Coolamon Rotary News Bulletin #8
MEETING August 20th. 2012
Tonight we had the pleasure of listening to Dick Thompson, brother of Bill Thompson a well known local identity. Dick has lived in Yorkshire for the past 24 years after leaving Coolamon. Dick like his brother Bill is a lawyer and practices in a small town about 40 minutes drive to Leeds and Sheffield. Dick met his wife Chris a Yorkshire lass when he went to Alice Springs to play football. They decided to live in Yorkshire and have two daughters. Dick gave a lively and most interesting talk on his life as an ex pat living in the Yorkshire couintry side which he describes as being out of an episode of All Creatures Great and Small.
We had 10 members in attendance with our guests Val Burns, Maureen Hulsman, Maree Jennings and Bill Thompson.
The Yorkshire Dales
REMINDERS
Monday 27th August members meeting Club Catering John Burns Talking.Monday 3rd September 2nd Meeting re Promoting the Coolamon Shire.
Monday 10th September Business Meeting including Board Meeting Club Catering.
Thursday 13th September BINGO Rostered on: Christine Atkinson, Henk Hulsman, Dick Jennings, Neil Munro.
*Monday September 17th DG Greg Brown’s visit. Gilbert Catering.
Rotary Peace Conference Wagga Wagga September 21st. – 23rd.
*Monday 24th September 2012 Guest Speaker the Hon. Michael McCormack MP Federal Member for Riverina Gilbert Catering.
ROTARY INTERNATIONAL PRESIDENT SAKUJI TANAKA
Before the Bud Billiken Parade set off, I had the distinct honor of putting my “Peace through Service” pin on the renowned civil rights leader, Rev. Jesse Jackson, with District 6450 Assistant Governor J.N. Settles Sr. looking on. I also got to present my pin to Illinois Governor Pat Quinn. It was a day filled with humbling and inspiring encounters.
The Bud Billiken® Parade and Picnic is an annual parade and picnic in Chicago, Illinois, and is the oldest and largest African-American parade in the United States. Since 1929, it has always been held the second Saturday in August. The idea for the parade came from Mr. Robert S. Abbott, the founder of the Chicago Defender. The focus of the parade is education and sounds the clarion call for “Back to School” to our children. It is currently the second largest parade in the United States. The 82d Annual Parade took place on August 13, 2011, and was televised on WLS-TV as well as nationally on WGN-TV and viewed by over 25 million viewers. In August 2012, the second Saturday falls on August 11, 2012. The focus on the parade continues to be the betterment of Chicago’s youth.
PRESIDENT PAUL WESTON’S REPORT
Those in attendance at Monday’s meeting were treated to a very interesting talk by Dick Thompson, brother of Bill and a Coolamon resident currently residing in Yorkshire, England. Dick described how a two-year stay in Alice Springs 24 years ago turned into a continuing life adventure in England after he met his wife, a pom who was doing a volunteer service gig in Tennant Creek. One thing led to another and Dick is now living and working in Yorkshire. Dick considers himself an Aussie, and has made sure his daughters (now in their twenties) make regular visits to Coolamon to spend time with their grandparents. Although Dick still considers himself a true blue Aussie, he pointed out that he has spent nearly as much of his life in England as in Australia (but he still has a fair dinkum Aussie accent!). It was a very interesting perspective on living in another country while trying to retain as much of one’s culture and heritage as possible, and sharing that with one’s children.
Next week will provide an opportunity for John Burns to share his life story with the club. We’ll also spend a bit of time at the meeting reflecting on where we are as a club and where we want to be in the future, so come prepared to do a bit more brainstorming.
The Shop Locally campaign is regaining some momentum, with plans for a voucher book taking shape in time for the Christmas shopping season. An upcoming weekly meeting will focus specifically on the Shop Locally campaign, and will involve local shop owners; watch this space in the near future for specifics.
That’s all for now. Onward and upward!.
Yours in Rotary,
Paul
ON THE LIGHTER SIDE
The Great Artificial Elephant !
This is a robotic miracle…made from 45
tons of recycled materials, measuring
12 meters high and 8 meters wide. It
can carry up to 49 passengers
A barber runs out of his shop and down to the nearest corner where a policeman is standing.
“Officer,” he asks, “have you seen a man run by here in the last few minutes?”
“No, I haven’t. What’s the problem?”
“The lousy cheat ran out of my shop without paying me!”
“Does this fellow have any distinguishing features?” the officer asked.
“Well, yes,” the barber replies. “He’s carrying one of his ears in his left hand.”
YOU KNOW YOU ARE LIVING IN 2012 when…
1. You accidentally enter your password on the microwave.
2 You haven’t played solitaire with real cards in years.
3. You have a list of 15 phone numbers to reach your family of 3.
4. You e-mail the person who works at the desk next to you.
5. Your reason for not staying in touch with friends and family is that they don’t have e-mail addresses / facebook / twitter.
6. You pull up in your own driveway and use your mobile phone to see if anyone is home to help you carry in the groceries.
7 Every commercial on television has a web site at the bottom of the screen.
8. Leaving the house without your mobile phone, which you didn’t have the first 20 or 30 (or 60) years of your life, is now a cause for panic and you turn around to go and get it.
10. You get up in the morning and go on line before getting your coffee.
ROTARY INFORMATION
RAWCS (Rotary Australia World Community Service)
Volunteers are the lifeblood of RAWCS Projects. Being a RAWCS Volunteer can be one of the most rewarding experiences of your life; you can make new friends in other countries and you will form very close bonds with your team members.
Rotary International is an organisation of people who serve their communities around the world in a range of volunteer roles.
The projects listed on this website are all being managed by members of sponsor Rotary Clubs volunteering their time to do this important community work.
Participation by other Rotarians and by members of the public is also welcome.
If you like to sew or knit, you might like to make dolls for orphans in Africa. You could sort books as part of a literacy program. Or knit a knee rug for the Wheelchair For Kids Project. There’s any number of other projects you could volunteer some of your time towards – a number of RAWCS projects even provide opportunities for volunteers to travel to the project country and work directly on the project.
Current RAWCS Projects
Click on the image below to read all about this project in East Timor:
