Week of 7 November

This week’s highlight was our AGM.  The following directors were elected to serve on the board during President-elect Paul Weston’s year: Club administration, Don Dyce; Foundation, Alex Thompson; Membership, Wayne Lewis; Public Relations, Myffy Collette; Service Projects, Daryl Breust; Vocational Service, Ian Jennings. Henk Hulsman will continue on as Treasurer, and John Bond as secretary.  President-elect for 2018-2019 is Daryl Breust.  Congratulations to all.  Onward and upward!

 

Calling all aprons!

Most of our Rotary aprons have disappeared from the food van.  If you know the whereabouts of any of them, their confidential return would be appreciated.

 

 

 

 

Uncertainty about the future of the Sport & Rec Club

Those of you that attended the extraordinary meeting of the Coolamon Sport & Rec Club this past Sunday would know that the club is in a precarious financial position, in part at least because of possible fraud (the matter is under investigation by the police).  Regardless of the cause, the Sport & Rec Club is facing a very large debt that must be resolved in the near future if they are to remain viable.  We will be discussing what role our club should play, if any, to assist with the financial bailout required to keep the Sport & Rec club afloat at our next club assembly, which is scheduled for 21 November.  Please be there to make your opinion known!

 

Shakeup in the land of Uncle Sam

I can’t let this week go by without commenting on the results of the presidential election in the US, which was held this past Tuesday (which you couldn’t have missed unless you’ve been living under a rock or were able to totally avoid mass media).  The result was predicted by exactly no one, and is bound to have profound impacts on the world, much less the U S of A.  Let’s just hope that reason prevails, and that smart people are enlisted to help in the day-to-day running of the country. Those that wanted a change certainly got one, but I’m not sure this change is for the better!  The violent street protests against the election result are a bit of a worry, but hopefully not a sign of things to come.  Only time will tell.

 

On the lighter side

The Puzzler

What country name is hidden in the following sentence?

As defendants, we deny all involvement in the unscrupulous dealings which have come to light in the recent government investigation.

Answer to last week’s puzzler: The two squares were exactly the same shade of grey.  The optical illusion arises from the neighbouring squares, which trick the eye into thinking that the one surrounded by white squares is darker than the one surrounded by dark squares.  You can prove this by using a colour picker in an image editor such as Photoshop, or looking at the squares while masking out the surrounding squares.  Below is visual proof (the two grey stripes are uniform in colour matching that of the two squares in question).

Diary

Monday, 14 November: Regular meeting*.  Guest speaker: Rep from Kurrajong-Warratah Recycling.  Coolamon Sport & Rec Club. 6:30 for 7 pm.

Monday, 21 November: Club assembly.  Special focus on the future of the Sport & Rec Club.  Coolamon Sport & Rec Club. 6:30 for 7 pm.

Saturday, 26 November: Street Raffle.

Monday, 28 November: Bowls Night in lieu of regular meeting.  Coolamon Sport & Rec Club. 6:30 for 7 pm.

Saturday, 10 December: Christmas Party.  Date subject to change pending progress of the harvest.

25-26 Feb, 2017: Presidents-Elect Training (Paul Weston), Young.

17-19 March, 2017: District 9700 Conference, Orange.

30 April, 2017: District 9700 Assembly (All Directors), Young.

10-14 June, 2017: Rotary International Convention, Atlanta, GA, USA.

*Partners and Guests Night

Apologies for Monday meetings: call Ian Jennings on 0428 492 157  BY FRIDAY 12:00 pm.

 Week of 1 November

It was a slow week in Coolamon, so this week’s bulletin will be a bit brief.  Our weekly meeting was a club assembly, so no guest speaker this week.  The major topic of consideration this week is identifying candidates for the board and president-elect for next Rotary year.  Our AGM is on Monday, so if you’re interested in serving on the board, please make your interest known to President Don or one of the board members.

 

Working bees this Saturday

The last Moo Poo working bee will be on Saturday morning at Ted Hutcheon’s place starting at 8:00.  In addition, the backyard at the Parkes residence is getting a bit overgrown, so several club members will be heading over on Saturday arvo after the Moo Poo working bee with whipper snippers and other trimmers in hand to get things under control (mowers will not be useful because the vegetation is too overgrown).  Feel free to come to one or both of these important club activities.

 

Wanna bowl?

