Week of 13th September
President Albert welcomed 21 members to our first meeting back from a brief (three-week) lockdown. All were happy to be able to meet in person again–hopefully we’ll be able to continue meeting like this! Apologies from Ian Jennings, Dick Jennings and Bernadette Milne. Dick recently suffered a bit of a fall and is recuperating; we wish Dick a speedy recovery.
Albert designated the meeting primarily a social occasion, but we couldn’t resist carrying out a little bit of business. Albert announced that he had sold several trailer loads of firewood that was cut up at the working bee at the Lindner farm a couple of months ago, the proceeds of which have given a good start to the budget for the social committee. Albert recognised members who had birthdays recently, including John Nulty, Don, Neil, Ted, and Henk. John G advised that he has a couple of recently felled trees on his property that the club is welcome to, but the trees need to be cut to lengths short enough to transport. Some brainstorming will be required as there is an estimated 8 tonnes of timber on offer!
After a generous amount of time for socialising the meeting finished up with a fine session and the weekly raffle, which was won by Howard and Alex.
DIARY
Wednesday 15th September – Board meeting. Coolamon Sport & Rec Club. 7.00 pm start.
Monday 20th September – Regular meeting. Coolamon Sport & Rec Club, 6:30 for 7 pm.
Monday 4th October – No meeting (public holiday).
Monday 18th October – District Governor Leo Farrelly OAM Visit. Coolamon Sport & Rec Club, 6:30 for 7 pm.
AN IDEA!
Mount Airy Rotary Club, fire company raises $51,000 at second annual duck race
Two rows of delightfully fashionable cardboard cut-out yellow ducks — some decked out in feather boas, others wearing sequined masks and bucket hats — lined the narrow roadway leading up to the Mount Airy (Maryland, USA) Volunteer Fire Company activities building. Another mallard, this one giant and inflatable, greeted families at the top of the hill. Mary Jo Burkett smiled merrily as she watched people mill about, snacking on popcorn being sold by Scout Troop 829 and pushing baby strollers.
The event — organized by the fire company and Mount Airy’s Rotary Club — had been a lot of work to put together, said Burkett, area governor for Carroll County Rotary clubs, but it had all been worth it.
In the months leading up to the town’s second annual duck race, the fire company and the Rotary club put a siege of yellow rubber duckies up for adoption. People could claim one duck for $10, three for $20 or eight for $50. Over 20 prizes were up for grabs on Sunday, for both random winners and the speediest ducks.
Dennis Regulinski, the company’s assistant treasurer, had another important job on the day. Big block letters on the back of his neon T-shirt announced his temporary title: “DUCK DUMPER.” Just after 2 p.m., he stood at the top of a make-shift canal across from a wooden board carrying three plastic crates piled high with rubber duckies. A Rotarian sat behind him, clutching a thick fire hose that was gushing water. “5, 4, 3, 2, 1,” a volunteer counted down as rosy-cheeked children squirmed with anticipation. Then, Regulinski and another volunteer set the tiny birds free down the plastic-lined river.
“And they’re off!” the voice over the loudspeaker called.
JUST FOR LAUGHS
THE PUZZLER
Answer to last week’s puzzler:
1. Gulliver/clearness (live and learn)
2. tragicomedy/pentagon (come and go)
3. chinchilla/Magdalene (hill and dale)
4. terrestrial/ecoterrorist (trial and error)
5. thundershower/intellectual (show and tell)
This week’s puzzler: Which letter comes next in the series S, M, H, D, W, M, __? Hint: The answer will be one of the following letters: L, V, Y, T, D
WIRADJURI SHOPPING LIST
ROTARY NEWS
1. ROTARY RESPONDS TO COVID 19
Rotary is taking action in response to the pandemic as our clubs support COVID-19 vaccination and continued prevention efforts around the world.
Tapping into decades of experience in bringing polio to the brink of eradication, Rotary members worldwide are helping health authorities communicate lifesaving information about COVID-19 and vaccination, combatting misinformation, supporting fair and equal access to vaccines, and curbing the spread of the virus by donating protective gear and other supplies to clinics and hospitals that are under strain.
2. ROTARY ZONE 8 CONFERENCE 11-12th. SEPTEMBER
This was a well organised conference for ALL Rotarians in RI Zone 8 Australia and new Zealand.
It was held online in a virtual mode with two days Saturday and Sunday.
On Saturday we had some excellent speakers and a break out session in teh afternoon. This was followed by the PDGs from Zone 8 holding class reunions.
Sunday we had the best of the best in Rotary as speakers including RIPE Jennifer Jones simply outstanding.
It is still not like being there in person never will be. However next year it is hoped that we will meet in person. Not sure where but it will be in either new Zealand or Australia. I have attended 5 Zone 8 Conferences now Sydney, Darwin, Hobart, Christchurch and now Melbourne (on-line). here are some photos from the weekend:
PRIP Barry Rassin spoke about membership retention and that a sobering statistics is that over the past 10 years Rotary had attracted 1.4 million new members but during that time lost 1.4 million former Rotarians. If we are to go beyond the current membership of under 1.2 million members we have to look at retention and making Rotary attractive to those who want to serve.
In particular to attract and retain female members which still languishes at around 24% world wide. PRIP Barry also spoke on a new way to govern and streamline the way we administer and run Rotary clubs in the future. RI Zone 8 is being promoted as a trial Zone for the new regionalisation proposal. More details will be forthcoming in the near future.
September is Basic Education and Literacy Month
ROTARY CLUB OF COOLAMON Inc. 2021-22
Chartered March 3rd, 1971; Sponsoring Club Narrandera Rotary Club
President: Albert Suidgeest
President-Elect 2022-2023: Paul Weston
Secretary: John Glassford
Treasurer: Henk Hulsman
Rotary Foundation Director: Neil Munro
Membership Director: Dick Jennings
Service Projects Director: Daryl Breust
Youth Services Director: Anne Rzeszkowski
Club Admin Director: Ian Jennings
Public Image Director: Grahame Miles
Sergeant @ Arms: John Bond
Immediate Past President: Howard Atkinson
Bulletin Editors: Paul Weston and John Glassford
Webmaster: John Glassford