President Adrian welcomed 21 members and 9 guests including our guest speaker Dr. Jason Bennie, Peter & Jeanette from Wagga Wagga, Wendy Lindner, Maureen Hulsman, Ivan Furner, Ralph, Helen Moriarty and Trish Frazer.
After dinner Dr Jason Bennie who is the Chief Data Officer for the Murrumbidgee Primary Health Network and was introduced by President Adrian who said that:
“Jason has an extensive background in public health research and expertise in epidemiology, biostatistics, and health promotion. Jason has a PhD in Behavioural Epidemiology from Deakin University. He has over 15 years of experience in managing large-scale public health projects from conception to execution to evaluation.”
This was a very interesting presentation by Jason and well illustrated with a power point slide show.
Jason explained how the MPHN works and how they gather information on the health of the residents in out LGA of Coolamon with 4600 citizens. Rather than go through all the data that Jason showed us you can download the MPHN Coolamon Profile for 2022 below:
Here is just one page from the Coolamon LGA Databook most interesting:
PAG Garth Perkin thanked Jason and presented Jason with a memento from our club.
After Jason’s talk we had some business:
President Adrian advised the members that next week there would be a Club Assembly following the monthly board meeting.
President Adrian promoted teh visit to Wagga Wagga by our DG Rob Uhl to celebrate 120 years of Rotary.
Secretary Paul advised us all that the Coolamon Community Chronicle has been printed by Active Print in Wagga and distributed by Annie. Thanks Annie.
S@A Albert did not have many fines this week and our guest Helen Moriarty won the 1st prize in the raffle with Henk winning second prize.
Another excellent night of information and fellowship.
DIARY
N.B. You are always welcome to bring guests to most of our meetings, just advise Ian Jennings 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 and in The Diary on our website or the link below in pdf:
Monday 10th February Board Meeting: 5.00pm at Coolamon Sport Rec Club.
Monday 10th February CLUB ASSEMBLY Meeting. Coolamon Sport Rec Club, 6.30 for 7.00 pm.
*Monday 17th February Guest Speaker Meeting: The Hon. Michael McCormack MP The Riverina subject Federal Issues for Coolamon. Coolamon Sport Rec Club, 6.30 for 7.00 pm.
Saturday 22nd February: Celebrate 120 years of Rotary with our District Governor Rob Uhl in Wagga Wagga.
*Monday 24th February Social Meeting: Social night and get to know your member Vicki Langtry. Coolamon Sport Rec Club, 6.30 for 7.00 pm.
*Guests welcome to bring their partners and friends.
JUST FOR LAUGHS
All of the above images were obtained from Facebook.
The Rotary Bell
History of the Rotary Bell:
In 1922, U.S. Rotarians organised an attendance contest; the challenge was that the losing clubs would join in giving the winning club a prize.
The Rotary Club of New York City was declared the winner and to them was awarded as a prize a bell from a popular patrol boat, which was placed on wood that came from HMS “Victory”, Admiral Nelson’s vessel at the battle of Trafalgar.
Since then, the bell used in Rotary meetings started to represent, as on the ships, order, discipline and the time to guide us through the weekly hour and a half meetings. The bell informs us with its sound the beginning of the Rotary meeting, other club rituals and of course the closure of the regular club meeting.
Rotary Promoting Peace
Today, over 70 million people are displaced as a result of conflict, violence, persecution, and human rights violations. Half of them are children.
We refuse to accept conflict as a way of life. Rotary projects provide training that fosters understanding and provides communities with the skills to resolve conflicts.
Rotary creates environments of peace
As a humanitarian organization, peace is a cornerstone of our mission. We believe when people work to create peace in their communities, that change can have a global effect.
By carrying out service projects and supporting peace fellowships and scholarships, our members take action to address the underlying causes of conflict, including poverty, discrimination, ethnic tension, lack of access to education, and unequal distribution of resources.
Our commitment to peacebuilding today answers new challenges: how we can make the greatest possible impact and how we can achieve our vision of lasting change. We are approaching the concept of peace with greater cohesion and inclusivity, broadening the scope of what we mean by peacebuilding, and finding more ways for people to get involved.
Rotary creates environments where peace can happen.
As we only have one meeting in January this will be the only bulletin for January.
SOCIAL EVENING WITH THE COOLAMON LIONS CLUB
Wednesday 15th January.
Last Wednesday Bear Brian Pattison organised an evening to thank the Lions of Coolamon for the work they did on New Year’s Eve cooking. We had a very good tun out of Lions in their matching shirts and a good number of Rotarians and their partners.
Our thanks go to Bear and Gary in the main for the cooking of the gourmet sausages and the aged steak. It was a very good way of getting together with our friends in the Lions Club. Here are a few pics from Wednesday night:
Monday January 20th 2025.
President Adrian welcomed 23 members and Ivan Furner as our guest to our first meeting for 2025.
Following the board meeting secretary Paul advised the meeting that our efforts for NYE had been well received and that the raffle was a big success. The board discussed the current situation of our caravan and we will be looking at selling the van as it’s use by date is well and truly over. The van maybe replaced with gazebos and tables.
Paul advised us that the MERV van will be back in our Shire from the 6-8th of June and will be in Ganmain on Saturday 7th June. https://mherv.com.au/
Our next meeting will be on the 3rd February where Dr Jason Berry will be talking on the health of the Coolamon Shire. There will be a club assembly on February 24th following get to know our member Vicki Langtry.
Our own Garth Perkin then had the floor on ShelterBox Australia.
Garth made a good presentation on what ShelterBox is doing these days and how it has changed over 25 years.
The organisation has a few challenges ahead and our support is more than ever needed these days. One way you can support ShelterBox is to sign up for one of their treks and this one has appeal:
Contact Garth for more information.
The meeting ended with a spirited fines session by S@A Albert and Albert was able to extract $5 from Grahame which stands as a record fine! Something to do with crypto currency!
The raffles were won by Henk and Barry. Here are some pics from last night:
PS NO Meeting on Monday January 27th Australia Day Holiday.
