Coolamon Rotary Bulletin #1920-33

21 May 2020 by Paul

Meetings of May 4th and May 11th

President Daryl welcomed about 13 members & guests to our online club meetings using the digital ZOOM technology.

Present: President Daryl Breust, Paul Weston, Leslie Weston, John Glassford, Henk Hulsman, Grahame Miles, Ian Jennings, Anne Rzeszkowski, John Nulty, Howard Atkinson, Neil Munro, Alex Thompson and Chez Post, Albert Suidgeest, John Bond & Garth Perkin (on phone) & special guest Tracy Ochieng in Kenya.

Apologies: Myffy Collette, Dick Jennings, Ian Jennings, John Bond and Neil Munro.

May 4 meeting

President Daryl asked members present for any news.

Albert informed us of some tragic news about his niece having an accident and passing away from a brain hemorrhage. Daryl expressed sincere sympathy to his family on behalf of our club.
Daryl gave a report from the Wollundry Club bulletin which indicated it was highly unlikely the Gears & Beers event will go ahead this year owing to the restrictions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. [Editor’s note: This decision has been reversed and Gears and Beers is planned to proceed but with social-distancing modifications.]
Daryl also discussed the telephone book planning, including the flyer form put together by Grahame and some suggested fine-tuning that is felt should be done to it. At this stage it is planned it be posted out in September taking into consideration the state of affairs at present.
Anne advised members that Coolamon Central School has a very good candidate in Year 11 for the National Youth Science Forum (NYSF). Anne will follow up with the school.
John Bond advised members he is quite advanced in researching the possibility of a grant to help in the publication of the Coolamon Community Chronicle. Well done, John.

Our next meeting will be on Monday May 11 at 7.30 pm, and we have been asked to bring our pets along for a little levity. Leslie & Paul will be guest speakers, talking on the COVID-19 pandemic.

Our next club assembly will b e conducted via ZOOM on Monday, May 18. The next board meeting is on Wednesday, May 20.

May 11 meeting

Please send your apologies for a ZOOM meeting to the secretary or call John G on 0498 190 880; please do not send them via Messenger as these are often forgotten and not recorded.

Next meeting on Monday May 18th is our fourth CLUB ASSEMBLY for this Rotary year. We would appreciate a good turnout of members as there are several major decisions that have been made by the board since we last held a club assembly.

Grahame informed the meeting that the bulletin will be compiled every two weeks from now on until we meet in person again which looks like a long way off right now.

Tracy had to leave after an hour to attend her afternoon lecture and we look forward to having her join us again in the near future.

Myffy has contacted most advertisers in the Coolamon Community Chronicle advising them that there will be no issues for May and June and that their adverts would carry over into later issues.

We decided not to meet in person for the next board meeting on May 20 but to stay with Zoom.

The pet of the night went to Howard for his hand-raised chook! Other pets were present including 4-5 dogs, all of which were well behaved.

Some of us were somewhat disappointed not more of our members tuned in on Monday night as it was one of the best presentations we have had in recent months. Thank you, Paul and Leslie Weston, for the effort and the excellent information on the COVID-19 virus.

Some of the interesting facts included:

Paul spoke on physiology of the pandemic in that it was highly likely to have originated from an animal. This is most likely a bat to another animal which then mutated to humans. Much like SIDS turned into HIV/AIDS.
COVID-19 attacks the lungs in the main and it is the overreaction of our immune system that creates the storm that leads to respiratory failure particular in ageing people whose immune system creates fewer and fewer anti-bodies. This is when ventilators are required to force oxygen into the lungs.
There are now two strains of COVID-19; the L and S strains of which the L strain is more virulent.

Leslie then spoke on the treatment therapy for COVID-19:

There are several stages or symptoms of COVID-19 from the carriers who have the virus from being asymptomatic if a patient is a carrier for a disease or infection but experiences no symptoms to fully blown pneumonia with organ failure.
The mortality rate of COVID-19 is around 4% of positive cases, but higher in some countries right now. For those that are critically ill beforehand, the mortality rate is closer to 60%.
Their daughter Nicole, who lives in New York, has recovered from COVID-19. She experienced sore throat, coughing and intense pain in the lungs like someone was sitting on her chest. The symptoms after ca. 3 weeks.
Leslie went on to outline some treatments using chemicals until a vaccine is developed. She outlined how difficult it is to develop a vaccine and it may even be the case that we never get such a vaccine e.g. AIDS. It will then be a case of living with the virus and treatment with anti-viral drugs.
Leslie left us with some positive news in that there are some promising antiviral and anti-bacterial drugs that are proving to have positive results.

To summarise both the talks given by Paul and Leslie the bottom line is to:

Respect and practice social distancing.
Wash hands with suitable alcohol-based sanitisers.
Wear a N95 mask in public if you have any symptoms of COVID-19.
Get tested for COVID-19 if you get any symptoms, however mild (sore throat or cough combined with fever).

Daryl thanked Leslie and Paul for an excellent talk & presentation.

