What a great night we all had at the Temora Aviation Museum for the dinner dance, well not many danced.
We mustered at 6.00pm and witnessed a Wirraway, Wirraway (an Aboriginal word meaning “challenge”) was a training and general purpose military aircraft manufactured in Australia by the Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation between 1939 and 1946 at Fisherman’s Bend in Victoria. The aircraft was an Australian development of the North American Aviation NA-16-1A and NA-16-2K aircraft. It is powered by Australian manufactured versions of the Pratt & Whitney R1340 Wasp engine.
The pilot flies for Qantas in his spare time!!! Airbus 390s we were told. Loved the sound of this fighter plane:
We then went into the Aviation Museum for dinner, dancing and fellowship. The food was superb and there was plenty to go around.
The highlight of the night was Bush Poet David Benn from the Wollundry Wagga Rotary Club. David recited from memory several great Australian bush poems and as always turbulence was the best and had everyone in stitches. Well done Benny not sure if you noticed the English Electric Canberra Bomber creeping up behind you!
This is a pictorial report on the Rotary District Conference held on the 18th-20th March 2022. It was a most enjoyable event and well organised by the Temora Rotary Club.
1. FRIDAY EVENING WELOME TO TEMORA BBQ
The welcome to Temora BBQ was held at the Temora Rural Museum and the Rotary Club of Coolamon was invited to help with the cooking and serving of the evening dinner:
2. SATURDAY EVENTS
The Conference was opened by the Mayor of Temora Rick Firmin and the welcome to the delegates was given by Acting District Governor Michael Moore AM. Our District Governor Leo Farrelly was unable to attend due to the passing of his wife Elaine.
The MC and Chair of proceedings was a young Rotarian from the Rotary Cub of Hall, Andrew Giumelli who did a wonderful job. The Rotary International President’s Representative was PDG Kathy Fahy from the Rotary Club of the Iowa Great Lakes in Spirit Lake, Iowa. Kathy spoke well and gave us all an inspirational talk on Rollin’ with Rotary. Kathy started her Rotary life as an Ambassadorial Scholar in 1997 in Canberra. Kathy was the District Governor from District 5970 Northern Iowa in 2014-2015.
The theme of the conference was Regenerating Rotary and had the Environment as a major them in supporting Rotary’s Seventh Area of Focus.
We then had the In Memorium tributes to recently passed Rotarians which included our own PP Marg Perkin.
After morning tea we started the proceedings proper and it began with a key note presentation by Mary Brell and Judy Ford our joint D9705 Membership Chairs. Their talk was entitled Are you on the Titanic or the Queen Mary II. They were supported by two enthusiastic Rotarian in Barbara Mifsud (Sydney) and Kero O’Shea (Perth), who joined us via Zoom.
Following this excellent presentation we had four Area Governors or their replacement give 15 minute presentations on what is happening in our district. One of these presentations from Area 2 focused on the work being done by the Rotary Club of Harden-Murrumburrah on domestic violence. Area Governor Joan Graham outlined what they are doing with “Escape Bags” for the victims of domestic violence. 70% of the victims are women with 80% of the abusers are males.
After lunch we were inspired by RIPR Kathy Fahy’s presentation on Rollin’ with Rotary. Followed by the PRIP Royce Abbey Peace Oration given by Professor Fiona White. Fiona is originally from Sri Lanka and now a Professor in Social Psychology and currently the Director of the Sydney University Psychology of Intergroup Relations Research Lab.
Two keynote presentations followed in the afternoon session one on the environment by PDG David Brawn and the other by PDG Peter Freuth on the proposed regionalisation for Rotary Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands i.e. Zone 8 as it is known today.
David was appointed to the Chair of D9705’s Environmental Envoy programme by then DG Michael Moore. David has since created a team with 15 Environmental Envoys and is moving forward with our 7th Area of Focus. Our club has since appointed our Environmental Envoy in Adrian Lindner.