DIARY
N.B. You are always welcome to bring guests to most of our meetings, just advise Ian Jennings 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 and in The Diary on our website or the link below in pdf:
Monday 20th January Board Meeting 5.00pm at Coolamon Sport Rec Club.
*Monday 20th January FIRST Meeting for 2025. PP Garth Perkin on ShelterBox. Coolamon Sport Rec Club, 6.30 for 7.00 pm.
Monday 27th January. NO MEETING. Australia Day.
*Monday 3rd February Guest Speaker Meeting: Dr. Jason Benny Epidemiologist MPHN subject Coolamon Shire Health Status. Coolamon Sport Rec Club, 6.30 for 7.00 pm.
Monday 10th February Board Meeting: 5.00pm at Coolamon Sport Rec Club.
Monday 10th February Normal Weekly Meeting. Coolamon Sport Rec Club, 6.30 for 7.00 pm.
Monday 17th February Guest Speaker Meeting: The Hon. Michael McCormack MP The Riverina subject Federal Issues for Coolamon. Coolamon Sport Rec Club, 6.30 for 7.00 pm.
Monday 24th February Social Meeting: Get to know your member Vicki Langtry followed by a club assembly. Coolamon Sport Rec Club, 6.30 for 7.00 pm.
*Guests welcome to bring their partners and friends.
JUST FOR LAUGHS
All of the above images were obtained from Facebook.
ROTARY ASSISTING THE L.A. WILDFIRES
1. RAWCS
We have all read and followed the current Los Angeles wild fires. It is all bad news and so may homes and other buildings and infrastructure have been lost. According to teh California department of Forestry and Fire Control, some 27 lives have been lost, 41,000 acres burnt, and 13,000 structures including homes destroyed. The fires are ongoing as we meet tonight.
Rotary Australia World Community Service or RAWCS has started a project to help the victims of these disastrous fires.
Rotary in Los Angeles is very much on the ground right now helping the victims of these fires so many who have lost everything and so many who had no insurance cover at all:
2. ROTARY CLUB OF ALTADENA
“Our local community took a direct hit from the firestorm that started on January 7th and is currently, as of January 18th, 75% contained. Structures destroyed – 8,988 and 972 others damaged. This does not include structures believed to be destroyed but pending confirmation. More than 5,000 households have to find other places to live over the next two to three years during the rebuilding process.”
When residents first saw flames on a hillside in Eaton Canyon, the fire itself was not that large.
But with gusts clocked at 59 mph, the fire quickly started pushing a shower of sparks across the canyon.
Those rocketing embers eventually pushed west from Eaton Canyon into central Altadena, scorching a path of destruction that seemed unimaginable even in a community familiar to wildfire. When the smoke finally cleared, 7,000 structures were lost along with at least 17 lives.
During the first 12 hours of the fire, numerous agencies would work together to try to contain it, including crews from the L.A. County Fire Department, the Pasadena Fire Department, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, Angeles National Forest, the Riverside County Fire Department, the Arcadia Fire Department and a Santa Barbara County task force.
As the blaze grew, firefighting resources were no match. Aircraft were grounded almost immediately amid intense wind, and fire operations became more about saving lives than protecting structures.
Embers travelled up to two miles to the west, passing over some neighbourhoods but hitting central Altadena hard. Within hours, entire blocks were on fire.
Early Wednesday, fire officials realized mass evacuations were the only answer. With that, a sickening possibility set in: “I’m going to lose half of my town,” Pasadena Fire Chief Chad Augustin recalled.
Coolamon Rotary Club was in Coolamon for the NYE Street Party put on by our Shire Council. There were two distinct areas that we worked in one being the catering van and the other the raffle.
Our volunteers included; In the van: Bear, Gary, Bruce, Gary, Alex and John G with Dick and Garth as the runners. Tickets for food Mary, Bernie Milne, Maree Jennings and Annie.
Selling raffle tickets included: Mark and Sharon Reardon, Alex, Adrian, Don, John Bond, Leslie and Paul Weston and Myffy.
A great turn up of our members and some partners to help ease the workload.
The cooperation with the Lions Club of Coolamon was excellent and all went very well with Bear organising the caravan teams. All round it was a very busy night.
Here are some photos that I had time to take:
I hope that the S@A has a long memory!!!
Message from President Adrian:
Hi Rotary members. Happy new year! Thank you to those who helped enormously last night for the NYE catering and raffle. A great effort by all. It was a top night and big crowd.
The winners in the raffle were.
1 Cubby house – Mary Block, Leeton (she bought her ticket at the Open Gardens, Mary comes over every year).
2 Trolley-cart and $100 Rural Supplies – Leo Corbett, Ganmain.
3 $100 Foodworks – Miller Robinson, Coolamon (related to Cheeky)
I look forward to our ongoing work and service in 2025. Our next meeting is Mon 20 Jan with Garth speaking on Shelterbox.
Regards, Adrian
Image from Paul Weston via his Facebook page:
“I had to share this photo I took late on New Year’s Day (actually it was early on the 2nd of Jan). Normally we don’t get to see an aurora in the summer and at our latitude, but there was some intense solar activity while I was outside and I grabbed a few shots with my iPhone.
To be honest the colours were mostly invisible to the naked eye (I saw only white ‘curtains’), but the iPhone apparently is more sensitive to other wavelengths (this image is exactly how it came from my phone). Anyway, I’m taking it as a good omen and wish you all the best for 2025! Paul”.
DIARY
N.B. You are always welcome to bring guests to most of our meetings, just advise Ian Jennings 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 and in The Diary on our website or the link below in pdf:
Monday 20th January Board Meeting 5.00pm at Coolamon Sport Rec Club.
*Monday 20th January FIRST Meeting for 2025. PP Garth Perkin on ShelterBox. Coolamon Sport Rec Club, 6.30 for 7.00 pm.
Monday 27th January. NO MEETING. Australia Day.
*Guests welcome to bring their partners and friends.
JUST FOR LAUGHS
All of the above images were obtained from Facebook.
ROTARY VOCATIONAL SERVICE
Vocational Service is the essence of Rotary and the foundation from which Rotary began –the application of one’s vocational skills to serve others.