Meeting closed at 8.40.

JUST FOR LAUGHS

THE PUZZLER

Answer to last puzzler: 1) To be or not to be. 2) Cool as a cucumber.

This week’s puzzler: Can you decipher the following rebus puzzles?

DIARY

NB: All face-to-face Rotary events have been cancelled until further notice because of the coronavirus pandemic. Board meetings will be held as previously scheduled but will be virtual meetings (conducted via Zoom). Regular meetings will be held via Zoom on a trial basis starting on 30 March.

Monday, May 25th – Regular meeting. Zoom, 7:30-8:30 pm.

June 6-10th – RI Convention, Honolulu.

*Monday, June 29th – Coolamon Rotary Changeover. ~~Coolamon Sport & Rec Club.~~ ZOOM?

* denotes partner & guest night

REMINDERS

Please get your working with children check completed and give the number and expiry date to the secretary ASAP. Failure to do so may mean you are not covered insurance wise when you volunteer at events.

ROTARY CLUB OF COOLAMON Inc. 2019-20

Chartered March 3rd, 1971; Sponsoring Club Narrandera Rotary Club

President: Daryl Breust 0409 551 140

President-Elect: Howard Atkinson

Secretary: John Glassford

Treasurer: Henk Hulsman 6927 3486

Rotary Foundation Director: Neil Munro

Membership Director: Paul Weston

Service Projects Director: Howard Atkinson

Youth Director: Anne Rzeszkowski

Club Admin Director: Dave McKinley

Club Services Director: Albert Suidgeest

Public Image Director: Grahame Miles

Immediate Past President: Daryl Breust 0409 551 140

Sergeant @ Arms: Albert Suidgeest

Bulletin Editors: Grahame Miles and Paul Weston

Webmaster: John Glassford

May is Rotary Youth Service Month

Coolamon Rotary Bulletin #1920-32

4 May 20204 May 2020 by Paul

Meeting of April 6th

[There was no meeting on April 13th because of the public holiday.]

President Daryl welcomed approximately 14 members & guest Chez Post to our online club meetings held via ZOOM web conferencing software over the past two weeks. Most members wanting to join in the meetings have been able to, even if only by phone, but most have been able to join with video hookup. Any members wishing to join in but are having difficulty doing so should contact Paul or John G to get technical issues sorted.

April 20

Daryl reported on the ZOOM meeting he & John G participated in with the Rotary Club of East Nassau in Bahamas on April 18, where Daryl presented a cheque for $2500 towards relief from the effects of hurricane Dorian last year. We have since received an email from their President, Barry Rassin, thanking & greatly appreciating our club for the generous donation to their relief efforts.
Despite some technical problems, those present viewed a video presentation by Bill Gates, recorded in 2015 as a TED talk, on the next big pandemic, which eerily foreshadowed what is happening in the world today with the devastating COVID-19 pandemic. Those who missed the meeting or would like to view the presentation again can do so by clicking on this link: https://www.ted.com/talks/bill_gates_the_next_outbreak_we_re_not_ready?language=en.
There was some discussion on donations to the local hospital and Allawah Lodge. A follow-up meeting was scheduled for the following Wednesday with Grahame, Dave, Neil and Ian.

April 27

The main topic of discussion was the upcoming Coolamon Rotary 2021 local telephone cirectory. An interim committee was formed, consisting of chairman Daryl, John B, Ian, Anne, Albert and Paul, with other members most welcome to join. It was proposed that a flyer be sent to all postal addresses in the shire (and perhaps beyond) asking residents for their details to be listed in the book. Grahame offered to start the ball rolling by designing a draft copy of a possible flyer for members to peruse at our next meeting. A substantial effort will be required to chase up advertisers since the directory is distributed free of charge to shire residents, so 2-3 members with marketing skills or business contact will be needed to carry out this critical task.
The Coolamon Community Chronicle was also discussed, as Myffy has reported she can no longer commit to continuing with the great job she has done over the past four years. As a result, there is an urgent need to find replacement members for doing the work required to produce the CCC. If suitable replacements can’t be found, it was suggested that it might be necessary to pay someone with the appropriate skills. John Bond mentioned there are government grants available to help newspaper publishers through the coronavirus pandemic and offered to follow-up on this and report back to our next meeting.
Daryl thanked all those who offered to volunteer with the above jobs.
Ian mentioned the need to have signs acknowledging our financial support on the two picnic benches on the bike track between Coolamon and Ganmain. Ian will follow up on this.
Grahame informed the club that a productive meeting with Dave, Neil and Ian was held last Wednesday to discuss various options of donating to the hospital and/or the hospital auxiliary and Allawah Lodge. After quite a bit of discussion it was decided to donate monies to the hospital directly and that we go ahead with the original motion of donating $2K to the hospital and Allawah Lodge. Grahame will compose a letter to the recipients. Expanding the Bingo committee was also discussed; to that end, Dave McK will join Neil and Grahame on the committee.
Anne advised members that Coolamon Central School has a very good candidate in Year 11 for the National Youth Science Forum (NYSF). Anne will follow up with the school when a suitable time presents itself.
ANZAC Day remembrance activities were discussed, with members reporting what they did to commemorate the special day.
Suitable guest speakers for our ZOOM meetings will be researched by a few members.
Our next ZOOM meeting is Monday, May 4 & ZOOM Club Assembly on May 18. Our club changeover, scheduled for June 29, will likely take place via ZOOM (with a follow-up event in person once the COVID-19 restrictions have been lifted).