The Coolamon Sport & Rec Club will once again be hosting pre-Christmas business house  bowls again in November and December.  We had enough interest last year to field two Rotary teams; if you’re interested, let Henk know and he’ll get us sorted.  Registration is $20 per team, and there’s a charge of $20 per week divided by the team members.  There are prizes on offer each week for the top scoring teams, and a very nice prize (typically a ham) for each member of the top-scoring team at the end of the comp.

 

On the lighter side

The Puzzler

This week’s puzzler is an optical one.  Have a good look at the following drawing:

Which of the squares labelled “A” and “B” is darker?

Answer to last week’s puzzler: The words that link each pair of words in order: 1 – key, 2 – deck, 3 – boot, 4 – pupil, 5 – case, 6 – bank.

 

Diary

Monday, 7 November: AGM.  Coolamon Sport & Rec Club. 6:30 for 7 pm.

Wednesday, 10 November: Bingo. Neil (Captain), Daryl, John N, Leslie.

Monday, 14 November: Regular meeting*.  Guest speaker: Rep from Kurrajong-Warratah Recycling.  Coolamon Sport & Rec Club. 6:30 for 7 pm.

Saturday, 26 November: Street Raffle.

Monday, 28 November: Bowls Night in lieu of regular meeting.  Coolamon Sport & Rec Club. 6:30 for 7 pm.

Saturday, 10 December: Christmas Party.  Details to come.

25-26 Feb, 2017: Presidents-Elect Training (Paul Weston), Young.

17-19 March, 2017: District 9700 Conference, Orange.

30 April, 2017: District 9700 Assembly (All Directors), Young.

10-14 June, 2017: Rotary International Convention, Atlanta, GA, USA.

*Partners and Guests Night

Apologies for Monday meetings: call Ian Jennings on 0428 492 157  BY FRIDAY 12:00 pm.

Meeting of 24 October

This week’s meeting was a special one featuring a visit from Butch and Lynn Leibenberg from Hout Bay, South Africa.  Butch is a member of the Rotary Club of Hout Bay, our sister club, and was instrumental in getting Coolamon House up and running.  Coolamon House, for those that don’t know, is a clinic in Hout Bay that ministers to the needs of HIV/AIDS victims in South Africa, especially women with young children.  Butch gave a most interesting presentation describing the political/economic situation in South Africa and the current status of HIV/AIDS in that country.  The situation is rather grim, but the one bit of good news is that the incidence of AIDS in South Africa has remained level over the past few years, unlike other countries in Africa where the disease continues to grow.  Visiting Rotarian and PDG Fred Lonergan thanked Butch and Lynn for gracing our club with their presence, and thanked Butch for his presentation with a kangaroo-hide coin pouch.  The evening concluded with a special presentation of a “custom-made hard-hat” (read ice-cream container) for John Glassford, who suffered a nasty cut to the head on a recent construction project when an errant 4 by 2 landed on his noggin.

 

Moo Poo sales

Sales of Moo Poo have been down this year, no doubt because of the lack of good weather for getting out in the garden.  Things are turning around as spring advances, so sales should be brisk on Saturday as bargain-hunters make their way through the streets of Coolamon as they go from garage sale to garage sale during Coolamon’s Whole Town Garage Sale.  Rostered on to assist with sales at Delta Ag are Wayne, Steve, Dary, and Ian J from 8:00-10:00 and Ted and Bondy from 10:00-12:00.  We can use some additional help from 10:00-12:00, so feel free to stop by and help the boys on the later shift.

 

Hospital Fête

Ian Durham, Daryl Breust, Henk Hulsman and Don Dyce man the chocolate wheel at the Coolamon-Ganmain Hospital Fête, which was held in Lions Park on Saturday, 22 October.  The cool weather and brisk winds made for low attendance on the day, but a fair sum was still raised to help the hospital (final numbers are not available as yet).  Also helping on the day were John Bond, John Nulty, and Paul Weston.

 

On the lighter side

Subject: Tech support

A woman wrote to tech support, and their reply is a stroke of genius. This young woman is no different from the rest of us, both family happiness and heartbreak are familiar to her. She is simply looking for an answer to her questions. How do you maintain a relationship? How do you bring back the excitement of the first date?

She sent an email to the tech support to find her answers. She sent the letter as a joke and only remembered about it when she suddenly received an email notification with a response.