Peter spoke eloquently on the Regionalisation project for our Zone 8 and together with co-Chair Ingrid Waugh from New Zealand and they have cone along way since The Board of Rotary International approved the petition to form a Regional Organisation.
We adjourned for dinner at the Temora Aviation Museum.
Temora 2022 hosted by the Temora Rotary Club a pictorial report by John Glassford.
Attended by delegates PE Paul Weston, Adrian Lindner and John Glassford.
Friday pre-conference Welcome BBQ by Coolamon RC with thanks to the following members: Anne Rzeszkowski, Paul Weston, Adrian Lindner, Dick Jennings, Ian Jennings, Brian Pattison, Don Dyce, Neil Munro, Gath Perkin and John Glassford.
Letter of thanks from Temora President Brendon Fritsch:
Thanks John it was great to see you, and Coolamon did a great job Friday evening
Albert was back from his holidays in Far North Queensland and looked refreshed. Albert welcomed our guests which included 16 members and Mary Potts’s two sisters as well as visiting Rotarians Phil McIntosh and David Byfield from the Wollundry Wagga Wagga Rotary Club. The meeting was dedicated to the upcoming Gears and Beers event on Sunday 27th March.
After our usual excellent Chinese dinner, Phil McIntosh with David Byfield in support outlined the very important part our club plays for the event. There are some areas where good marshals are needed to make sure that the riders only enter a main road where there is traffic as we cannot STOP cars!
Phil pointed out that a number of riders have pulled out but they still have a good rollup, with some 3,000 registered for the various rides over the weekend. There will be two rides going through Coolamon: the Dirty 130 and the 100 km ride. Phil went through the intersections where we are most needed in the vicinity of Coolamon.
Dead Camel Lane is rougher than ever and Phil explained how advanced bike tyres are these days, so flat tyres won’t be a problem for many riders.
Phil thanked our club for the continuing support and handed over to Daryl Breust who with his committee have done a great job on organising things from our end. Next Monday Daryl will go through in detail our duties, the roster and the logistics of baking ANZAC biscuits and supplying water, bananas and safety vests for our marshals.
Some epic ruts on Dead Camel Lane
How good is your bunny hop game this year!? (jokes) You can ride around them,
The D9705 Conference have the following volunteers going to cook and serve at the welcome BBQ at the Temora Rural Museum from 5.00 pm: Garth, Ian ,Dick, Brian, JG, Anne, Neil, Adrian and Paul.
All in all an it was an excellent meeting with an abbreviated fines session due to our S@A John Bond being in hospital — we wish Bondy a quick recovery.
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.
You can now buy tickets from the Coolamon Post Office.
To all our Internet users: please start sharing the CRC Facebook page, our website and the booking form links which will have all the details for this night.
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.
JUST FOR LAUGHS
THE PUZZLER
Answer to the last Puzzler: A golf ball.
This week’s challenge: Two teams are playing footy on the planet of Tralfamadore. The game is similar to Aussie Rules footy except the point values are different. If the score of the match between the Troggs and the Croods is 8-1-67 to 16-2-134, what are the point values of major and minor goals? The point values for major and minor goals are whole numbers, and the point value for major goals is greater than the point value for minor goals. [In the unlikely event you’re not familiar with scoring in Aussie Rules, the first number is the number of major goals, the second is the number of minor goals, and the last number is the total number of points.]
ROTARY NEWS
1. RAWCS
Rotary Australia World Community Service have two projects that we can promote that are both current and topical:
A. National Flood Appeal (RARF) Project # 47 of 2021-22
Image from the Daily Telegraph
National Flood Appeal – To raise funding to provide financial assistance to flood victims in Queensland and Northern New South Wales – February 2022. Around 15000 homes have been flooded and some owners will be needing assistance to clean and refurbish their residences.
Individuals who are adversely affected and require assistance will be identified and be given funds to help with their recovery. It is our priority to get funds quickly to those who are in need to help them with the clean up and damage caused by the floods.