It is rooted in the second Object of Rotary which calls on Rotarians to encourage and foster:
High ethical standards in business and the professions.
The recognition of the worthiness of all occupations.
The dignifying of each Rotarians’ occupation as an opportunity to serve society.
We also see Rotary providing a unique opportunity for those on the way up in their careers to enhance their leadership and management skills, such as project management and mentoring, to name but two. Combined with the networking opportunities that Rotary provides this positions Rotary as a good career move for younger ambitious members of our communities.
Having said that, Vocational Service is probably the most misunderstood avenue of service in Rotary. It is not as clearly defined as the other avenues of service, often overlapping them, particularly Youth and Community. Partly because of this, many clubs do not currently have a Vocational Service chair.
Coolamon Rotary did present vocational service awards in the past.
As well we awarded Small Business Awards such as this one below:
Here is a detailed document on Vocational Service:
This will be our last bulletin for 2024. We will do one for NYE and then resume the bulletin from January 20th 2025. This will coincide with our first meeting for 2025 Monday January 20th.
COOLAMON ROTARY CLUB’S CHRISTMAS PARTY
Monday 9th December 2024
Coolamon Rotary held our Christmas party at Adrian and Wendy Lindner’s beautiful property, “Lindoris”. Our thanks to Wendy and Adrian for hosting us this year and for all the work you put in to make it a success.
Catering by Michelle Seymour from Marrar.
Two wonderful surprises during the evening. First Wollundry Rotary presented President Adrian Lindner with a cheque for $10,000. This for the work that we as a club do for their Gears & Beers weekend.
The highlight of the night was the presentation of a Paul Harris Fellow award to Sharon Miles. Sharon is the engine behind the Coolamon Community Chronicle. Sharon’s PHF is well deserved!
Here are a few photos from the Christmas party.
Meeting of Monday 16th December 2024
Past President John Bond welcomed 23 members and one guest Susan Glassford.
Everyone was in a great mood with a lot of chatter and plenty of banter. Bondy did his best to keep everyone focussed however it was our last meeting for 2024.
We had a bit of general business including:
Mary Potts remanding us that our fees will be due on January 1st.
Albert Suidgeest is looking for certificates of appreciation for those who hosted and worked on the October garden viewing weekends.
Dick Jennings proposed that we do some working bees for a lady in need of some grass cutting. A good idea Dick we should do work like this.
Brian the Bear outlined the NYE programme for the catering side of the NYE Coolamon Street Party.
Ian Jennings said that he would get a roster together for NYE raffle selling.
Garth Perkin reported at length on the presentation to the Matong PS and quizzed the members as to the number of students at Matong PS and wanted us to work out the % of students to Matong’s population. I am not sure where we ended up here but there were 31 children in the flyer that Garth had. Apparently there are 28 students or was that 25? It was that kind of meeting!!!!!
We all congratulated Hannah on graduating from Nursing school. Hannah has been waiting on us on most Mondays now and we wish her all the best for her future as a nurse.
All in all a fun and most enjoyable meeting and the raffle was won by Bear.
S@A Albert had a very good fines session the best being on Grahame Miles who invested in one tenth of a Bitcoin many many moons ago and it is now worth so much more. Bruce was fined for not sending his fat lambs to market as Bruce is waiting for the price to rise to $350!!!!!
NEW YEARS EVE ROSTERS
1. THE CATERING VAN
6.00-7.30pm In the van: Bear, Gary, Bruce, with Dick as the runner. Tickets for food: Maree Jennings and Annie.
7.30-9.00pm In the van: Bear, Gary and John G with Garth as the runner. Tickets for food Mary and Bernie Milne.
NB. Garth will set up the van. The barrel for the raffle draw will be in the van.
2. The CRC NYE Raffle
6.00 to 7.30 pm: Mark and Sharon Reardon, Alex, Adrian and Don.
7.30 to 9.00pm: Adrian, John Bond, Leslie and Paul Weston and Myffy.
There will be two chairs and a table next to the Cubby House on a trailer.
THIS PAST WEEK OR TWO
Some of our members have been busy selling raffle tickets for the 3 prizes to be drawn on NYE, thankyou to all who volunteered and to Annie for organising the raffle.
Thanks to those who presented the annual school prizes form our club these are the only photos that I have for this giving to our schools every year. President Adrian Lindner did the honours for the Ganmain Public School:
Some of our members attended the Coolamon Carols in the park.
DIARY
N.B. You are always welcome to bring guests to most of our meetings, just advise Ian Jennings 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 and in The Diary on our website or the link below in pdf:
Tuesday 31st December NYE. Catering with Lions Coolamon includes the 600 sausages donated by the CRC for the children. The NYE street raffle will be drawn at 9.00pm.
Monday 20th January Board Meeting 5.00pm at Coolamon Sport Rec Club.
*Monday 20th January FIRST Meeting for 2025. PP Garth Perkin on ShelterBox. Coolamon Sport Rec Club, 6.30 for 7.00 pm.
Monday 26th January. NO MEETING. Australia Day.
*Guests welcome bring your partners and friends.
JUST FOR LAUGHS
All of the above images were obtained from Facebook.
COOLAMON ROTARY CLUB’S PAST 6 MONTHS PICTORIAL
There have been many highlights over the past 6 months and we have been a busy team of Coolamon Rotarians.
Here is a sample of some of the things that we got up to as members of this club. This is a thumb nail presentation in a gallery so you will need to click on each photo to get a larger image.
THANK YOU SHARON AND YOUR TEAM FOR THE COOLAMON COMMUNITY CHRONICLE!