Dear Tech Support,
Last year I upgraded from Boyfriend 5.0 to Husband 1.0 and noticed a distinct slowdown in overall system performance, particularly in the flower and jewellery applications, which operated flawlessly under Boyfriend 5.0.

In addition, Husband 1.0 uninstalled many other valuable programs, such as Romance 9.5 and Personal Attention 6.5, and then installed undesirable programs such as AFL 5.0, NRL 3.0 and Golf Clubs 4.1.

Conversation 8.0 no longer runs, and House Cleaning 2.6 simply crashes the system.
Please note that I have tried running Nagging 5.3 to fix these problems, but to no avail.  What can I do?

Signed,  Desperate

Dear Desperate,
First keep in mind, Boyfriend 5.0 is an Entertainment Package, while Husband 1.0 is an operating system.

Please enter command: I thought you loved me.html and try to download Tears 6.2 and do not forget to install the Guilt 3.0 update. If that application works as designed, Husband 1.0 should then automatically run the applications Jewellery 2.0 and Flowers 3.5.

However, remember, overuse of the above application can cause Husband 1.0 to default to Grumpy Silence 2.5, Happy Hour 7.0 or Beer 6.1. Please note that Beer 6.1 is a very bad program that will download the Snoring Loudly beta.

Whatever you do, DO NOT, under any circumstances, install Mother-In-Law 1.0 (it runs a virus in the background that will eventually seize control of all your system resources.)

In summary, Husband 1.0 is a great program, but it does have limited memory and cannot learn new applications quickly.  You might consider buying additional software to improve memory and performance. We recommend Cooking 3.0 and Hot Lingerie 7.7.

Good Luck!

 

The Puzzler

Missing connections

The task for this week’s puzzler is to come up with a word that connects the two words in each pair listed below.  There’s one word that is strongly associated with both words in each pair, but you might come up with another.  Answers will appear next week.

1. LOCK — PIANO

2. SHIP — CARD

3. COWBOY — CAR

4. SCHOOL — EYE

5. PILLOW — COURT

6. RIVER — MONEY

Answer to last week’s puzzler: The light would take 200 years to travel to earth and back from a planet located 100 light years away.

 

Diary

Friday, 28 October: Capture Coolamon Shire Photo Contest Opening Night.  Up To Date Store from 6:30 pm.

Saturday, 29 October: Whole of Town Garage Sale (Coolamon). Moo Poo sales at Delta Ag, 8:00 am – 12:00 pm.

Monday, 31 October: Club assembly.  Coolamon Sport & Rec Club. 6:30 for 7 pm.

Monday, 7 November: AGM.  Coolamon Sport & Rec Club. 6:30 for 7 pm.

Wednesday, 10 November: Bingo. Neil (Captain), Daryl, John N, Leslie.

Monday, 14 November: Regular meeting*.  Guest speaker: Rep from Kurrajong-Warratah Recycling.  Coolamon Sport & Rec Club. 6:30 for 7 pm.

Saturday, 26 November: Street Raffle.

Monday, 28 November: Bowls Night in lieu of regular meeting.  Coolamon Sport & Rec Club. 6:30 for 7 pm.

Saturday, 10 December: Christmas Party.  Details to come.

25-26 Feb, 2017: Presidents-Elect Training (Paul Weston), Young.

17-19 March, 2017: District 9700 Conference, Orange.

30 April, 2017: District 9700 Assembly (All Directors), Young.

10-14 June, 2017: Rotary International Convention, Atlanta, GA, USA.

*Partners and Guests Night

Apologies for Monday meetings: call Ian Jennings on 0428 492 157  BY FRIDAY 12:00 pm.

Meeting of 17 October

This week’s meeting was a fellowship gathering featuring a guest speaker. Several club members served barbecued steaks and salads those in attendance.  Special thanks go to Heather McKinley, who made the salads, and Daryl Breust, who managed to cook a large quantity of steaks to perfection.  Henk Hulsman and Dave McKinley were also instrumental in pulling off this self-catered event.

