/2 years, which could only have been Daryl Breust, who served as president in 2018-2019 and for the second half of 2019-2020.  For his dedicated service, Daryl was named a Paul Harris Fellow, an award that was richly deserved.  Daryl was soundly applauded for this accomplishment.

Our guest speaker was our entomologist member Paul, who spoke about dung beetles and the project that currently employs him, the Dung Beetle Ecosystems Engineers project.  Paul shared some interesting life history facts about dung beetles, especially the tunnelling species that were introduced by CSIRO to take care of livestock dung which began accumulating in the landscape after the British colonists introduced cattle and other livestock to Australia.  Paul described the many benefits that dung beetles provide to Australian agriculture and introduced the Dung Beetle Ecosystems Engineers project, which is a multi-million dollar project funded by the federal government and Meat and Livestock Australia with many objectives and cooperating institutions.  CSU is heading up the project, and Paul and Leslie are heavily involved in the project.  For more details, visit the Dung Beetle Ecosystem Engineers (DBEE) website (https://www.dungbeetles.com.au/).  The presentation inspired many questions from those in attendance.

Albert led another entertaining fine session, which left those in attendance with a smile on their faces and a few less coins in their pockets, especially Grahame.

OTHER NEWS

The Coolamon Rotary board of directors held their monthly meeting at the Coolamon Convent on Wednesday.  Although there were not a large number of resolutions passed, there was much productive discussion on a range of topics.  The minutes will be distributed to members shortly.

REMINDERS

THE PUZZLER

Answer to the last puzzler: The speaker of the riddle is a pear, and the other item is a pair.

How many of these rebus puzzles can you solve?

ROTARY NEWS

1.  D9705 Bush fire recovery update

2.  Spring into Alice, September 19-20

3.  District Governor Dr. Michael Moore, AM, PhD

DG’s Message – August 2020

JUST FOR LAUGHS

August is Rotary Membership and New Club Development Month

Week of August 5th

This Monday we held our first club assembly for 2020-2021.  There was an excellent attendance by 18 of our members at the Sport & Rec Club.  Among the items discussed were:

Committee Reports:

Batlow Men’s Shed Committee Chair John Glassford gave a verbal report on the lack of progress due to many factors least of all being that the RC of Batlow has been inundated with offers of help to Regrow Batlow.  John spoke with the Chair of the Bush Fire Relief Committee for D9705 President John Mercer from the Belconnen RC.

Batlow Council will make a decision soon on the land for the Men’s Shed and the Remembrance Gardens.  They will then go to tender for any buildings and landscaping.

CRC will still honour our offer of $10,000 to help Regrow Batlow.

Other committees will be meeting with the Ideas Committee/On Line Raffle Committee meeting this Wednesday at 4.30pm at Grahame Miles’s Home.  Attending will be Grahame, Brian, Ian, Chez, Bernadette and Albert

The Telephone Book Committee is on hold for the time being.

General Business:

• Bingo – Grahame Miles and Neil Munro have decided to postpone Bingo for the next two months until the weather gets warmer and for confidence to return to the players venturing out in the cold of the night.
• Tour of Local Gardens – Albert spoke about having an Open Garden Day in September/October 2021 and asked for ideas and for the CRC to claim the date through the Shire.  Albert is looking for impressive gardens to be part of this day.  Albert suggested two Sundays in a row starting at 11 am and finishing at 4 pm.
• Club Trip to the North Tuppal Woolshed – North Tuppal is owned by Bruce Atkinson and the Atkinson Family.  Howard suggested a trip to visit this famous woolshed and to stay overnight in Finley with the RC of Finley as hosts.  North Tuppal is a 72-stand shearing shed.
• Coolamon Community Chronicle – Sally Farmer and the team have done a great job with the latest CCC newspaper and Anne and others will distribute this issue.  Howard expressed our thanks to Sally well done.
• Club Goals for 2020-2021 – Every member has received a copy of the club goals for 2020-2021 and these will be presented to DG Dr. Michael Moore prior to his Zoom visit in November to our club.

Other items of interest included:

• Neil reported on the passing of a regular bingo player in Mary Robertson.
• Grahame, Dick and Neil spoke on one of our exchange students from Denmark who was with our club 30 years ago now. They received an email with Stine’s news.
• Discussion on possible guest speakers without guests.
• Raffle on August 15^th – roster will be sent to members.
• Fines session and some dubious jokes had everyone leaving with a smile on their faces; thanks Albert.