DECEMBER IS DISEASE PREVENTION & TREATMENT MONTH
Graphics by PP Debbie Vance from BC CANADA
ROTARY CLUB OF COOLAMON Inc. 2024-25
Chartered March 3rd, 1971; Sponsoring Club Narrandera Rotary Club
President: Adrian Lindner
President-Elect 2025-2026: Mary Potts
Secretary: Paul Weston
Treasurer: Mary Potts
Rotary Foundation Director: Gary Truscott
Membership Director: Brian Pattison
Service Projects Director: Anne Rzeszkowski
Youth Services Director: Lexi Furner
Club Admin Director: Ian Jennings
Public Image Director:Grahame Miles
Sergeant @ Arms: Albert Suidgeest
Club Environment Representative: Adrian Lindner
Immediate Past President and Vice-President: John Bond
Over the past few weeks our members have been buying toys for the Salvation Army’s Christmas Toy Run. On Saturday morning Grahame and Sharon Miles came to Ganmain and purchased toys to the value of $500 on behalf of the CRC. Sharon and Phil Walsh from the Ganmain newsagents would like to express their sincere thanks to our members for doing this. Thanks go to Grahame for the concept and for Sharon and Grahame for packing the toys from Ganmain and getting them to Temora. Thanks to all of our members who purchased a toy or two.
STOP PRESS
2.00pm Tuesday 3rd December: The toys have been delivered by Santa’s helpers to the Salvation Army in Temora. Caleb Smith of the Salvation Army has a great smile on his face. Well done Sharon and Grahame, a wonderful result all round. We estimate that over 60 toys were donated by the members of our club and the club itself.
Coolamon Rotary Bulletin for Month of November 2024
Click on the links below for the weekly bulletins from November.
President Adrian Lindner welcomed 21 members and three guests including: Lorraine Hamilton and DGE Robert Shore and Judith Shore. {DGE or District Governor Elect 2025-2026 for District 9705}.
After dinner Garth Perkin introduced DGE Robert Shore.
DGE Robert’s talk was in two parts:
Part one on a book that Robert had written on the experiences of prisoners of war from WW2.
Rob was a teacher at the Marlborough High School when he heard about some experiences of PoWs in WW2. Rob decided to try and locate these men and to get their stories preserved in writing with the help of his wife Judith.
Rob recounted stories of three of these brave men. In brief:
Merv Alston form Tumut who enlisted at the age of 16 by lying about his age. In January 1942 Alf was sent to Malaya with the 8th Division. Merv was eventually captured and tied up with ropes for 20 days and was unable to move. Merev escaped and found himself on a beach with 2 shipwrecked sailors. They came across some British soldiers and ended up in Singapore just before it fell to the Japanese.
Merv ended up in Changi on the Burma railway and then in Japan working at a steel mill.
Another soldier was in Singapore when it fell ended up on the railway in 1943 and then was on a 190 mile forced march where many PoWs died from cholera sometimes as many as 20-30 in a single night. This soldier survived on eating raw onions they were supposed to plant, catching snails for the Japanese officers to feed to the chooks. They sold these snails at 10 cents each. They ended up eating dogs, cats and monkeys but not rats to survive.
Alf was his name the third soldier, who kept escaping by going over the wire. Eventually his captors had enough and executed him and buried him. His mates dug him up and found that he was still alive.
Rob has many more stories to tell however DGE Rob now spoke on his upcoming year as our District Governor.
One area that Rob spoke on was the Rotary Zone 8 Regionalisation pilot. This was first put to the Governors at the Zone 8 Christchurch Conference in 2019. Since then the pilot has been approved to be tested in Zone 8.
Rob is looking to do something different in his year as DG including not having a District Conference. Rob wants to bring clubs together on a regional basis i.e. our old area Group 3 and beyond.
Rob’s idea is to get clubs working together on larger projects to provide more hands on deck. Rob has set a target of increasing membership by 300 in 2025-2026. There is now a Facebook group for SE NSW Rotary Community Group.
There were several questions from the members present and Adrian thanked Rob for his talk.
Some general business included:
Paul gave out details on the School presentations which included Marrar and the Coolamon Central School.
Grahame spoke on the Salvation Army Toy run and that he and Sharon will be going to Temora today to deliver all the toys that have been donated.
Friday the 13th our NYE Raffle will be in Ganmain.
This Thursday and Friday the Driver Simulator is at the Coolamon Central School with Frank and Di Lincoln from the Young RC.
Adrian then opened the meeting to a discussion on New Years Eve catering and the Christmas Party. After much discussion; it was decided by the members to cater for NYE and to supply 600 free sausages for the children via the NYE show bag. Lions Coolamon and Rotary will do the cooking and serving from the CRC catering van and the Lions BBQ trailer.
The NYE raffle requires volunteers to sell tickets on NYE. NB the raffle is drawn at 9.00pm and we need to have all the tickets folded up and in the “barrel”, this takes a lot of time. Please contact Adrian to volunteer to sell the tickets.”
The members also agreed that the Christmas Party charges were to be $20 per head for members and their partners. Additional guests would be at $34 per person. We also decided to bring a sweet or dessert.
There was a brief fines session and the raffles were won by Grahame and Vicki.
All in all a productive and informative meeting.
DIARY
N.B. You are always welcome to bring guests to most of our meetings, just advise Ian Jennings 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 and in The Diary on our website or the link below in pdf:
*Monday 9th December – Annual Christmas Party. Hosts will be Wendy and Adrian Lindner on their property. 6.30pm at “Lindoris”, Wendy and Adrian’s farm, 755 Lindner Lane. 15km South of Coolamon. RSVP to Adrian by Friday 6th December please. Invites have been sent to you. Map here:
Wendy and Adrian’s property directions:
They are half way between Coolamon and The Gap. Technically front entrance address is The Gap. They are in The Gap bush fire brigade. Basic directions are:
After leaving Coolamon, first right into Tooyal Road. Next left into Boundary Road (Parmenters Lane on Google Maps). Next right into Lindner Lane (Gap Hall Coolamon Road on Google Maps). Measure 3.5km to ramp on the right for “Lindoris”.
Monday 16th December LAST Meeting for 2024. Coolamon Sport Rec Club, 6.30 for 7.00 pm.
Tuesday 31st December NYE. Catering with Lions Coolamon includes the 600 sausages donated by the CRC for the children. The NYE street raffle will be drawn at 9.00pm.
Monday 20th January Board Meeting 5.00pm at Coolamon Sport Rec Club.
*Monday 20th January FIRST Meeting for 2025. PP Garth Perkin on ShelterBox. Coolamon Sport Rec Club, 6.30 for 7.00 pm.
Monday 26th January. NO MEETING. Australia Day.