After our meal, we were treated to a spellbinding talk by Mel Mayer, a Coolamon resident who recounted his experiences with the radio and recording industry in Australia.  Most people know Mel for his activities in providing the sound system and music at local events, but most are probably unaware of his fascinating story.  Mel started out as a sound effects man with one of the first radio studios to produce soap operas (“soapies”) when these first came on the scene in Australia.   Mel described some of the tricks of the trade, and the little details that made these programs so enchanting.  In addition to these programs, Mel was involved with the production of heaps of advertisements, many of which were familiar to older members of the audience (the most famous of which was an advert for Aeroplane Jelly).  Mel got to rub elbows with many well-known artists over the years, notably singers such as Frankie Lane and Mitch Miller.  Mel also provided insights into the evolution of recording media over the decades, ranging from wax cylinders through 45 and LP records, 8-track and cassette tapes, ending with mini-discs and compact discs.  Mel still works three days per week compiling recordings for SONY after 50 years in the business.  Mel entertained us for well over an hour and could have gone on much longer except the club needed to shut down!  John Nulty thanked Mel for a most interesting presentation, presenting him with a coin pouch as a token of appreciation. It was an evening to remember.

 

Hospital Fête this Saturday

Members are reminded that the Coolamon-Ganmain Hospital Fête will be happening from 10:00-2:00 in Lions Park in Coolamon.  A number of members are rostered on from 9:00 to help set up; this includes Don, Dave, John B, Alex, Henk and Paul.   Don, Dave, Henk and Paul will continue on from 10:00-11:30, and Daryl and Ian D are rostered on from 11:30-2:00.  We’re a bit light for the last shift, so please put up your hand to help!

 

On the lighter side

A little girl was talking to her teacher about whales.

The teacher said it was physically impossible for a whale to swallow a human because even though it was a very large mammal its throat was very small.

The little girl stated that Jonah was swallowed by a whale.

Irritated, the teacher reiterated that a whale could not swallow a human; it was physically impossible.

The little girl said, ‘When I get to heaven I will ask Jonah’.

The teacher asked, ‘What if Jonah went to hell?’

The little girl replied, ‘Then you ask him’.

 

The Puzzler

OK, we need an easy puzzler this week because the last few have proved to be very challenging.  Here goes: How long does it take for light to travel to the earth and back from a planet that is located 100 light years away?

Answer to last week’s puzzler: The bus is travelling to the right.  We know this because the door, which is on the left side of buses in Australia, is not visible.  Therefore, we must be looking at the right (driver’s) side of the bus, which means the bus must be travelling from left to right.  Simples!

 

Diary

Saturday, 22 October: Hospital Fete. Lions Park (Coolamon), 10:00 am – 2:00 pm.

Monday, 24 October: Regular meeting* and visit from Butch Liebenberg and partner from Hout Bay Rotary, South Africa.  Coolamon Sport & Rec Club. 6:30 for 7 pm.

Monday, 31 October: Club assembly.  Coolamon Sport & Rec Club. 6:30 for 7 pm.

Monday, 7 November: AGM.  Coolamon Sport & Rec Club. 6:30 for 7 pm.

Wednesday, 10 November: Bingo. Neil (Captain), Daryl, John N, Leslie.

Monday, 14 November: Regular meeting*.  Guest speaker: Rep from Kurrajong-Warratah Recycling.  Coolamon Sport & Rec Club. 6:30 for 7 pm.

Saturday, 26 November: Street Raffle.

Monday, 28 November: Bowls Night in lieu of regular meeting.  Coolamon Sport & Rec Club. 6:30 for 7 pm.

Saturday, 10 December: Christmas Party.  Details to come.

25-26 Feb, 2017: Presidents-Elect Training (Paul Weston), Young.

17-19 March, 2017: District 9700 Conference, Orange.

30 April, 2017: District 9700 Assembly (All Directors), Young.

10-14 June, 2017: Rotary International Convention, Atlanta, GA, USA.

*Partners and Guests Night

Apologies for Monday meetings: call Ian Jennings on 0428 492 157  BY FRIDAY 12:00 pm.