JUST FOR LAUGHS

THE PUZZLER

Answer to last puzzler: 36.

This week’s puzzler: Can you decipher the following rebus puzzles?

DIARY

Monday, May 4th – Zoom meeting. 7:30-8:30 pm. Coolamon Rotarians Paul and Leslie Weston will talk about the COVID-19 pandemic. See meeting invitation in SMS or email message sent to members for login details (login details are the same as the previous ZOOM meetings).

~~Sunday, April 19th – DisTec20 (District 9700 technology workshop), Young.~~

~~Saturday, April 25th (ANZAC Day) – Catering for Trotting Club, Coolamon Showgrounds.~~

~~Saturday & Sunday, May 16th & 17th – District Assembly, Young. Income board members expected to attend.~~

Monday, May 18th – Club Assembly. Coolamon Sport & Rec Club, 6:30 for 7 pm.

Wednesday, May 20th – Board meeting. Zoom, 7:30-8:30 pm.

June 6-10th – RI Convention, Honolulu.

Wednesday, June 17th – Board meeting. Zoom, 7:30-8:30 pm.

*Monday, June 29th – Coolamon Rotary Changeover. ~~Coolamon Sport & Rec Club.~~ ZOOM?

* denotes partner & guest night

REMINDERS

ROTARY CLUB OF COOLAMON Inc. 2019-20

Chartered March 3rd, 1971; Sponsoring Club Narrandera Rotary Club

President: Daryl Breust 0409 551 140

President-Elect: Howard Atkinson

Secretary: John Glassford

Treasurer: Henk Hulsman 6927 3486

Rotary Foundation Director: Neil Munro

Membership Director: Paul Weston

Service Projects Director: Howard Atkinson

Youth Director: Anne Rzeszkowski

Club Admin Director: Dave McKinley

Club Services Director: Albert Suidgeest

Public Image Director: Grahame Miles

Immediate Past President: Daryl Breust 0409 551 140

Sergeant @ Arms: Albert Suidgeest

Bulletin Editors: Grahame Miles and Paul Weston

Webmaster: John Glassford

April is Rotary Maternal and Child Health Month Month

Coolamon Rotary Bulletin #1920-31

18 April 2020 by Paul

Meeting of April 6th

[There was no meeting on April 13th because of the public holiday.]

President Daryl welcomed 18 members and two guests to our second Zoom meeting, which will be our standard way of meeting until restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic are eased. Present in the virtual meeting room were members Daryl, Paul, John G, Henk, Grahame, Ian, Don, Anne, Alex, Albert, John B, Bernadette, Garth and Leslie. Visiting Rotarians included David Benn (Rotary Club of Wagga Wollundry) and Chip Ross (Rotary Club of Strathcona Sunrise, BC Canada). One guest (Chez Post) also attended. Apologies received from Myffy Collette, Neil Munro and Dick Jennings (eye accident).

President Daryl opened the meeting and welcomed our visiting Rotarians and our guest.

Henk Hulsman read the correspondence which included Rotary Down Under increase in annual cost of RDU magazine ($44/annum), letter of thanks from Marg Perkin for the gift that Grahame purchased for Marg on our behalf, and Coolamon Shire Council bill for the community hall hire for our last bingo.

Paul Weston advised us that his daughter Nicole who lives in New York City may have contracted the virus, however Nicole is well and believes that she is now immune and is back at work (working from home).

Alex and Chez have been weeding and walking the dogs.

Don said it was a good time to plant the trees. Ian feels that they are best done in the spring after another ripping. Albert suggested that water-retention crystals be used, regardless of when planting occurs.

Daryl thanked Henk and Albert for helping to complete the caravan shed.

David Benn says that Wollundry will start using Zoom soon and the Board has already met via Zoom.

Daryl said that Wagga Wagga was very quiet.

Chip Ross joined in and shared what is happening in Canada and noted that Canada was doing much the same as Australia. Chip spoke about his club and what they have done on the international Rotary scale which includes:

Wheel chairs and prosthetic limbs for Chennai in India.
Water projects in Mexico together with their District 5060 and the Rotary Foundation. They are looking at a suite of projects raising over $200-300,000 US$ and are working with WASRAG (and WASH.
They will be supporting 4 villages in Mexico.
Chip said they had the same problems with lack of toilet paper in Canada.
Chip invited us to join his club one day on Zoom (our meeting started at 3 am for Chip!)
John G presented Chip with $20 Canadian in return for Chip’s $50 Aussie that Chip gave to JG in 2005 at the Chicago Convention.