*Guests welcome bring your partners and friends.
JUST FOR LAUGHS
All of the above images were obtained from Facebook.
ROTARY NEWS.
1. END POLIO NOW
Together, We End Polio
The Rotary Monthly theme for December is Disease Prevention and Treatment Month.
One area that Rotary has excelled in and continues to do. Our flag ship is without a doubt the End Polio Campaign.
With your help, we can end polio for good. It will be only the second disease to have been wiped out by mankind in history, the first being Smallpox.
Poliomyelitis is a highly infectious disease that most commonly affects children under the age of 5.
Most know it as poliovirus. The virus is spread person to person, typically through contaminated water. It can attack the nervous system, and in some instances, lead to paralysis. Although there is no cure, there is a safe and effective vaccine – one which Rotary and our partners use to immunize over 2.5 billion children worldwide.
The number of wild polio cases for 2024 as of November 13, 2024 is 71. There were 48 in Pakistan and 23 in Afghanistan.
The Global Polio Eradication Initiative is a public/private partnership led by national governments with six partners – the World Health Organization(WHO), Rotary International, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance. Its goal is to eradicate polio worldwide.
Rotary is the main private sector donor to polio eradication as Rotary members have contributed more than $2.7 billion dollars and countless volunteer hours to the fight to end polio. In November 2007, Rotary International entered in a unique partnership with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Since the GPEI’s launch in 1988, over US$ 20 billion has been invested through WHO and UNICEF in support of polio eradication activities carried out in over 70 countries.
Your donation helps Rotary and its partners reach every child with the polio vaccine. Thanks to the Gates Foundation, your contribution will be tripled. Together, we end polio. The offer of the $2 from Bill and Melinda Gates to every $1 you donate is still in place. That is every $ we donate to End Polio in effect becomes $3.
Our club has been very active in supporting the End Polio campaign. When we donate to our Foundation and we earmark Polio Plus as to where our donation goes we get Rotary Foundation points for use in recognition of worthy recipients for the Paul Harris Fellow awards.
History of Rotary & Polio Eradication
Rotary brings together leaders who step up to take on the world’s toughest challenges, locally and globally. The eradication of polio is one of our longest standing and most significant efforts. Along with our partners, we have helped immunize more than 2.5 billion children against polio in 122 countries. We have reduced polio cases by 99.9 percent worldwide and we won’t stop until we end the disease for good.
In early 1979, on a flight home from the Philippines, Renouf read a magazine story about the eradication of smallpox. He wondered if Rotary’s new Health, Hunger and Humanities (3-H) Grants could be used to eliminate another disease. They, for the first time, allowed Rotary projects to be taken on by more than just one club or district.
Renouf consulted with a friend, John Sever, who was a district governor in Maryland, USA, and chief of infectious diseases at the United States National Institutes of Health. Sever happened to be friends with Jonas Salk and Albert Sabin, who developed polio vaccines in the 1950s and 1960s. After doing some research, Sever said that polio would be the best disease for Rotary to work on. Full story below:
Editor’s note I contracted poliomyelitis at school in Nairobi when I was 6-7 years old. The boy in the bed next to me lived in an iron lung until he died when he reached 35 years old. My mother nursed me and I survived.
Coolamon Rotary Bulletin for Week of November 30th 2024
Meeting of Monday 25th November 2024
President Adrian welcomed our guests and members to the meeting. Our guest speaker was Inspector Jill Gibson from the Wagga Wagga Police Command. One guest Dianne Suidgeest and 17 members attended tonight’s meeting.
President Adrian introduced our guest speaker after dinner, Inspector Jill Gibson, OIC of Professional Standards, Youth and Engagement, who originally hails from Temora.
Jill said that the global campaign called for action against one of the world’s most persistent violations of human rights – violence against women – and started this Monday 25 November, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. It is the start of 16 days of activism to say NO MORE which ends on December the 10th in Wagga Wagga. It concludes on International Human Rights Day.
Jill said the Wagga Wagga City Council is supporting the Wagga Domestic Violence Liaison Committee (DVLC) in calling on the community to say ‘no more silence’ during the upcoming 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence.
Jill spoke about the red flags that should alert one to a possible escalation on violence and these include:
Remembering important occasions such as anniversaries and birthdays.
Robust confirmation in a discussion.
Cheekiness and sarcasm.
At the time of a break up in a relationship, always a testing time for any partnership.
Controlling one’s partner including finance.
Jill said that last year there were 64 women in Australia who died as the result of physical assaults. This is 64 too many. One area that is often forgotten is elderly abuse and this can take the form of the children taking control of the elders finances and property.
Jill pointed out that emotional blackmail; and psychological abuse often goes unchecked and does lead to depression and anxiety in our elders. As well making our elders over or under medicate their prescriptions that is a terrible form of abuse.
Jill encouraged us all to get a Power of Attorney put in place for our own protection from our children and relatives.
What and excellent and timely talk for all of us. Jill left us with some takeaway pamphlets and here are some further information that can be obtained from the Internet and via the telephone:
Our good friends from Wagga Wagga Sunrise RC with Deidre Lampe and PDG Fred Loneragan (a retired policeman) are very active on this front.
Lexi thanked Jill for an excellent talk that resonated with our members who were present tonight.
We then had some general business which included:
Anne reported on the Wagga Cycle Club Event. The volunteers were Alex, Bear, Lexi, Vicki, Gary, Daryl, Adrian, Mary, Myffy and Annie. It was a very hot day and some of our volunteers did not get home until 9.00pm. Adrian thanked everyone concerned and we raised nearly $1000.00. Good on you Annie! We do need other members to put their hands up for these types of events, as is the case it is usually the same faces.
Grahame on the toys for the Salvation Army’s Toy Run for Temora. Grahame and Sharon Miles have already given the toys so far donated to Mark Reardon which have been delivered to the Temora Salvation Army. Grahame said that Sharon, JJG and himself will be in Ganmain on Saturday morning form 11.45 to select the toys that the CRC have donated $500 to the cause. N.B. please bring your toys that you have purchased to the meeting on Monday 2nd December the cut off day.
