Coolamon RC Bulletin Monday October 19th 2026

Monday October 19th 2026 

Past President Paul Weston welcomed 19 of our members to the meeting and our guest Matts Christie, Matts baked a birthday cake for Michael and we then all sang happy birthday to Michael, and the cake was delicious.

We conducted the following general business:

1.  Chair Paul thanked everyone involved in the Open Garden Viewing.   A special thanks to the committee with Albert Suidgeest Co-chair and Mary Potts as the other Co-chair plus the members of this committee (Maureen Hulsman, Michael Trinidad and Annie R).

2. Henk read out a letter from Angela McCann:

• The 2026 Up-to-Date Store Art Exhibition was a great success with a record participation.
• Sales of the art work reached $9,000.  142 out of 413 art works were sold over the period.
• There were 2700 visitors.
• Angela thanked all the sponsors including Rotary.
• The proceeds all up of $18,000 will be distributed to the following schools:
  • Matong PS, Ganmain PS, Marrar PS and the Coolamon Central School.

3.  Henk also advised us that the recent Board minutes had been sent to all members.

4.  Albert then gave a verbal report of the Open Garden Viewing Day to summarise:

• Albert thanked his committee and all the volunteers who did so much on the day even though we were short it all went very well.
• Special thanks to Bear for doing a full day at Drover’s Run.  Mind you Bear did have some company.
• Albert feels that we need more signage.
• The balloons were a problem and a few blew out of the back of his car and Albert was left with one or two per garden gate.
• The Coolamon Community Health Centre worked very well and a special thanks to the volunteers from the Hospital Auxiliary in the kitchen.
• Albert feels that we should do it again next year!
• In all we expect to raise around $5,000 from the event–a great result!
• PE Michael said that he would like to hold the garden viewing during his year as president and suggested that we use three of the gardens on view this year plus three new ones.
• Bear said that he had excellent feedback from many who attended.  There were also some excellent independent reports on social media from visitors and garden hosts.
• Albert suggested that we look at presenting the garden hosts with food vouchers to Foodworks .
• Henk suggested that we invite the hosts to dinner at the club one night to discuss the day.

5. Daryl gave a report on Gears & Beers following a meeting that Daryl attended of the G&B Wollundry Committee.  Daryl was very impressed with their efficiency!

6.  Daryl then spoke about some $1926 that is still in the account for drought affected children that we supported.  This is a project run by Janice Menzies from Matong.  Daryl asked for permission to donate the $1926 to the Matong Bush Picnic committee that will be on next October Labor Day weekend.  The recommendation to the Board to approve this donation was voted unanimously by all members present.

7.  Mary and Albert attended an interview with the three prospective Coolamon Central School students for the scholarship that we are offering one student. There were three applicants, all of which looked excellent No decision ahs been made as yet.

8.  Anne advised us that the Wagga Wagga netball day Tuesday is under control.

9.  We need to book or have booked Foodworks for our next two raffles being the 27th November and the 12th of December. NB the proceeds of these raffles will become part of our NYE raffle.

10. We then had a talk by Paul Weston on blood cancers and how it is affecting Paul. This was a sobering talk and one that we learned so much from Paul on the various types of blood cancer.  Paul has myeloma, a rare form of blood cancer that requires immediate treatment.  Paul has been through a lot lately and gets very tired very quickly.  Paul has seen many specialists including several in Sydney and Canberra.

11. We then had the raffle draws and 1st prize was won by Vicki.  Other prizes went to Anne, Ian, Grahame and Daryl.

The meeting closed at 9.10pm–a long but productive meeting.

BREAKING NEWS:

Coolamon Landcare will be holding two Aussie Bird Count sessions this coming weekend and we would like to extend an invitation to Rotary members and the general public.

On Saturday 24^th October we will be meeting at 10am at the Kindra Forest main entrance.

On Sunday 25^th October we will be meeting at 9.30am at the Coolamon Wetlands entrance.

Both sessions should be very interesting, particularly with the Apps that are now available for bird identification.

We welcome anyone who would like to attend.  Please forward the details to anyone you think might be interested.

Regards Jim Mellor

Secretary Coolamon Landcare

 

DIARY

N.B. You are always welcome to bring guests to most of our meetings, just advise Ian Jennings, 0428 492 157, if you want to bring a guest along when you respond to the weekly dinner roll call!

You can download the full programme here and note that it will change and that will be reflected in the weekly bulletin:  CRC Diary On-Line

Saturday 24th October World Polio Day

*Monday 26th October – Guest Speaker:  PP Deidre Tome, Wagga Wagga Sunrise RC who will speak on Cambodian land mines, RATS and Rotary’s response.  Coolamon Sport & Recreation Club, 6.30 for 7.00pm

*Guests welcome to bring their partners and friends.