The re was no fine session or raffle, but we’re working on a way to implement virtual fines and raffles!

Daryl closed the meeting at 8:35 pm and thanked everyone for attending and said that it was a most enjoyable meeting. Our next regular meeting will take place on April 20th at 7:30 pm (via Zoom).

Coronavirus Update

Editor’s note: over the next few weeks, I’ll be including informational pieces on viruses in general and the coronavirus in particular. After doing a bit of reading on the topic, I thought sumarising this information in non-technical terms might help members to better understand the nature of viruses and the biological basis of the current pandemic.

Caronavirus Briefing
Part 3 – How viruses cause illness. Recapping from the previous two instalments, viruses are not living things, but are able to reproduce (replicate) by getting cells of a host organism to “read” the genetic material they carry and then manufacture more virus particles (the genetic material plus the protein coat that surrounds it). COVID-19 is caused by an RNA virus, a group of viruses that includes the viruses that cause the common cold, polio and SARS (a respiratory virus that threatened the world several years ago, but then fizzled out). The virus that causes COVID-19 (the name given to the disease) is technically referred to as SARS-CoV-2 and likely originated from a virus that infected bats. Most viruses attack organisms only within one species, which is attributed to the presence of proteins on the surface of the virus that can only invade cells that have the appropriate receptor protein that can bind to the surface protein. The virus SARS-CoV-2 is most genetically similar to a virus that infects bats, but a genetic change must have occurred to allow its surface protein to bind to proteins found in humans, perhaps after transitioning through a third organism. This is what happened when SARS appeared several years ago; a virus from bats jumped to civet cats after a surface protein mutation occurred, and from civet cats it transitioned to humans. In any event, 2019-nCov makes its home in the cells of humans, causing the disease known as COVID-19. How does COVID-19 kill people? When viruses invade our cells, the body recognises the foreign bodies and mounts a defence, which has two main stages, a short-term, rapid response by leukocytes (also called “killer cells”) and a longer-term, more targeted response that produces antibodies that neutralise the invader. As people age, they produce fewer of the cells that generate antibodies, which leaves most of the defence up to the non-specific killer cells. One of the main tools of the killer cells is the production of cytokines, which have the unfortunate side-effect of causing inflammation. The inflammation caused by SARS-CoV-2 is centred in the lungs because there are more of the receptor proteins that bind to the viral protein there than in other tissues. The inflammation in the lungs impedes oxygen exchange, which accounts for the breathing difficulty associated with COVID-19. Besides older people, those with chronic respiratory problems or cardiovascular impairment are at increased risk of dying from COVID-19, but there is much we don’t know about the virus because young, apparently healthy people have also succumbed to the illness. In the next instalment, we’ll look at transmission of coronavirus and the rationale behind strategies being used to control the societal impact of COVID-19. – Paul Weston

JUST FOR LAUGHS

THE PUZZLER

Answer to last puzzler: The answer was a net.

This week’s puzzler:

DIARY

Monday, April 20th – Zoom meeting. 7:30-9:00 pm. See meeting invitation in SMS or email message sent to members for login details.

~~Sunday, April 19th – DisTec20 (District 9700 technology workshop), Young.~~

~~Saturday, April 25th (ANZAC Day) – Catering for Trotting Club, Coolamon Showgrounds.~~

~~Saturday & Sunday, May 16th & 17th – District Assembly, Young. Income board members expected to attend.~~

Monday, May 18th – Club Assembly. Coolamon Sport & Rec Club, 6:30 for 7 pm.

Wednesday, May 20th – Board meeting. Zoom, 7:30-8:30 pm.

June 6-10th – RI Convention, Honolulu.

Wednesday, June 17th – Board meeting. Zoom, 7:30-8:30 pm.

*Monday, June 29th – Coolamon Rotary Changeover. Coolamon Sport & Rec Club.

* denotes partner & guest night

REMINDERS

ROTARY CLUB OF COOLAMON Inc. 2019-20

Chartered March 3rd, 1971; Sponsoring Club Narrandera Rotary Club

President: Daryl Breust 0409 551 140

President-Elect: Howard Atkinson

Secretary: John Glassford

Treasurer: Henk Hulsman 6927 3486

Rotary Foundation Director: Neil Munro

Membership Director: Paul Weston

Service Projects Director: Howard Atkinson

Youth Director: Anne Rzeszkowski

Club Admin Director: Dave McKinley

Club Services Director: Albert Suidgeest

Public Image Director: Grahame Miles

Immediate Past President: Daryl Breust 0409 551 140

Sergeant @ Arms: Albert Suidgeest

Bulletin Editors: Grahame Miles and Paul Weston

Webmaster: John Glassford

April is Rotary Maternal and Child Health Month Month

Coolamon Rotary Bulletin – #1920-30

3 April 2020 by Paul

Meeting of March 30th

President Daryl welcomed 18 members and two guests to this extraordinary club meeting, our first using ZOOM technology!