 

Meeting of 10 October

This week’s regular meeting featured a talk by guest speaker John Piltz on the drug problem in Coolamon and what’s being done about it.  John is a Coolamon resident and has been president of the youth footy program in town for many years, and is one of the founding members of the Coolamon Community Drug Action Team (CDAT).  CDATs have been organised in numerous towns throughout the state to battle the problem of drug abuse.  Coolamon CDAT was established several years ago in response to emerging problems with drug abuse among younger members of the community.  As John explained, the members of Coolamon CDAT are not experts on drug abuse, but facilitate the dissemination of information on the problem and look for solutions to the problem.  They receive an annual modest contribution from the state government to fund their programs, which they leverage to get more “bang from their buck.”  They have a number of interesting programs planned for the coming year, and it certainly seems like a group that Rotary needs to support.  Neil thanked John for his presentation and the excellent work that CDAT is doing in the community and presented him with a kangaroo-hide change pouch in appreciation.

The evening concluded with a thanks to the journalism club and their advisor, Beth Batcheldor, for their great job on the newspaper, a quick game of heads and tails (which was won by John G) and an entertaining fine session led by Sargent-at-Arms Ted.  Pictured below are Myffy and Bernie (at left and third from left) with journalism club members Maddie, Beth (advisor), Minnie and Sophia.  The aspiring journalists were curious to see how a Rotary meeting was run, so it was great to welcome them to our meeting.

Trivia night benefit for Owen Hawthorn and family

Nearly 400 residents of the shire packed into St Michael’s hall on Friday night to participate in a trivia night fundraiser for Owen Hawthorn and his family following the loss of his wife, Narelle, to terminal illness.  The event had been planned while Narelle was still alive, but sadly, she passed away early last week.  Community members showed support by participating in a trivia competition which saw both Coolamon Rotary tables in the thick of it, but in the end, the table led by Wayne Lewis won the competition.  A silent auction went on through the evening, and a live auction followed the trivia, which had offerings from the mundane to the remarkable.  Coolamonites were extremely generous on the night, with tens of thousands of dollars raised for the cause.  It was heartwarming to see the heartfelt support and generosity of residents of the shire toward a local family in need, and it was great to see our club play a part in it.

 

On the lighter side

Definition of European Heaven: German engineering, French cuisine and British humour.

Definition of European Hell: French engineering, German humour and British “cuisine”.
The Puzzler

Here’s one you may have seen, but we need an easy one after last week’s puzzler which left many readers baffled.  Which way is the bus below travelling?  96% of first-graders in Australia got it right!

Answer to last week’s puzzler: The three teenagers with Chris are his sisters!

 

Diary

Saturday, 15 October: Moo Poo working bee (rain or shine!). Ted’s place, 8:00 am.

Sunday, 16 October: President’s Forum and D9700 AGM, Young.

Monday, 17 October: Regular meeting.  Guest speaker: Mel Mayer.  Coolamon Sport & Rec Club. 6:30 for 7 pm.

Wednesday, 19 October: Board meeting.  Dyce/Farmer residence. 7 pm.

Saturday, 22 October: Hospital Fete. Details to come.

Monday, 24 October: Regular meeting* and visit from Butch Liebenberg and partner from Hout Bay Rotary, South Africa.  Coolamon Sport & Rec Club. 6:30 for 7 pm.

Monday, 31 October: Club assembly.  Coolamon Sport & Rec Club. 6:30 for 7 pm.

Monday, 7 November: AGM.  Coolamon Sport & Rec Club. 6:30 for 7 pm.

Wednesday, 10 November: Bingo. Neil (Captain), Daryl, John N, Leslie.

Saturday, 26 November: Street Raffle.

25-26 Feb, 2017: Presidents-Elect Training (Paul Weston), Young.

17-19 March, 2017: District 9700 Conference, Orange.

30 April, 2017: District 9700 Assembly (All Directors), Young.

10-14 June, 2017: Rotary International Convention, Atlanta, GA, USA.

*Partners and Guests Night

Apologies for Monday meetings: call Ian Jennings on 0428 492 157  BY FRIDAY 12:00 pm.

Over the last weekend we lost a fellow Rotarian.  PP Bert Browning a Paul Harris Fellow and one of the longest serving Rotarians in the Rotary Club of Coolamon.  Here are a few photos of Bert at work for the local  community of Coolamon.

President Don Dyce and all of the Rotarians and partners in our club send our deepest condolences and wishes to Bert’s family.  Bert will be remembered fondly by all who worked with him on a Rotary BBQ.  Bert will also be remembered by the patrons and members of the Coolamon Sports and Recreation Club.

R.I.P. Bert Browning PHF.

ONE piece of tomato ONE Piece of beetroot and NO butter!

 

Bert we will miss you!