Bear advised members that the 2,000 CRCTB 2024 have been collected by Bear and Gary and distributed in our Shire including Coolamon, Temora, Ganmain, Matong, Junee, Marrar, Ardlethan and Ariah Park. Our sincere thanks to Bear and Gary. P.S. Ted liked the new 2024 CRCTB!!!
Annie has organised another raffle for the 13th and 14th December at Foodworks in Coolamon. JJG declined to organise one for Ganmain. Thanks Annie you are doing a great job.
Adrian encouraged all present to support Giving Tuesday on December 3rd. GIVING TUESDAY
We finished the evening with a raffle which was won by Alex 1st prize, Paul 2nd prize and John Nulty the eggs!!!
There was a brief fines session by S@A Albert whose birthday was celebrated with a rendition of Happy Birthday.
Another excellent night at the Coolamon Rotary Club.
DIARY
N.B. You are always welcome to bring guests to most of our meetings, just advise Ian Jennings 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 and in The Diary on our website or the link below in pdf:
Monday 2nd December – Guest speaker Robert Shore District Governor Elect, District 9705, WW2 PoW Stories. Coolamon Sport Rec Club, 6.30 for 7.00 pm.
*Monday 9th December – Annual Christmas Party. Hosts will be Wendy and Adrian Lindner on their property. 6.30pm at “Lindoris”, Wendy and Adrian’s farm, 755 Lindner Lane. 15km South of Coolamon. RSVP to Adrian by Friday 6th December please. Invites have been sent to you. Map here:
Monday 16th December LAST Meeting for 2024. Coolamon Sport Rec Club, 6.30 for 7.00 pm.
Monday 20th January Board Meeting 5.00pm at Coolamon Sport Rec Club.
*Monday 20th January FIRST Meeting for 2025. PP Garth Perkin on ShelterBox. Coolamon Sport Rec Club, 6.30 for 7.00 pm.
Monday 26th January. NO MEETING. Australia Day.
*Guests welcome bring your partners and friends.
JUST FOR LAUGHS
All of the above images were obtained from Facebook.
ROTARY NEWS.
1. ROTARIANS FOR FAMILY HEALTH CARE & AIDS PREVENTION RFHA
We are thrilled to announce the launch of Rotary Family Health Days in the Democratic Republic of Congo in partnership with the Gates Foundation. Kinshasa Minister of Health, along with Rotarians, partners, and Department of Health officials gathered to kick off this impactful initiative, bringing essential health services and polio vaccinations to communities across the DRC.
P.S. PDG JJG was a member of the RFHA Board from 2009-2012 and Coolamon RC through Road MAPS to Africa donated US$25,000 to RFHA from part of the proceeds of the Kilimanjaro 2007 climb.
This was at the RI Convention in Los Angeles in 2008 being presented with the RFHA award from RFHA Founder Rtn. Marion Bunch.
2. LATEST NEWS FROM TRACY OCHIENG FROM KENYA
Tracy our star pupil from our Road MAPS to Africa projects has a new job and it is taking her places. Tracy writes:
“I landed in Kenya on Wednesday morning from India. In my previous email, I told you I had gotten a social media job for a company owned by Rotarian Joshua Okeyo at the beginning of the year. We met in 2019 after my trip to Australia. He was in Jane Mberia’s Milimani club in Nairobi. In September, I joined eKitabu as a journalist in the book publishing department. It is based in the US, Kenya, Malawi, and Rwanda.
I had a great time in India but I’m ready to come home. I didn’t think the year would bless me with another stamp on my passport but here we are and I’m ever more grateful to be a Kenyan. Yoh!”
DECEMBER IS DISEASE PREVENTION & TREATMENT MONTH
Graphics by PP Debbie Vance from BC CANADA
ROTARY CLUB OF COOLAMON Inc. 2024-25
Chartered March 3rd, 1971; Sponsoring Club Narrandera Rotary Club
President: Adrian Lindner
President-Elect 2025-2026: Mary Potts
Secretary: Paul Weston
Treasurer: Mary Potts
Rotary Foundation Director: Gary Truscott
Membership Director: Brian Pattison
Service Projects Director: Anne Rzeszkowski
Youth Services Director: Vacant
Club Admin Director: Ian Jennings
Public Image Director:Grahame Miles
Sergeant @ Arms: Albert Suidgeest
Club Environment Representative: Adrian Lindner
Immediate Past President and Vice-President: John Bond
Coolamon Rotary Bulletin for Week of November 24th 2024
Meeting of Monday 18th November 2024
Acting President Mary welcomed our guests and members to the meeting. Our guests were Lorraine Hamilton and Carla Gash. Our guest speaker President John Livermore from the Young RC was introduced by Mary. We had 18 members attend tonight’s meeting.
Apologies from Adrian and Henk.
We started the meeting with some club business:
Anne reported on the upcoming Wagga Cycle Club Event. CRC to cater lunch and dinner for cycling event at Pomegolarna Reserve Wagga Wagga. Anne said that they have enough volunteers for the event. We are due there at 11.00am and we will be cooking for lunch and dinner we should be finished at 7.00pm.
Grahame encouraged all members to go to Ganmain and buy a toy for the Salvation Army’s Toy Run for Temora. The CRC has donated $500 to supplement the toys that each member buys. We need to either wrap the presents or put them in a Christmas bag with the age that the toy is suitable for. The Salvation Army says that they need suitable toys for infants 1-3 and teenagers.
Anne reported on the “Street raffle” held over last Friday and Saturday. It was a great success raising around $1,000 over the two days. Anne thanked all of the members who volunteered.
Garth is looking for a donation for the expenses of the MC for the Carols in the Park in Coolamon, referred to the board.
JJG advised members that the 2000 + 180 CRCTB 2024 have been printed and will be ready for collection on Friday. Bear and Gary will be picking them up and delivering the required number of books to Coolamon P.O. and the Ganmain P.O. Marrar received their books on Wednesday as we have a deadline with the Marrar deliveries. Other towns Ardlethan, Matong under control. John brought 4 books along for members to look through and check their own entries.
GUEST SPEAKER PRESIDENT JOHN LIVERMORE YOUNG ROTARY.
