John J Glassford 
A new Rotary year has begun, and with it several programs aimed at helping clubs and districts enhance their projects, share information, and increase membership. In addition, a new group of leaders will take over at the club, district, and international levels.
On Monday night Coolamon Rotary Club held it’s 41st Change Over Dinner. Amongst the guests included The Hon. Michael McCormack the Federal Member for the Riverina, and the Mayor of Coolamon Shire Robert Menzies with his wife Betty Menzies.
Rotary was well represented by Immediate Past District Governor Ian Simpson and his wife Jean as well as Past Assistant Governor Gary Roberts and Marilyn.
Other clubs in our District 9700 were represented by Junee, Temora, Wollundry, Wagga Wagga, Wagga Wagga Sunrise, Wagga Wagga Murrumbidgee and Narrandera our sponsor club 41 years ago.
Chairman of proceedings was PP Dick Jennings.
Members present: President Paul Weston, Leslie Weston, IPP Marg Perkin, Garth Perkin, Henk Hulsman, John Glassford, Ian Durham, Grahame Miles, Christine Atkinson, Neil Munro, Rod Jarrett.
Guests included Partners: Sharon Miles, Maureen Hulsman, Maree Jennings, Susan Glassford, Lexi Furner, Carmel Jarrett, and Marilyn Jennings.
Visiting Rotarians: Rotary Club of Junee with Peter Commens and 8 members, Max and Sue Chapman, Peter and Judy Gissing from Wagga Wagga Sunrise, Doug Conkey from Wollundry, Tony Sinclair from Temora, Mary Ann Kelly and Bill Prest from Wagga Wagga and Lance Gillespie from Narrandera.
Coolamon Lions represented by Graham and Leonie Dennis.
Other Guests included: The Campbell Family included Christine Campbell and Jenny Moynahan, also from Coolamon were Harvey and Rose Higgins.
Two Paul Harris Fellows were inducted last night and in absentia was Jeanette Campbell recovering from a fall and our own Henk Hulsman, congratulations to Jeanette and Henk both very deserving of this rare honour. Jeanette was represented by her family and IPDG Ian Simpson presented both PHF awards to the Campbell family and to Henk.
Our sincere thanks go to IPP Marg Perkin for her year as President and we wish Marg well for the years ahead. Thank you Marg and Garth for organising the night.
Entertainment was provided by a delightful young singer from Ardlethan, with the voice of an angel, her name: Amanda Long.
Dick Jennings was the Master of Ceremonies and as always did a great job.
Another great change over night at Coolamon and the following photographs may help to convey the evening. Thank you to all the visitors who made the effort to attend our meeting.
What a night! The change-over was truly a night to remember. Thanks go to Marg and Garth for their planning and hard work, and to Marg for her parting gift of music in the form of an angelic young singer, Amanda Long of Ardlethan. It was great to see a great roll-up of Rotarians from neighbouring clubs, especially Junee. It would be good if we could send a similar contingent to Junee for their change over this Sunday (so far, it looks like we have four going; if interested in joining us, contact me or John Glassford). Congratulations to Jeanette Campbell and Henk Hulsman for being named Paul Harris Fellows, and to John Glassford for being named ROTIan of the Year. Marg has set a high standard for a change-over night, and I hope to be able to equal or surpass it next year. Best wishes to Marg as she moves on to other ventures in her life.
I look forward to accomplishing much in the coming year with the assistance of all our members. As individuals, we’re limited in what we can do, but when we work together, there’s no limit to what we can do. Although a modest goal, I plan to expand our markets in Coolamon and promote local businesses by advancing the Shop Locally campaign. Increasing membership is another goal for the coming year; several new approaches will be tried this year to let the local community know what we do and generate interest among potential members. Joint events with Lions may be on the cards, allowing us to combine efforts with even more substantial outcomes. Finally, I hope to increase our reach around the world by fully supporting the Roadmaps to Africa project .
I hope to see you all at our next meeting, a business meeting at the club Monday next. Onward and upward!
Yours in Rotary,
Paul
General Motors reply to BILL GATES
At a recent computer expo (COMDEX), Bill Gates reportedly compared the
computer industry with the auto industry and stated, “If GM had kept up
with technology like the computer industry has, we would all be driving
$25.00 cars that got 1,000 miles to the gallon.”
In response to Bill’s comments, General Motors issued a press release
Stating, “If GM had developed technology like Microsoft, we would all be
driving cars with the following characteristics (and I just love this part,
especially 7th point and 10th point).