Meeting of 26 September

In lieu of our weekly meeting, we visited the E H Graham Centre field site to walk through Leslie Weston’s crop and weed plots.   Coolamon Rotarians making the tour were Don Dyce, John Bond, John Glassford (and partner Susan) and Paul Weston.  The plots were in fantastic shape because of the abundant winter rain and the fastidious groundskeeping by Leslie’s field staff.  We saw plots that demonstrated the impact of varieties of legumes, canola and wheat on weed growth.  This differences were quite striking and will provide useful information for growers looking to limit growth of weeds with reduced herbicide usage.  Approximately 30 visitors were on hand to view the plots and learn about alternative cultural practices that require lower inputs of herbicide.  After the tour, we retired to the NaLSH (National Life Sciences Hub) at the CSU campus, where we saw some of the laboratory facilities that Leslie uses in conducting her lab-based research and were treated to some fabulous cheese and sausage nibblies.  It was a nice evening and a rare opportunity to see a different sort of working place.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At top, serious Rotarians John G, John B and Don D ponder the deeper meaning of life.  The middle pic above shows the range of visitors to the twilight tour, while Leslie (at bottom) explains what visitors are meant to see.

 

Don’t forget Gears and Beers!

Gears and Beers will be going off on Sunday, so all club members are reminded to show up at their designated posts on Sunday morning.  Bring your hi-vis vest if you’ve got one, and don’t forget to set your clocks ahead one hour on Sunday morning!

On the lighter side

The vision of youth

A kindergarten teacher was observing her classroom of children while they were drawing. She would occasionally walk around to see each child’s work.  As she got to one little girl who was working diligently, she asked what the drawing was.

The girl replied, ‘I’m drawing God.’

The teacher paused and said, ‘But no one knows what God looks like.’

Without looking up from her drawing, the girl replied, ‘They will in a minute.’

The Puzzler

A man who lives on the tenth floor of an apartment building takes the lift down to the first floor every morning and goes to work. In the evening, when he returns, he goes to his floor directly if it is a rainy day or if there are other people in the lift. Otherwise, he goes to the seventh floor and walks up three flights of stairs to his apartment.  Can you explain why?

Answer to last week’s puzzler: The population will fill the dish at 12:44 because the population doubles every minute; at 12:43 the dish was half full, so it will be full one minute later.  The trick to this one is to disregard the past history of the dish and focus on the future!

 

Diary

Sunday, 2 October: Gears & Beers. Contact Don Dyce if you’re not sure where/when you’re meant to be posted.

Monday, 3 October: No meeting (public holiday).

Friday, 7 October: Trivia Night benefit for Owen & Narelle Hawthorn.  St. Michael’s School.  Watch for details.

Monday, 10 October: Regular meeting*.  Coolamon Sport & Rec Club. 6:30 for 7 pm.  Guest speaker: John Piltz (topic: the local drug problem).

Sunday, 16 October: President’s Forum and D9700 AGM, Young.

Monday, 17 October: Regular meeting.  Coolamon Sport & Rec Club. 6:30 for 7 pm.

Wednesday, 19 October: Board meeting.  Dyce/Farmer residence. 7 pm.

Saturday, 22 October: Hospital Fete. Details to come.

Monday, 24 October: Visit from Butch Liebenberg and partner from Hout Bay Rotary, South Africa.  Coolamon Sport & Rec Club. 6:30 for 7 pm.

Monday, 7 November: AGM.  Coolamon Sport & Rec Club. 6:30 for 7 pm.

Saturday, 26 November: Street Raffle.

25-26 Feb, 2017: Presidents-Elect Training (Paul Weston), Young.

17-19 March, 2017: District 9700 Conference, Orange.

30 April, 2017: District 9700 Assembly (All Directors), Young.

10-14 June, 2017: Rotary International Convention, Atlanta, GA, USA.

---

*Partners and Guests Night

Apologies for Monday meetings: call Ian Jennings on 0428 492 157  BY FRIDAY 12:00 pm.