Ukrainian Relief Aid – To meet immediate lifesaving needs of the crisis-affected civilian population in Ukraine & provide early recovery assistance as soon as feasible. To save & preserve lives, easy suffering & promote self-sufficiency.
The Ukraine Crisis Appeal – a collaboration between the Australian Federation of Ukrainian Organisations (AFUO), Rotary Australia World Community Service (RAWCS) and Caritas Ukraine – is the largest Australian tax-deductible fundraising effort for Ukraine.
Our club has started the Sunflowers for Ukraine project and more details will follow next week after the District 9705 Conference. Our Acting DG Michael Moore AM will be launching our project in Temora over the weekend. In the mean time there is plenty of information on our website:
Just in case you are asked what Rotary is doing for the disaster in Ukraine, please refer to the following stories. Rotary is answering the call and helping out, and are calling for support. We will do our best in Australia via RAWCS however I think it is important to know what else Rotary is doing around the world.
A. Ukrainian describes leaving Kyiv, using Rotary network to help others
By Iryna Bushmina, District 2232 (Ukraine) Rotaract Representative
I left Kyiv in the first hours of the war. My sister, her husband, her 3-month-old baby and a cat were in the car. When we reached the border, men were already not allowed to leave the country, so I went on with my sister and a little nephew. We were five days in the car, six days until we got to Vienna.
We stayed for the night in different countries……………
B. Rotary’s network enables rapid humanitarian relief for Ukrainian refugees
By Rotary International
The crisis in Ukraine is having devastating consequences on civilians as families flee their homes. According to the United Nations, more than 2 million people, most of them women and children, have sought refuge in neighboring countries and across Europe, while about 1 million more people have been displaced within Ukraine.
Rotary and Rotaract clubs in Europe and around the world have taken swift action and are working with members nearby to provide food, water, medical equipment, and shelter for refugees.
Past President Garth Perkin from our club is raising funds for ShelterBox Australia. One of the best projects for disaster relief. No matter where it happens in the world.
As part of ShelterBox Larapinta 2022, over seven days, you’ll follow well-worn yet timeless red dirt tracks along the slopes of the West MacDonnell Ranges, immersed in the rich history of Australia’s First Peoples.
Beside winding rivers, across open plains, to the summit of Mount Sonder and into the shaded Ormiston Gorge – by day, you’ll conquer one of the world’s premier desert treks, enjoying breath taking historic landscapes made famous by Albert Namatjira’s paintings.
At night, you’ll camp under inky black skies filled with silver stars and fall asleep to the nocturnal sounds of the desert, inspired by the difference you’re making to the lives of families impacted by disaster and conflict.
I simply couldn’t resist this trek (mind you at the age of 79) as it starts on the 2nd of August which would have been my dear wife, Marg Perkin’s birthday.
Marg was the first female president of Coolamon Rotary club, and always passionate about helping others in need. She passed away last year after fighting cancer for 5 years so I feel this is a small tribute to her, yet for a great cause that she would be proud to support”.
Ukraine is on the mind as with everyone. Our Sunflowers for Ukraine initiative is taking off through Rotary. I met with the farmer Doug Bruckner from Collingullie on Tuesday Doug is donating half a tonne of sunflower seeds to my Rotary Club Coolamon. We are looking at the logistics and so far it is looking very feasible. Half a tonne of sunflower seeds! Anyone guess how many seeds that is? This is one way of packaging and 80 seeds in the bag works well, use a small scoop. The bag is about 100mm x 70mm they can be bought online in bulk at 2 cents each.
We have the art work for the cards that go in the bags if you need to print you own. Otherwise Quick print in Wagga Wagga can print them for you.