Mary again introduced John to the meeting. The subject was Cyber security and IT tips. This was a most interesting talk by John and I know the computer techos in our club were able to follow the many avenues of the scams and Internet fraud.
John started by outlining his experience with computers and then outlined the history of computer scams, fraud and ransoms. Briefly here are some of the subjects that John spoke on:
It started with 2 brothers in India hacking some of the earlier versions of personal computers such as Microsoft and Apple software. The Indians then demanded money or they would bring down the systems.
This then led to ant-virus software companies such as Norton and MacPhee producing suitable software to combat virus attacks.
Many of us have been affected by scammers and one way scammers get your information is from credit cards at point of sale. Here John explained how the scammer reads the card on a skimmer in his pocket and then processes the sale. From here it is easy for them to access your bank account.
Looking back in the days of copying CDs without paying a royalty which did not pay royalty to the artists. Streaming services such as Spotify have now changed all that and the artists are receiving their just rewards.
John warned us to be ever vigilant when buying online and to look out for phishing scams. The goods never arrive as the scammers have got into your system.
Click bait was explained and how you have to keep on clicking to the next part of a story and the ads keep coming. Each click generates funds for the baiter.
Travelling be wary of using the hotel WiFi as this is an easy area for scammers to get your information.
On malware and ransomware be super careful on how you use Google search. Here your browsing history can be hacked another area for care. With ransomware the scammers get into your computer and lock it up until you pay a fee to unlock it. If you fall for this they will attack you again and again. The best way to fix a blue screen is to take it to a computer technician who can wipe the ransomware.
Any Desk is software that you can legitimately use to link to a computer technician to fix problems online. John advised us to be very careful using Any Desk as it can be hacked and teh scammers can then drive your computer remotely.
John then spoke briefly on the future and AI. The scammers are getting active with AI so be aware you may not be “speaking” to the person you think that you are!
John finished the talk with a video on how these scammers can be sorted out on the telephone. Once scammers call you and you answer then getting them frustrated is fun if you have the time.
John G thanked John for his talk and very briefly told about the day JJG was scammed for $70,000, via Facebook. The VISA card they used had expired and the NAB cleared the debt.
We finished the evening with a raffle which was won by Paul Weston 1st prize and Garth Perkin 2nd prize.
Another excellent night at the Coolamon Rotary Club.
DIARY
N.B. You are always welcome to bring guests to most of our meetings, just advise Ian Jennings 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 and in The Diary on our website or the link below in pdf:
Saturday 23rd November – Wagga Cycle Club Event. CRC to cater lunch and dinner for the cycling
event at Pomegolarna Reserve Wagga Wagga.
*Monday 25th November – Guest speaker Inspector Jill Gibson from the Wagga Wagga Police Local Area Command: Inspector Jill’s talk will be on domestic violence. Coolamon Sport Rec Club, 6.30 for 7.00 pm.
*Monday 2nd December – Guest speaker Robert Shore District Governor Elect, District 9705, WW2 PoW Stories. Coolamon Sport Rec Club, 6.30 for 7.00 pm.
*Monday 9th December – Annual Christmas Party. Hosts will be Wendy and Adrian Lindner on their property. Details to follow. NB NO BoD Meeting in December.
Monday 16th December LAST Meeting for 2024. Coolamon Sport Rec Club, 6.30 for 7.00 pm.
Monday 20th January Board Meeting 5.00pm at Coolamon Sport Rec Club.
*Monday 20th January FIRST Meeting for 2025. PP Garth Perkin on ShelterBox. Coolamon Sport Rec Club, 6.30 for 7.00 pm.
Monday 26th January. NO MEETING. Australia Day.
*Guests welcome bring your partners and friends.
JUST FOR LAUGHS
All of the above images were obtained from Facebook.
ROTARY NEWS.
1. OUR FOUNDATION
The Rotary Foundation transforms your gifts into service projects that change lives both close to home and around the world.
Since it was founded more than 100 years ago, the Foundation has spent more than $4 billion on life-changing, sustainable projects.
With your help, we can make lives better in your community and around the world.
Our mission
The Rotary Foundation helps Rotary members to advance world understanding, goodwill, and peace by improving health, providing quality education, improving the environment, and alleviating poverty.
What impact can one donation have?
For as little as 60 cents, a child can be protected from polio.
$50 can provide clean water to help fight waterborne illness.
$500 can launch an antibullying campaign and create a safe environment for children.
Coolamon Rotary Bulletin for Week of November 17th 2024
Meeting of Monday 11th November 2024
President Adrian Lindner welcomed 18 members to our A.G.M. and club assembly tonight.
2024 AGM Chair PE Mary Potts.
The full minutes of the AGM will be available in due course.
Briefly:
Mary read out the minutes of the 2023 AGM which was accepted by the members as a true record.
Mary also read out the Treasurer’s report for 2022-2023.
The IPP John Bond’s report was tabled from his annual report at the change over dinner.
Nominations were called for all positions that were vacated and the following directors were voted in.
President Elect Nominee 2026-2027 Lesley Weston
Treasurer Vicki Langtry
Secretary Paul Weston
Foundation Gary Truscott
Service Projects Anne Rzeszkowski
Membership Brian Pattison Bear
Youth Services Alexis Furner
Club Administration Barry Langtry
Public Image Garth Perkin
Other non board positions will be declared in due course.
Congratulations to all of those who volunteered to serve the CRC for 2025-2026.
Club Assembly Chair Adrian Lindner.
Adrian then chaired the club assembly and the following major topics were presented:
1. COOLAMON COMMUNITY CHRONICLE. (CCC)
Paul Weston and Grahame Miles presented the board’s decision to have the CCC printed by Active Print. We will terminate the lease agreement with Smiths who provide the printer. From february 2025 we will no longer be using Smith’s printer and it will be returned. Grahame presented the costs involved and our pay out will be around $1,000. The CCC will remain sustainable by going back to Active Print.
2. CHARITY GIVING OVER 10 YEARS
John Glassford spoke on the actual break up of our charity giving over the past 10 years since 2014. The Board passed the following motion in 2014.