Present in the virtual meeting room: Members Daryl, Paul, John G, Henk, Grahame, Dick, Ian, Don, Myffy, Anne, Neil, Dave, John N, Howard, Albert, John B, Rod and Alex as well as guests Chez Post and Sarah Collins.

Henk read out correspondence, including letters from Coolamon Shire Council confirming occupancy of our new shed for the and the closure of the Community Centre Hall for all events, including Bingo.

Daryl briefly discussed some motions that were passed at our recent ZOOM Board Meeting. The minutes of that meeting were sent to all members last week.

Anne confirmed the cancellation of RYDA this year.

Our Club will support the Coolamon Urban Trail by way of handling the grant money for Council to allow them to obtain 1-to-1 matching grants.

Coolamon Rotary club are supporting the Batlow RC in the construction of a Men’s Shed for Batlow as part of their bushfire recovery. Our club will donate $10,000, matching the amount being contributed by Batlow RC.

Barry Lilywhite’s request for funds towards his stepson’s medical expenses was rejected. Individual members wishing to donate to the cause should visit Barry’s Facebook page.

Grahame advised members that Bingo has been cancelled for April and May, at this stage. Further cancellations are likely.

Grahame has arranged the purchase of a gift as a welcome home present for Marg Perkin after her recent hospitalisation in Wagga.

Daryl polled participants regarding their preference for weekly or fortnightly Zoom meetings for the duration of the NSW lockdown; weekly meetings narrowly won the day, so our next meeting will be next Monday, April 6, starting at 7.30 pm.

Grahame brought up the need to find a member (or members) willing to take over from Myffy in producing the Coolamon Community Chronicle. There was much thoughtful discussion, but no volunteers as yet. One or two members are needed to assemble the stories for the Chronicle and to distribute it to the various outlets around town (the paper will be put together by students from Coolamon Central School and their faculty advisor). Discussion will continue over the next few months; if no members can take this on, we may have to look at paying a non-member to do the job.

John N asked about the finances for the Chronicle and Myffy explained how it all works. Myffy said there would not be an issue of the Chronicle in May because of the Easter holiday and that the April edition was going out very soon.

Daryl invited members to give a brief account of what they have been up to over the past few weeks under self-isolation and how they’ve been travelling.

We all wished Alex a happy birthday with some inspired (and some tired!) singing. Happy Birthday, Alex!

Albert was unable to fully participate in the meeting because of technical difficulties, so there was no fine session. The meeting adjourned at 9 pm.

Caronavirus Briefing
Part 2 – Types of Viruses. Although all viruses have the same general structure (a protein envelope surrounding genetic material), there are some significant differences in the type of genetic material they possess and the organisms that serve as the host. Before we look at the type of genetic material used, we need to delve a bit into the processes by which cells store genetic information and then convert that information into proteins and other molecules that make up all of living things. Genetic information is stored in cells in the form of DNA. The information encoded in DNA is deciphered by the cell and transformed into RNA, another form of genetic material. The copied genetic information in RNA is then used by tiny chemical “factories” (called ribosomes) to produce the end products (e.g. proteins, enzymes, etc.) needed to carry out cellular processes. As we saw in the last instalment, viruses replicate by getting a host cell to read the genetic information carried in the virus, causing the host cell to produce copies of the proteins and genetic material that make up the virus. Here’s where the information about DNA and RNA comes in handy; some viruses carry their genetic information in the form of DNA and others carry RNA. Within these two broad groupings there are a number of variants, but the features that distinguish them are way beyond what we can cover here. Suffice to say that viruses have been classified into seven groups, based on whether they use DNA (Groups I, II and VII) or RNA (Groups III, IV, V and VI) as their genetic material. Well-known diseases caused by members of these groups include: I – chickenpox/shingles and smallpox; II – parvo (those with puppies are familiar with this one); III – rotavirus (causes gastro in children); IV – dengue, SARS, COVID-19, polio and rhinovirus (common cold); V – ebola, measles, mumps, rabies, influenza; VI – HIV/AIDS; and VII – hepatitis B. In addition to the diverse means of replicating, there’s quite a diversity in the organisms attacked by viruses. Most viruses are specific in what they attack; the examples listed above are caused by viruses that attack humans (and dogs, in the case of parvo), but viruses are known to attack every type of organism on the planet, even bacteria! In the next instalment, we’ll look at how viruses cause disease in humans (spoiler alert—it’s not the virus that causes the symptoms!). – Paul Weston

JUST FOR LAUGHS

THE PUZZLER

Answer to last puzzler: The answer to last week’s riddle was memories.

This week’s puzzler: What what object has fewer holes in it after you tear a hole in it?

DIARY

Monday, April 6th – Zoom meeting. 7:30-9:00 pm. See meeting invitation in SMS or email message sent to members for login details.