1. For no reason whatsoever, your car would crash twice a day.
2. Every time they repainted the lines in the road, you would have to buy a
new car!
3. Occasionally your car would die on the freeway for no reason. You would
have to pull to the side of the road, close all of the windows, shut off
the car, restart it, and reopen the windows before you could continue. For
some reason you would simply accept this.
4. Occasionally, executing a maneuver such as a left turn would cause your
car to shut down and refuse to restart, in which case you would have to
reinstall the engine.
5. Macintosh would make a car that was powered by the sun, was reliable,
five times as fast and twice as easy to drive – but would run on only five
percent of the roads.
6. The oil, water temperature, and alternator warning lights would all be
replaced by a single “This Car Has Performed an Illegal Operation” warning
light.
7. The airbag system would ask, “Are you sure?” before deploying.
8. Occasionally, for no reason whatsoever, your car would lock you out and
refuse to let you in until you simultaneously lifted the door handle,
turned the key and grabbed hold of the radio antenna.
9. Every time a new car was introduced car buyers would have to learn how
to drive all over again because none of the controls would operate in the
same manner as the old car.
10. You’d have to press the “Start” button to turn the engine off.
Never undervalue the manufacturing industries .
Sent to us via ROTI by Rtn G N Sivaramakrishna
RI District 3230
Secretary , 2007-08, Rotary Club of Madras North, Chennai, India
President 2009-10, Rotary Club of Madras North, Chennai, India
District Sgt-at-Arms, 2010-11, RI Dist 3230
District Chairman, 2011-12 , Rotary Yellow Pages and Employment Exchange, RI
Dist 3230 and Director TRF, Rotary Club of Madras North, 2011-12
_________________________________________________________
Rotary International President Sakuji Tanaka
District 9700 Governor Greg Brown
Coolamon Rotary President Paul Weston
Secretary John Glassford
Treasurer Henk Hulsman
Coolamon Rotary Club Inc. P.O. Box 23 COOLAMON N.S.W. 2701
Websites of Interest
Coolamon Rotary Club: http://coolamonrotary.com
Rotary Down Under on line: http://flipflashpages.uniflip.com/2/26587/49598/pub
Rotarians For Fighting AIDS Australia: http://theork.com
Our Rotary Centennial Twin Club Hout Bay, Cape Town, South Africa: http://www.rotaryhoutbay.org
Don’t forget to regularly check our club web site for current information such as bingo rosters and various newsletters from the District Governor, the School of St. Jude’s, the monthly membership on the move newsletter as well as several other club bulletins.
At the District 9700 change over last night Coolamon Rotarian John Glassford was awarded the ROTIan of the year award from the members of this Rotary International Fellowship called ROTI or Rotarians On The Internet.
Full story click on the link below:
Have a read of this bill passed by the US Senate Rotary is at the forefront of the polio campaign
“When you move your focus from competition to contribution life becomes a celebration. Never try to defeat people, just win their hearts.”- Buddha
We would like to introduce you all to Tracy Monica. Tracy gave us Mountains of the Moon team a wonderful speech in Mathare last December. Here it is: mathare-speech Once you have read this then have a look at Tracy’s 1st term report at Secondary School below, click on the image and enlarge it:
Tracy’s 1st Term Report
Following our visit to Mathare and meeting Tracy we decided to support her into Bishop Okoth’s Secondary School for Vulnerable girls. We are going ot honour Tracy’s request to us at Mathare to help 200 of her peers who are now ready to go to Secondary School and who are vulnerable and at risk where they live now.
Tracy can be seen in her new school uniform proud as punch as we are of her efforts in her 1st term at her new school. If you want to help us get other girls and boys out of Mathare please contact us via our email which is: [email protected]. Or call me on 61 2 6927 6027 anytime.
Message from PDG Bruce Barber:
“Hi John,
I have just read the June, photography issue of the Rotarian and congratulations for your Honorable Mention for your shot in Uganda of a gorilla. To have the RC of Coolamon mentioned in the Rotarian is a great honor.
Regards,
Bruce”
Here is a link to the article in the June issue of The Rotarian:
Here is the photo that I entered:
A good friend of ours on ROTI Rotarians On The Internet writes about the district he lives in, D 5010. It is a large district and covers the Yukon, Alaska and Eastern Russia. Jon Deisher is his name and he has a wonderful way with words. I attach a link here to the District 5010 June bulletin, enjoy and learn about Rotary on top of the world.