That we allocate 50% of our charity expenditures to local programs, 25% to national programs, and 25% to international programs.
John did a reconciliation on the past 10 years of our charity giving and we committed 75% to local charity giving, 16% to National charity and 9% to International charity.
John emphasised that the $300,000 raised for our Road MAPS to Africa projects were raised by JJG and PDG Fred Loneragan with a very small amount, not greater than $6,000, coming from Coolamon. The funds in the main came from other Rotary clubs and private individuals sponsoring our teams on Kilimanjaro 2007, the Mountains of the Moon 2011 and the Mount Kenya 2015 climbs.
3. CORPORATE MEMBERSHIP.
President Adrian advised the assembly of members that the Board has approved our club recruiting corporate members. Adrian gave examples of the Wagga Wagga Sunrise club who have Bush & Campbell Accountants in Wagga as a corporate member. The procedures of having a corporate member has been circulated to all members.
Some ideas of who in our area could be approached to join as a corporate member were Commins & Hendricks, Coolamon Shire Council, Coolamon Steel, Hutcheon and Pearce and the Coolamon Central School.
4. OTHER BUSINESS
Adrian advised the meeting assembled that David Post from Wollundry RC has up to 10 gift cards of $500 each to be given to any farmers in our area doing it tough this Christmas.
Grahame presented an idea for a Christmas project to support the Salvation Army’s toy appeal. Details have been sent to all members and each member is encouraged to buy a toy, wrap it and Grahame and Sharon will deliver them to the Salvation Army in Temora. Grahame has asked all members to buy the toys from the Ganmain Newsagency toy shop:
Garth advised us all that PDG George Weston has asked Garth to be the Area 3 Community Leader under the new regionalisation pilot programme for Zone 8.
Paul Weston reported on the previous Board meeting included in his report
We need an email address for our club.
The Board agreed to increase the annual giving prizes for our local schools.
RYLA is on the 4th January 2025 in Murrumbateman open to 18-28 yo at $1,700 per RYLARIAN.
The Christmas Party is set for Monday 9th December at the property of Wendy and Adrian Lindner. The CRC will pay for the meals. A detailed map on how to get to Wendy and Adrian’s farm will be sent out.
The winners of the Melbourne Cup Sweep were:
1st place Mary Potts, 2nd place Garth, 3rd place Bruce Hamilton and last place JJG.
We will leave this photo here for your information:
DIARY
N.B. You are always welcome to bring guests to most of our meetings, just advise Ian Jennings 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 and in The Diary on our website or the link below in pdf:
*Monday 18th November: Guest speaker John Livermore President, Young Rotary: Cyber security and IT tips Coolamon Sport Rec Club, 6.30 for 7.00 pm.
*Monday 25th November – Guest speaker Inspector Jill Gibson from the Wagga Wagga Police Local Area Command: Inspector Jill’s talk will be on domestic violence. Coolamon Sport Rec Club, 6.30 for 7.00 pm.
*Monday 2nd December – Guest speaker Robert Shore District Governor Elect, District 9705, WW2 PoW Stories. Coolamon Sport Rec Club, 6.30 for 7.00 pm.
*Monday 9th December – Annual Christmas Party. Hosts will be Wendy and Adrian Lindner on their property. Details to follow. NB NO BoD Meeting in December.
Monday 16th December LAST Meeting for 2024. Coolamon Sport Rec Club, 6.30 for 7.00 pm.
Monday 20th January Board Meeting 5.00pm at Coolamon Sport Rec Club.
*Monday 20th January FIRST Meeting for 2025. PP Garth Perkin on ShelterBox. Coolamon Sport Rec Club, 6.30 for 7.00 pm.
Monday 26th January. NO MEETING. Australia Day.
*Guests welcome bring your partners and friends.
JUST FOR LAUGHS
All of the above images were obtained from Facebook.
ROTARY NEWS.
OUR FOUNDATION
The Rotary Foundation is our charity Doing Good in the World. Its mission is to enable Rotarians to advance world understanding, goodwill, and peace through the improvement of health, the support of education, and the alleviation of poverty.
The Foundation implemented a new grant structure on 1 July 2013. Seven areas of focus reflect critical humanitarian issues and needs that Rotarians are addressing worldwide. They align Rotary with other international development efforts and will strategically further the Foundations mission.
In 2005 Coolamon and Hout Bay became Centennial twin clubs and we started the main project of raising funds to build and refurbish an AIDS and TB Clinic, which has since become a model for South African Health.
Coolamon House as it is known, in honour of our club, was opened in 2013 and among two other beneficiaries, Nonceba and Phumlani, we have contributed over $US 100,000 to Hout Bay. This included a TRF Matching Grant for US$22,000.
We worked on the HIV/AIDS pandemic in Sub-Saharan Africa. The relationship with Hout Bay RC has been beneficial to both clubs and we have made many good friends in Hout Bay.
The informal settlement, known as Imizamo Yethu, that cropped up in this very expensive suburb of Cape Town grew and grew with the influx of migrants mainly from The Transkei in Northern South Africa. The demands on the original residents was overwhelming and both Rotary Hout Bay and Lions Hout Bay, in conjunction with the Cape Town Health Department worked on building the medical centre to look after a population of 16,000 people officially. However the actual number of residents could be as high as 50,000.
The association now 20 years old with Hout Bay RC has resulted in the building/refurbishment of the totally inadequate building that they had to serve this ever growing migrants.
Over a period of 8 years and two mountain climbs in 2007 (Kilimanjaro) and 2011 (The Mountains of the Moon), and then following the Mount Kenya 2015 climb. We have been able to provide Hout Bay RC with over US$100,000. This includes the Foundation matching grant of US$22.000.
This project, Coolamon House, is saving lives each and every day.
Above Coolamon House in Hout Bay.
The funds we raised came from sponsors of each and every climb. These were individuals or clubs who sponsored our climbers by donation various levels per foot that we reached.
I am in the process of rebuilding our website for our CRC Road MAPS to Africa projects. However you can learn more about our work in Africa from this website:
The Rotary Foundation transforms your gifts into service projects that change lives both close to home and around the world.