OTHER NEWS

Banner from D9705

DG Michael Moore, our Rotary district governor, and his wife, Helen, called into Past District 9700 Governor, John Glassford’s home today to present John, on behalf of our club, with our new D9705  banner.

Indigenous Health Scholarship

Rhiannon Coppin is an Indigenous Health Scholarship recipient who is sponsored by the Coolamon Rotary Club.

Rhiannon is currently located in Darwin in the Northern Territory and is studying a Bachelor of Midwifery at Charles Darwin University.  She wrote a letter to the club updating us on her progress (click here to have a read of her letter).

Australian Rotary Health facilitates Indigenous Health Scholarships through Rotary Clubs, who sponsor the students.

Week of August 10th

This Monday night we had another excellent turn up of members and of course no guests.

Tonight concentrated on the report by the Fundraising Committee with Chair Grahame Miles presenting the ideas form their recent meeting.

After much discussion the Board voted to accept the report as read.  Below are some of the fundraising ideas put to the meeting last night:

• Guessing competition at $2 a ticket – on display in PO or ??
• Drive-in movie night, with Bluetooth to cars for audio, plus a silent auction
• Shire-wide variety concert – after COVID
• Monster raffle to be drawn close to Christmas.

The idea for the raffle is to sell tickets in various locations in Coolamon and neighbouring communities from October to mid-December. Alex & Chez are researching the possibility of selling tickets online.

Ian J offered a trailer to store prizes in and be towed to the various venues.  Tickets will be $2 each or 3 for $5 and printed by a printery in Wagga, with 50 books of 30 and 15 books of 100 to be printed initially.

We hope to have a Rotary banner made, listing all the prizes, with a photo of each prize and the name of donating business, which can be displayed at each sales point; Ian offered to approach Ricky Hard to get a quote for a banner.

The plan is to have a major prize, value of at least $1000, consisting of gardening products in a wheelbarrow, together with a mini hot-house constructed by Albert S.  A range of additional prizes will be awarded to 2nd through to 10th place.  Brian has done an excellent job securing donations of goods from a range of local businesses.

 It would be most encouraging if every member could support our fund-raising committee, to make this a most worthwhile fund-raiser.

REMINDERS

Saturday August 15th Street Raffle:

THE PUZZLER

You hear my sound; But that’s not me
In fact, we look quite differently
I can have one; it always has two; I can have three
It can be anywhere, but I like sitting in a tree
It comes in many different forms
But I usually come in one
I have an assortment of colours
But eat me & I’m done
It can represent a bond
I can be used to jam
Can you figure out
What it is & what I am?

Answer to the last puzzler: A haiku (a form of Japanese poetry)

DIARY

Monday, August 17th – Regular meeting. PP Marg Perkin will be talking on Cambodia at the Coolamon Sport & Rec Club, 6:30 for 7:00 pm. NO GUESTS please!

Wednesday, August 19th – Board meeting. Coolamon Convent, 7:30 pm.

* denotes partner & guest night

ROTARY NEWS

TRF TRUSTEE JENNIFER JONES MAKES HISTORY OUR FIRST WOMAN TO BE NAMED AS PRESIDENT OF ROTARY INTERNATIONAL 2022-2023.

Jennifer E. Jones, a member of the Rotary Club of Windsor-Roseland, Ontario, Canada, has been nominated to become Rotary International’s president for 2022-23, a groundbreaking selection that will make her the first woman to hold that office in the organization’s 115-year history.

Jones will officially become president-nominee on 1 October if no other candidates challenge her.

Jones says she sees Rotary’s Action Plan as a catalyst for increasing Rotary’s impact.

READ MORE HERE.

Coolamon Rotarians Daryl Breust and John Glassford “met” Jennifer on a recent Zoom meeting with the RC of East Nassau.  Daryl is seen here presenting a “cheque” for $2,500 for the hurricane Dorian disaster appeal for Abaco Island.  Jennifer and PRIP Barry Rassin can be seen applauding Daryl, it was 3.00 am in the morning but worth the effort.

ROTARY COVID 19 MASKS

Put your order in to John Glassford.

JUST FOR LAUGHS

August is Rotary Membership and New Club Development Month