Meeting of 19 September

The focus of this meeting was John Glassford’s presentation that will be made to clubs throughout the district as John prepares for his year as DG in 2018-19.  John presented some sobering statistics on the state of several endangered species, mainly white rhino, elephants and orangutans.  The number of white rhino and elephants continue to dwindle because of poachers who kill the animals solely for their horns or tusks, respectively.  The situation with orangutans was similarly grim, but primarily because of removal of habitat as oil palms plantations dominate the landscape.  On a brighter note, the number of mountain gorillas has increased in recent years, mainly because the locals have learned that they can make more money from tourists than from ashtrays made from gorilla feet.  RAGES, the Rotary Action Group for Endangered Species, co-founded by John, is attempting to increase awareness of the threat to endangered species and to help lessen the problem.

The rest of John’s presentation was taken up with a survey assessing members’ knowledge of Rotary District 9700 and their use of D9700 electronic resources.  The meeting concluded with a meat tray raffle, which was won by Helen Lewis.

[For more information on RAGES, have a look at the RAGES facebook page.]

 

Opening of Kindra Bike & Walking Track

The Kindra Bike & Walking Track was officially opened by Mayor John Seymour on Saturday, 17 September.  The track is an initiative of Coolamon Rotary, spearheaded by Ian Jennings and financially assisted by a district grant from D9700.  The track winds through woodland in the Kindra National Forest, and has been designed to have minimal impact on the native flora and fauna.  The Coolamon Shire has been supportive of the project and has contributed in-kind support that has helped make the dream a reality.  Attendees of the opening ceremony were welcomed by Aunty Gail Clark, and heard brief speeches by Ian Jennings, John Seymour, and club president Don Dyce.  A ribbon cutting ceremony was followed by a sausage sizzle hosted by Coolamon Rotary, ably assisted by Henk Hulsman, Dick Jennings, Daryl Breust, and Don Dyce.

 

On the lighter side

Outsmarted

A farmer was frustrated with people stealing watermelons from his melon patch, so he came up with a clever deterrent.  He simply placed a sign facing the road that read “One of these melons has been poisoned.” His ploy worked well until one day, when he saw that someone had added at the bottom of the sign “Now there are two.”

 

The Puzzler

A Petri dish has a healthy colony of bacteria. Once a minute, every bacterium divides into two. The colony started as a single cell at noon. At exactly 12:43 (43 minutes later) the Petri dish was half full.  At what time will the dish be full?

Answer to last week’s puzzler: Turn two of the switches on, and then turn one off after several minutes.  Then go up to the attic.  The lamp that is lit is obviously wired to the switch that you left on, and the lamp that is off and cool to the touch is wired to the switch that had been left off.  The lamp that is off but warm to the touch is wired to the switch that was turned on and then off before you left for the attic!

 

Diary

Saturday, 24 September: Moo Poo working bee.  Postponed because of excessive recent rain.

Sunday, 25 September: Visit from Griffith Avanti.  11:00 tour of Coolamon Cheese followed by visits to local attractions and 1:00 BBQ at Don Dyce/Sally Farmer residence (6 Loughnan Street, Coolamon).

Monday, 26 September: CSU Field Plot Twilight Tour (in lieu of weekly meeting).  Grahame Centre Field Site, cnr Wagga Road & Prices Road, 5-7 pm.

Sunday, 2 October: Gears & Beers. Stay tuned for details!

Monday, 3 October: No meeting (public holiday).

Friday, 7 October: Trivia Night benefit for Owen & Narelle Hawthorn.  St. Michael’s School.  Watch for details.

Monday, 10 October: Regular meeting*.  Coolamon Sport & Rec Club. 6:30 for 7 pm.  Guest speaker: John Piltz (topic: the local drug problem).

Sunday, 16 October: President’s Forum and D9700 AGM, Young.

Monday, 17 October: Regular meeting.  Coolamon Sport & Rec Club. 6:30 for 7 pm.

Wednesday, 19 October: Board meeting.  Dyce/Farmer residence. 7 pm.

Saturday, 22 October: Hospital Fete. Details to come.

Monday, 24 October: Visit from Butch Liebenberg and partner from Hout Bay Rotary, South Africa.  Coolamon Sport & Rec Club. 6:30 for 7 pm.

Monday, 7 November: AGM.  Coolamon Sport & Rec Club. 6:30 for 7 pm.

Saturday, 26 November: Street Raffle.

25-26 Feb, 2017: Presidents-Elect Training (Paul Weston), Young.

17-19 March, 2017: District 9700 Conference, Orange.

30 April, 2017: District 9700 Assembly (All Directors), