STOP PRESS!

SPORTSMAN’S NIGHT POSTPONED

The Sportsman’s Night this Saturday has been postponed due to unforeseen circumstances.  As soon as another date becomes available we will let you all know.  The raffle will still be drawn on Saturday evening.

WEEK OF MARCH 28th

President Albert opened the meeting and welcomed our two guests and our twenty one members–a great rollup again.  Our guests were Bethany Crocker, our guest speaker, and her grandmother, Cheryl Crocker.  Cheryl is the Daughter of Keith West, who was our Charter President in March 1971. Bethany is a Year 12 student at Coolamon Central School who was sponsored by our club to attend the National Youth Science Forum (NYSF) this year, which was largely held online because of the pandemic.

Albert wished Alex Thompson a happy birthday and presented Alex with a bottle of  wine, not that Alex drinks wine!

Albert then sent a get well card around for John Bond, Bondy is in hospital in Sydney and would love us to call him.  We are sure that Bondy will be home soon.

Daryl Breust spoke on  Gears and Beers which took place on Sunday and advised the meeting that it was a huge success.  There are a series of photos in this bulletin.  Daryl thanked all 21 members who volunteered their time on Sunday.  Thanks went also to those who worked on Saturday baking 60 batches of ANZAC biscuits which yielded 1750 biscuits: a mighty effort!  Not forgetting Ian Jennings who graded one of the sections for the Dirty 130 ride to make it passable and very dusty just for a change!

At Lions Park the rest stop was very busy and our team, including Jan Breust, handed out ALL the ANZAC biscuits, 70 kg of bananas, melons and water.  There were 1,600 riders on the Dirty 130 ride and 400+ riders on the 115 km ride.  All up, in excess of 2,000 riders passed through Coolamon on Sunday morning.  There will be a de-briefing with Wollundry Rotary in two weeks’ time.  Daryl was seconded to do the radio interview on the ABC.

Thank you Daryl and your committee–a tremendous effort!

Bethany Crocker was introduced by our Youth Services Director Anne Rzeszkowski and spoke on her experience as a NYSFparticipant held earlier this year.  Bethany enjoyed the experience immensely and thanked the club for our sponsorship.  Bethany said that the experience confirmed her plans on becoming an aerospace engineer.   Ian Jennings presented our small gift to Bethany as a token of thanks.

Daryl then spoke on the upcoming Sportsman’s night which was to take place this Saturday but which has now unfortunately been postponed.

John G spoke briefly on the progress of the Sunflowers for Ukraine project and read out a letter of support from our Rotary International Director for Zone 8, Jessie Harman.  JG explained that the project was moving fast and that the donor of the sunflowers, Doug Bruckner, will notify us when the seeds will be harvested.  Ian Jennings has invited Doug Bruckner and his wife Clare to one of our meetings.

The highlight of the night was without doubt the stand-in Sergeant@Arms Dick and his Corporal, Garth.  Dick and Garth spared no one and we had a lot of fun.  The raffle was won by Brian and second prize, the bantam eggs from Howard, went to Ian Jennings.

Finally Daryl announced that the club bowls team won the whole tournament.

DIARY

Saturday, 2nd April – Sportsman’s Night featuring SCOTT REARDON and VANESSA LOW. The CRC Sportsman’s Committee have organised a fundraising function featuring local Paralympian Scott Reardon and his wife Vanessa Low, also a Paralympian.  The event will take place in conjunction with the Coolamon Football Club at Kindra Park.  Time 6.00-10.00 pm.  POSTPONED DUE TO UNFORSEEN CIRCUMSTANCES.

Monday April 4th – Regular Meeting. Coolamon Sport & Rec Club, 6:30 for 7 pm.

Monday April 11th – Regular Meeting. Coolamon Sport & Rec Club, 6:30 for 7 pm.

Monday April 18th – Easter Monday. NO Meeting (public holiday).

Monday April 25th – ANZAC Day. NO Meeting (public holiday).

Saturday 21st May – D9705 Club Development Seminar {formerly called District Assembly}. – ALL 2022-2023 Board Members need to attend. West Wyalong, 9 am start.

Monday 4th July – CRC 51st Changeover. Coolamon Sport & Rec Club, 6:30 for 7 pm.

Friday-Sunday 28th-30th October 2022  Rotary Zone 8 Conference Canberra.

Rotary Australia New Zealand and Pacific Islands Conference.

JUST FOR LAUGHS

THE PUZZLER

Answer to the last Puzzler: There will be a total of 63 games played. Interestingly, this is one less than the number of teams in the tournament, which is always true for a single-elimination tournament.

This week’s puzzler:

ROTARY NEWS

1.  GEARS AND BEERS MARCH 27th, 2022

Gears and Beers

“And once again the ANZAC biscuits were an absolute hit – Coolamon Rotary we salute you “

Another very well organised Gears and Beers weekend by the Wollundry Rotary Club and Chair Phil McIntosh.  Our club did a great job with so many of our members volunteering in all the areas in which we were needed.

Daryl Breust, the chair of the Gears and Beers Coolamon committee, and the committee members worked hard to make sure that Coolamon did our job well.  Some 21 members and several partners were involved from baking ANZAC biscuits to being marshals on the event.  The Dirty 130 and the 115 riders were our responsibility some 1,600 entrants in the Dirty 130 category.  Overall Gears and Beers had over 3,000 entrants.  This resulted in the amazing result of over $200,000 being raised by Wollundry RC, which will go towards local charities in the Wagga Wagga area.

The next Gears and Beers will be held over the October long weekend this year (1st-3rd October).

Some photos from Sunday and our members at work!

Click on the thumbnails for a larger photo.

THE END!

2. SUNFLOWERS TO UKRAINE

The project is gathering at a fast pace and we have plenty of enquiry including the following clubs:

Rotary Clubs from Sydney and the RAWCS Eastern Region Manager for the RAWCS Project #83-2014-15, Guy Glenny from the Rotary Club of Sydney Cove.  Guy called me yesterday following an email to him via one of my classmates, PDG Sue Hayward, other supporting clubs include Tuggeranong, Hall, Narrandera, Lower Blue Mountains, Bundaberg East, Young, Orange, Canberra , Forbes, Wagga Wagga Sunrise, Griffith Avanti and others.

Narrandera want 2kgs of seeds.

Above all was the letter of support from our Rotary International Director for RI Zone 8, Jessie Harman:

Hi John,

Here is a simple testimonial.  If it’s not sufficient or if you want more, please come back to me.  Thank you for everything you are doing.  

Sunflowers for Ukraine

This ‘Sunflowers for Ukraine’ project is a simple way that we can show our support for the victims of the war in Ukraine.  The funds we raise will provide desperately needed relief for those who seek it; the sunflowers we plant will stand as evidence of our solidarity and our hopes for a brighter, peaceful future for all.

I encourage you to get involved.  

Jessie Harman

Rotary International Director, 2021-2023

This is a very important step forward for our club and  Jessie was the first person to respond to our Facebook post on the project around March 2nd. where Jessie said:

“A lovely idea – and I especially like the sentiment of joining together to do it as a united body”.

We are working with RAWCS and the  Australian Federation of Ukrainian Organisations. I will have an update on the logistics and the partnerships with RAWCS, Caritas Ukraine and the Australian Ukrainian Organisations very soon.

You can view the progress of the RAWCS Project for Ukraine here:

Ukrainian Humanitarian Relief Aid

MARCH IS WATER, SANITATION AND HYGIENE MONTH

Graphics by Debbie Vance from Canada.