We have plenty of seeds available for mailing or collection from Ganmain. The bags and the cards are easy to produce. It is the filling of the bags that takes time and manpower. My estimate is that 10 good people can fill 100 bags with the card to the bag with say 40 seeds into each bag within an hour. That is 1,000 bags of seeds. Which is a good result all round. We have been approcahed by our Coolamon Central School to help fill the bags.
Now the answer to how many seeds in one kilogram:
I have counted the seeds from one sunflower which weighed 93 grams and I got 1,557 seeds. So 1kg of seeds would then yield 16,000 seeds and 500kgs gives us 8 million seeds enough to fill 200,000+ bags with 40 seeds per bag.
Once the seeds are harvested we will collect the seeds from Doug Bruckner of the Gnadbro Pastoral Company and they will be in one bulk bag weighing 500kgs. We will then package them into 1 kg bags enough to make up say 200 bags with 80 seeds per bag. NB the Yates seeds package had 30 seeds in it and cost $4 per packet so we can double the yield if we halve the number of seeds per bag!
Now we believe that the best way to obtain donations is by displaying teh seeds and the project in a display/donations box similar to this mock up we are using at the moment. They will cost $4.00 each plus postage.
My contact details are in the flyer below:
UPDATE ON THE SUNFLOWER SEEDS
The sunflower seeds are in the bin! Some photos from this morning’s harvest. Thanks so much Doug Bruckner you are a champion. We look forward to collecting your generous donation for Ukraine.
Ready to go!
L-R John Glassford Doug Bruckner and Albert Suidgeest
President Albert Suidgeest being interviewed by ABC Riverina
In the bin
The seeds are now in Ganmain ready for posting. Sunflower seeds for Ukraine update. Yesterday one of our Coolamon Rotary members Garth Perkin and I went out to The Rock to collect the seeds. Doug Bruckner who donated the seeds was there to load us with as many seeds as we needed. Based on the 10 kgs. I got last week, we only loaded what we needed. The bag was heavy, the two of us could not lift it. So we are up and away and next week I will send seeds out to those who have asked for them. Thanks again to Doug Bruckner of Gnadbro Pastoral.
PP Paul Weston was in the chair this week as President Albert is still away on holidays. Fourteen members were in attendance, and three were apologies: Leslie, Albert and Mary. It was a busy evening! The following subjects were discussed:
Grahame would like the Coolamon Archway committee to meet at Lions Park at 6.00 pm before the meeting on the 14th March. Committee members include Grahame, Alex, Garth, Neil and JG.
Neil spoke about the illness of Mark who puts up our flags in Lions Park. It was agreed that Ian J. would send some flowers to Mark and wish him a speedy recovery.
Grahame suggests that the club supports the flood appeal being conducted by RAWCS at the moment. This is set for discussion at the next board meeting. Ian Jennings advised the club that his sister who lives in Lismore lost everything in the floods and is not insured.
Daryl Breust spoke about the Scott Reardon and Vanessa Low night on Saturday April 2nd. Daryl asked for help in promoting the event via social media. John G. will post the news to all of our media outlets including printing 40 A4 flyers to be placed in all the shops. Daryl reminded the members present that the funds raised go to our hospital, Allawah Lodge and the Kindra Park Trustees. Details of the night are listed in this bulletin.
Daryl then spoke about the upcoming Gears and Beers where we are looking for 17 volunteers to man important sections in our area. Daryl said that so far the Wollundry RC has received around 1,600 entries including 1234 for the Dirty 130 and amazing result. We are needed on Sunday 27th March and Daryl will have details at the next meeting where Phil Macintosh will be coming along to outline the details.
John G brought the members up to date on Sunflowers for Ukraine. So far after only 5 days since the idea was first created we have 3 Australian districts who want to support the project. As well several clubs have contacted John including Forbes, Nowra, Young, Wagga Wagga Sunrise and Bundaberg. We also have the support from our stand in IPDG Michael Moore, DGE Geraldine Rurenga and DGND Rob Uhl. JG advised the members that he will have a presence at the District conference in Temora after an invite by our IPDG Michael Moore. JG will be visiting the sunflower farmer this week.