Thursday, April 9th – BINGO. Rostered on are Neil (captain), Leslie, Bern and Rod (or MarieAnne).

Saturday, April 11th – Coolamon Rotary Easter Markets. Up To Date Store, 8:30 am – 1:00 pm. Volunteers will be needed to sell raffle tickets at the door and outside the newsagency. The markets will be accompanied by the UTD Art Battle and will be followed by the town party being run by the Coolamon Shire Council (“Ditch the Dust”).

Monday, April 13th – No meeting (public holiday).

Wednesday, April 15th – Board meeting. Zoom, 7:30-8:30 pm.

~~Sunday, April 19th – DisTec20 (District 9700 technology workshop), Young.~~

~~Saturday, April 25th (ANZAC Day) – Catering for Trotting Club, Coolamon Showgrounds.~~

~~Saturday & Sunday, May 16th & 17th – District Assembly, Young. Income board members expected to attend.~~

Monday, May 18th – Club Assembly. Coolamon Sport & Rec Club, 6:30 for 7 pm.

Wednesday, May 20th – Board meeting. Zoom, 7:30-8:30 pm.

June 6-10th – RI Convention, Honolulu.

Wednesday, June 17th – Board meeting. Zoom, 7:30-8:30 pm.

*Monday, June 29th – Coolamon Rotary Changeover. Coolamon Sport & Rec Club.

* denotes partner & guest night

REMINDERS

ROTARY CLUB OF COOLAMON Inc. 2019-20

Chartered March 3rd, 1971; Sponsoring Club Narrandera Rotary Club

President: Daryl Breust 0409 551 140

President-Elect: Howard Atkinson

Secretary: John Glassford

Treasurer: Henk Hulsman 6927 3486

Rotary Foundation Director: Neil Munro

Membership Director: Paul Weston

Service Projects Director: Howard Atkinson

Youth Director: Anne Rzeszkowski

Club Admin Director: Dave McKinley

Club Services Director: Albert Suidgeest

Public Image Director: Grahame Miles

Immediate Past President: Daryl Breust 0409 551 140

Sergeant @ Arms: Albert Suidgeest

Bulletin Editors: Grahame Miles and Paul Weston

Webmaster: John Glassford

April is Rotary Maternal and Child Health Month Month

Coolamon Rotary Bulletin – #1920-29

31 March 202030 March 2020 by Paul

Meeting of March 16th

President Daryl welcomed 18 members including guest Chez Post. Apologies from John G, Lyn, Dave, Grahame, Bernie, John N, Garth, and Marie-Anne.

Business

Bingo last Thursday night (Paul) – 14 players. Approximately $115 dollars profit. Jackpot didn’t go off.
District Conference, Ditch the Dust, Markets – all cancelled because of COVID-19.
Discussion on suspending Coolamon Rotary meeting until 4th May– very little business or activities now happening. All in agreement.
Bingo to e suspended until further notice because of COVID-19.
Garth invited members to come with on a three-day Blaze Aid fencing trip, while club is in limbo.
Daryl asked members to think about ideas to make meetings more enjoyable with a social focus.

Following the discussion of business items, the meeting was adjourned early and members were invited to share fellowship for the rest of the evening.

Caronavirus Briefing
Part 1 – The Biology of Viruses. Actually, the title of this instalment is misleading because biology is the study of living things. It may surprise you to know that viruses are not considered to be living organisms because they cannot carry out any of the processes that living organisms need to do to except to reproduce, which they can’t do by themselves (that will be explained below). Viruses are simply packets of genetic information surrounded by an envelope made of protein. That’s it–they don’t eat, they don’t move on their own, they don’t reproduce (on their own), in short, they don’t carry out any biochemical reactions that characterise all living organisms. Nonetheless, they are quite capable of causing major disruption to the lives of living organisms, as we know all too well. We know that viruses spread from person to person (host to host), which requires some ability to reproduce. If viruses aren’t living, then how do they reproduce? They do this simply by getting a living cell from a host to produce more copies of the virus by “reading” the genetic information contained in the virus, which instructs the host cell to produce the various components of the virus (genetic material, protein coat, etc.) and to then assemble them into more virus particles. The virus thus multiplies courtesy of the biochemical machinery of the host, and then spreads to other hosts via secretions from the first host (e.g. via sneeze droplets, faeces, etc.). The ejected virus particles typically enter the new host via moist membranes, such as those found in the eyes, nose and mouth, which is why it’s so important not to touch your face after contacting materials that may have been touched (or sneezed/coughed on) by an infected individual. Ejected droplets from a person infected with coronavirus can remain viable for hours or days, depending on the surface composition (up to 3 days on plastic and stainless steel), which is why it’s important to wash your hands thoroughly after touching anything in areas where infected people might have come in contact. In the next instalment, we’ll look at the various types of viruses that cause major illnesses.– Paul Weston

JUST FOR LAUGHS

THE PUZZLER

Answer to last puzzler: The misspelled word was “receipt”.

This week’s puzzler: What am I?

You have me today,
Tomorrow you’ll have more;
As your time passes,
I’m not easy to store;
I don’t take up space,
But I’m only in one place;
I am what you saw,
But not what you see.

DIARY

Monday, March 30th – Zoom meeting. 7:30-9:00 pm. See meeting invitation in SMS or email message sent to members for login details. Joint meeting with Junee and Temora. Roundhouse Museum (5:00 pm) followed by dinner at the Junee Ex-Services Club, 7:30.

Thursday, April 9th – BINGO. Rostered on are Neil (captain), Leslie, Bern and Rod (or MarieAnne).

~~Monday, April 13th – No meeting (public holiday).~~

Wednesday, April 15th – Board meeting. Zoom, 7:30-8:30 pm.

~~Sunday, April 19th – DisTec20 (District 9700 technology workshop), Young.~~

~~Saturday, April 25th (ANZAC Day) – Catering for Trotting Club, Coolamon Showgrounds.~~

~~Saturday & Sunday, May 16th & 17th – District Assembly, Young. Income board members expected to attend.~~

Monday, May 18th – Club Assembly. Coolamon Sport & Rec Club, 6:30 for 7 pm.

Wednesday, May 20th – Board meeting. Zoom, 7:30-8:30 pm.

June 6-10th – RI Convention, Honolulu.

Wednesday, June 17th – Board meeting. Zoom, 7:30-8:30 pm.

*Monday, June 29th – Coolamon Rotary Changeover. Coolamon Sport & Rec Club.

* denotes partner & guest night

REMINDERS

ROTARY CLUB OF COOLAMON Inc. 2019-20

Chartered March 3rd, 1971; Sponsoring Club Narrandera Rotary Club

President: Daryl Breust 0409 551 140

President-Elect: Howard Atkinson

Secretary: John Glassford

Treasurer: Henk Hulsman 6927 3486

Rotary Foundation Director: Neil Munro

Membership Director: Paul Weston

Service Projects Director: Howard Atkinson

Youth Director: Anne Rzeszkowski

Club Admin Director: Dave McKinley

Club Services Director: Albert Suidgeest

Public Image Director: Grahame Miles

Immediate Past President: Daryl Breust 0409 551 140

Sergeant @ Arms: Albert Suidgeest

Bulletin Editors: Grahame Miles and Paul Weston

Webmaster: John Glassford

March is Rotary Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Month

Coolamon Rotary Bulletin – #1920-28

12 March 2020 by Paul

Meeting of March 9th

PP Paul welcomed members, guests Chez P, Susan G and visiting Rotarian John Egan and his wife, Maria. Apologies from Daryl, Marianne, Ian, Lyn, Grahame, Leslie, Neil, Bernie and Garth.

Correspondence from Secretary John:

Reciept from Australia Rotary Health acknowledging our donation of $2500 for Indigenous Health Scholarship
Registration for the district conference in Temora closes this Thursday, 12 March
Draft of new Bingo poster was circulated for comment

Business:

Coolamon Rotary Easter markets will go ahead on Easter Saturday in Pieper Park (in the main street of Coolamon). Volunteers will be needed to sell raffle tickets on the day.
A most worthwhile read is the report from District Governor Peter Ford (District 9710, with whom we are merging in July), copied below (this was inadvertently omitted from the last bulletin).

Guest speaker (John Egan)

Wagga Wagga-Wollundry Rotarian PDG John Egan gave a most informative talk on the Rotary Foundation and Australian Rotary Health Indigenous Health Scholarship programme, which generated quite a few thoughtful questions. Henk thanked John for the interesting talk and presented him with a cheque for $2,500 in support of the Indigenous Health Scholarships. We hope to meet the student we’re sponsoring sometime later in the year.

Albert led a rather abbreviated fine session. The raffle was won by Chez (again!) and Howard.

Message from District Governor Peter Ford (District 9710)

It has been an extremely difficult couple of months for D9710. Leading in with the severe drought conditions, we were then hit in multiple locations by the bushfires. My thoughts go out to all the affected areas and clubs. These fires have been devastating and it will be a long road to recovery. With this in mind, I formed the District Bush Fire Recovery Committee (DBFC), chaired by PDG Phil Armstrong and with representatives from both D9700 and D9710. Rotarians are not traditionally first responders. We are here for the long haul to do what we do best – making a difference in our local communities. You will have heard from me and the DBRC already and there is much more to come. The DBRC is meeting weekly and newsletters will be issued periodically. I must congratulate the clubs that have taken up the initiative to put some recovery programs into place in their areas. Please keep the DBRC in the loop so that we can achieve a coordinated approach. Offers of assistance are coming from all quarters and we really appreciate this support, not the least of which is being managed through the Rotary Australia World Community Service (RAWCS) and the National Disaster Appeal. In the near future, we anticipate that there will be a dispersal of funds from this appeal. This will be managed by a group of District Governors and PDG Phil Armstrong will represent our Districts (9710/9700) as part of that group.