OPEN GARDEN DAY MARRAR & COOLAMON

A full report will be published however in the mean time the Open Garden Viewing in Marrar and Coolamon was a great success with six gardens opened for viewing on Sunday.  The CRC Open Garden Day Committee led by Albert Suidgeest did a tremendous job and all six gardens were excellent.  Great choices all round.  Here are some photos from the day.

Congratulations to all the volunteers and our sincere thanks for turning up today.  These included but not all I feel, apologies if I missed anyone:

Albert, Daryl, Ian, Alex, Don, Geoff McKenzie, Henk, Paul, Gary, Maureen Hulsman, Sharon Miles, Grahame, Bear, Michael Trinidad, Howard, Mary, Marylin Jennings, Maryanne de Kroo, Lexi, Annie…….,

A special thanks to the SIX owners for opening up their gardens and homes.  They all did such a remarkable job preparing their gardens, top job.

Here are some photos in no specific order;

1.  Chamberlain “Drovers Run” Marrar

2.  Annie Bush “Annie’s Run” Marrar

3. Prior’s Marrar

4. Allison & Brett Robinson Coolamon

5.  Jess Inch Coolamon

6. Barb & Kevin Maddox Coolamon

7. Some of our volunteers

8.  Photos by Mary Potts:

9.  Photos by Grahame Miles

 

PE MICHAEL OUT AND ABOUT

Rotary Club of Kooringal Wagga Wagga

PE Michael was a guest speaker at Kooringal RC last Thursday night.  Good on you Michael it is the best way to see how Rotary works is visiting other clubs.

Member Harry Nixon introduced our guest speaker, Michael Trinidad President Elect from Coolamon Rotary.

Michael spoken on UNDERSTANDING FILIPINO CULTURE THROUGH FOOD:

Michael spoke about his family and their involvement in public life in the Philippines. Going all the way to the top in 1946 where his great grand father and mother were notable Filipino political figures. Michael’s mother was a member of congress. Suffice to say that the name Trinidad is well known in the Philippines.

He has a close family with siblings in New York and they get together every 2 years.

Michael became an Australian citizen in 1995 and has been in the hospitality industry for 20 years as a qualified chef. He graduated from the CSU as a Bachelor of Veterinary Technology in 2020. He is the cellar door manager at the CSU Winery.

Michael then spoke about the Philippines some interesting facts and most passionately about their food culture. He told us that you never eat alone, and it is an insult if you run out of food it doesn’t matter how many are in attendance.

Filipino Christmas runs from 1st September to Chinese New Year (early January).

He told us about some of the animals in the Philippines, Philippines Eagle which is a national symbol also the smallest primate (Philippines Tarsier) and more.

After fielding questions Member Malcolm Nixon on behalf of the members thanked Michael for his presentation and presented him with a certificate of appreciation in which we donate to Australian Rotary Health on his behalf.

 

JUST FOR LAUGHS

All of the above photos were obtained from Facebook.  Credit to the owners.

 

ROTARY NEWS and ITEMS OF INTEREST

1.  GEARS AND BEERS A DOUBLE WRAP

Latest photos from the Wollundry RC Gears & Beers Facebook page:

Something different that we don’t get to see as we are mostly all working on the day.

Click on the thumb nails below for a larger image.  Thanks to Wollundry G&B committee for posting these photos on their Facebook page.  Some great images.

2.  GRIFFITH AVANTI 

Griffith Spring Fest Street Party 2026 17th and 18th October!

3.   VALE PP BUTCH LIEBENBERG PHF. Hout Bay RC

Butch Liebenberg was a great supporter of our Road MAPS to Africa project right from the start in 2004.  In 2005 after the Chicago RI Convention Hout Bay RC and Coolamon RC became Rotary International Centennial Twins.  We became great friends with many of the Hout Bay RC members including Butch, who with Patrick McLaughlin, were the prime movers and doers, to get the TB/AIDS medical clinic built in Imizamo Yethu in Hout Bay.

With funds raised by the Road MAPS projects CRC with the Rotary Foundation and a matching grant or two, were able to finance the buildings.

Butch and Lyn visited Coolamon in October 2016 when Don Dyce was our president.  It was then that our club presented a Paul Harris Fellow in the form of a sapphire to Butch.  PDG Fred Loneragan made the presentation to Butch.  Without Butch and Patrick and with the support of their fellow members; Coolamon House would not have been built.

Those who met Butch will miss this man with his passion for the Springboks and everything Africa.

Just some pics of Butch and Lyn’s time in Coolamon:

Above Butch and Lyn at a winery near Stellenbosch, I believe.

Cheers Butch and RIP old mate.

OCTOBER IS ROTARY’S ECONOMIC & DEVELOPMENT MONTH

 

 

ROTARY CLUB OF COOLAMON Inc. 2026-2027