DIARY
Monday, 14th March – Regular meeting visit of Phil Mackintosh from the Wollundry RC to go through regarding our involvement with supporting the Gears and Beers event on the 27th March,. Coolamon Sport & Rec Club, 6:30 for 7 pm.
Wednesday, 16th March – CRC Board meeting. Coolamon Sport & Rec Club, 7 pm.
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.
To all our Internet users: please start sharing the CRC Facebook page, our website and the booking form links which will have all the details for this night.
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.
JUST FOR LAUGHS
THE PUZZLER
Answer to the last Puzzler:
From top left: forehead, good looking, waterfall, wake up, tuna fish, foreign language, seahorse, middle aged, broken heart, seesaw, missing you, teabag
This week’s challenge: What can be driven although it doesn’t have wheels, sliced but stays whole?
ROTARY NEWS
1. An evening with Paralympians Scott Reardon and Vanessa Low
To make the Internet work for this very important event for our Coolamon community please share the following links that apply to you and how you use the Internet:
John Glassford continues to get a lot of interest on an idea to support the people of Ukraine.
John met up with Doug Bruckner from the Gnadbro Pastoral Company on the Berry Jerry Station.
Just reporting in met with Doug Bruckner from Gnadbro Pastoral Company or Berry Jerry Station. What a magnificent property and very large one on the Murrumbidgee with magnificent red gum trees.
Doug now knows what we need and he suggests that 500kgs would be more than enough to get going and he would have more if needed. He is happy to donate the 500kg and get more if we need them however I doubt it. Right now I am told that sunflower seeds are hard to come by.
He sprays them this week with a herbicide to speed up drying and will be harvesting in 4 weeks time approx. 100 hectares.
Doug suggests that we take a 500kg pack. Doug will have the seed cleaned. Once we have it home, wherever that might be, we have a forklift here. Then we can look at what size bags we need to send in bulk to the various clubs maybe 2 kgs. would be more than enough.
Now the challenge: how many sunflower seeds in one kg? I have no idea however it is important as it will determine the number of seeds per packet.
Vanessa Low and Scott Reardon are the power couple of Australia’s Paralympic team with a love story that traversed years of long-distance romance as each followed their journeys following train and tractor accidents when they were young.
Eight years after Reardon first approached Low at an athletics meeting in London, the Australian sprint star can take some credit for convincing his now-wife to switch allegiances from Germany to Australia for the upcoming Paralympics, which begin next week in Tokyo.
PP Grahame Miles was in the chair this week as President Albert is away on holidays. Grahame welcomed 18 of our members and the following guests: Ann Baker (Howard’s partner), Heather and Ken Parker from Adelaide (guests of Anne) and Ken Plane from Marrar (a guest of Brian Pattison).
Discussion included:
The Temora Conference BBQ on Friday 18th March has the following volunteers in Daryl Breust, Paul Weston, JG, Ian Jennings, Dick Jennings, Don Dyce, Neil Munro and Brian Pattison. Wonderful support. Setup time is 5.00 pm at the Temora Rural Museum.
Grahame thanked the 11 representatives of our club (8 members and 3 partners) who attended the opening of the Batlow Men’s Shed on the 25th.
The members learnt that Hannah, who has been serving our food for some time now, has been accepted at CSU for her nursing studies. We all wished Hannah the very best for her future, although Hannah says that she will be still working at the club on Mondays.
Grahame raised the idea of a welcome archway to Coolamon. A committee made up of Grahame, Alex Thompson, Garth Perkin, Neil Munro and JG was formed to look at the feasibility of doing this.
Paul Weston spoke briefly on the Coolamon Community Chronicle going online. Paul is looking into copyright issues of posting photos and other content.
John Bond spoke on the payout costs for the CCC printer and the possibility of buying the printer (or a faster one) outright.