Peter Ford, DG

[We’ll fill you in when we work out what DBRC stands for – ed.]

JUST FOR LAUGHS

THE PUZZLER

Can you spot the spelling error in the story above on the meeting from March 9th?

DIARY

Thursday, March 12th – BINGO. Rostered on are Paul (captain, for Daryl), Bruce (for Don), Dave and Ivan.

Friday-Sunday, March 13th – 15th – Hot rods visiting Coolamon. NB: Our club will no longer be required to cater for breakfast.

Monday, March 16th – Regular meeting. Coolamon Sport & Rec Club, 6:30 for 7 pm.

Wednesday, March 18th – Board meeting. Coolamon Sport & Rec Club, 7 pm.

Friday-Sunday, March 20th – 22nd – D9700 District Conference, Temora. Volunteers from Coolamon will be needed to work the Rotary Down Under booth.

Monday, March 30th – Joint meeting with Junee and Temora. Roundhouse Museum (5:00 pm) followed by dinner at the Junee Ex-Services Club, 7:30.

Thursday, April 9th – BINGO. Rostered on are Neil (captain), Leslie, Bern and Rod (or MarieAnne).

Monday, April 13th – No meeting (public holiday).

Wednesday, April 15th – Board meeting. Coolamon Sport & Rec Club, 7 pm.

Sunday, April 19th – DisTec20 (District 9700 technology workshop), Young.

Saturday, April 25th (ANZAC Day) – Catering for Trotting Club, Coolamon Showgrounds.

Saturday & Sunday, May 16th & 17th – District Assembly, Young. Income board members expected to attend.

Monday, May 18th – Club Assembly. Coolamon Sport & Rec Club, 6:30 for 7 pm.

June 6-10th – RI Convention, Honolulu.

Wednesday, June 17th – Board meeting. Coolamon Sport & Rec Club, 7 pm.

*Monday, June 29th – Coolamon Rotary Changeover. Coolamon Sport & Rec Club.

* denotes partner & guest night

REMINDERS

Subs are now due.

ROTARY CLUB OF COOLAMON Inc. 2019-20

Chartered March 3rd, 1971; Sponsoring Club Narrandera Rotary Club

President: Daryl Breust 0409 551 140

President-Elect: Howard Atkinson

Secretary: John Glassford

Treasurer: Henk Hulsman 6927 3486

Rotary Foundation Director: Neil Munro

Membership Director: Paul Weston

Service Projects Director: Howard Atkinson

Youth Director: Anne Rzeszkowski

Club Admin Director: Dave McKinley

Club Services Director: Albert Suidgeest

Public Image Director: Grahame Miles

Immediate Past President: Daryl Breust 0409 551 140

Sergeant @ Arms: Albert Suidgeest

Bulletin Editors: Grahame Miles and Paul Weston

Webmaster: John Glassford

March is Rotary Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Month

Coolamon Rotary Bulletin #1920-27

9 March 20208 March 2020 by Paul

Meeting of March 2nd

PP Neil welcomed 18 members and guests Chez and John Martin (ex-Secretary of our Club from many years ago). Apologies from Daryl, Marianne, Ian, Lyn, Dave and Garth.

Correspondence from Secretary John:

Young & Hout Bay Bulletins
Rotary’s DisTec20 IT training workshop is on Sunday, April 19
Big band concert at Ganmain Hall on Saturday, May 30th

Business:

District Conference at Temora on March 21 -22 – Volunteers/attendees are Alex & Chez, Paul. Ian, Neil, Ted, Paul, Brian, Anne, Howard & Ann and Don on Sunday
Forbes Club have asked our club to man our food van on Sunday morning of the district conference for breakfast. Howard, Ann, Brian, Ted and Anne have voluntered.
Our new Youth Director Anne introduced the topic of Rotary Youth Exchange as District 9700 is looking for two clubs to host overseas students starting in June. The topic will require further discussion.
John Bond generously volunteered to take notes for the bulletin for the next two weeks while Grahame is away.
The Bingo roster for the next 14 months was handed to members. Grahame has asked members to circle the months when they are rostered on and add to your calendar. Grahame also reminded members that they are responsible to organise a swap if they are unable to fill their obligation for a given month.
Please bring milk bottle tops for “Lids for Limbs” to our next meeting for collection by Myffy.
The future of the Coolamon phone directory (our club projet) will be discussed at next Club Assembly or earlier club meeting.
A most worthwhile read is the report from our District Governor, copied below.

Albert led another lively fine session. The raffle was won by Chez.

JUST FOR LAUGHS

THE PUZZLER

Can you spot the spelling error in the story on the meeting from March 2nd?

DIARY

*Monday, March 9th – Speaker meeting: John Egan speaking on the Australian Rotary Health Indigenous Health Scholarship program. Coolamon Sport & Rec Club, 6:30 for 7 pm.

Thursday, March 12th – BINGO. Rostered on are Daryl (captain), Bruce (for Don), Dave and Ivan.