Henk Hulsman spoke about the theft of the Australian flag from Lions Park.
Dick was born in Temora and has a bother and two sisters. His mother was Dorothy and his father was George.
Dick married Maree Thomas and has 4 children: Katrina, Tracy, Natalie and Richard. Richard is the 5th generation to be farming the property since Dick’s great grandfather settled in Coolamon.
All that Dick ever wanted to do was to be a farmer. Dick attended Coolamon Central School and then moved on to the Canberra Grammar boarding school to further his education.
Favourite colour: green; favourite actor: Hugh Grant; and favourite movie: 4 Weddings and a Funeral.
Dick has not travelled extensively, but the favourite country he has visited is Vietnam.
The farm is now in the control of Dick’s son Richard and they have not had any stock for 10 years; all the land is now being cropped. Dick has truly earned a rest, however he still works as hard as ever.
Dick joined the Rotary Club of Coolamon in October 1979 and has been a member 42. Dick was our president in 1986/1987 and 2013/2014.
Dick can always be counted on for advice and is always one of the first to put his hand up to help our work. We look forward to many more years with Dick as a member of our club. Thank you Dick Jennings for your service and for sharing your very interesting life story!
DIARY
Sunday 6th March – Clean Up Australia Day. 9.00-11.00 am. Volunteers Needed go to:
Saturday, 2nd April – Sportsman’s Night featuring SCOTT REARDON – The CRC Sportsman’s Committee have organised a fundraising function featuring local Paralympian Scott Reardon. The event will take place in conjunction with the Coolamon Football Club at Kindra Park. Time 6.00-10.00 pm.
To all our Facebook users please start sharing the CRC Facebook page which will have all the details for this night uploaded soon.:
Saturday 21st May 2022, D9705 Club Development Seminar – West Wyalong ALL 2022-2023 Board Members need to attend; starting time 9.00am. {Was called the District Assembly}.
Monday 4th July 2022 CRC 51st Change Over Dinner at the Sports Club.
JUST FOR LAUGHS
THE PUZZLER
Answer to the last Puzzler: There are still 25 petals, although only 19 of them are still on the flowers.
This week’s challenge: What common words/phrases do the following pictograms represent?
ROTARY NEWS
1. WATER, SANITATION & HYGIENE
WASH Rotary Action Group supports and ensures sustainable long-lasting clean water, sanitation, and hygiene programs to communities in need.
About Us
The WASH Rotary Action Group was formed in 2007 by a group of Rotarians, recognized by Rotary International, and focused on WASH projects. Since then it has facilitated many hundreds of projects – helping clubs find partners, ensuring sustainability, stressing the importance of a needs-driven approach, and developing best practices. We encourage a holistic, integrated approach in which water is not the end in itself, but is rather the means to a better life and livelihood in the community. Most importantly, WASH Rotary Action Group links water and sanitation to improved hygiene, better health, and empowerment of the community – especially women, irrigation and agriculture, education and literacy and, ultimately, child mortality.
Calling all Rotarians
As a Rotary Action Group, WASH invites Rotarians from around the world to join them and engage in the battle to provide safe water, sanitation and hygiene for all. Any Rotarian interested in supporting us can get involved with our activities and be Linked to global WASH assistance efforts.
John Glassford has started getting interest on an idea to support the people of Ukraine. So far after only 48 hours the offer of support is significant and our Rotary International Director of Zone 8 Jessie Harman is in total support:
Hi John,
I’ll do what I can to promote it. If you can get some FB/social media activity going, I’ll share it wherever I can. I can also send some emails.
The TRF Trustees have also agreed to prioritise disaster response grant applications which support districts affected by the Ukraine crisis and to enable districts to divert unspent DDF to the TRF Disaster Response Fund for this purpose. It’s not public knowledge yet, but will be shortly. This will also complement your great efforts.
Thanks for caring John,
Regards
Jessie
The idea or the germ of the idea can be found in this document:
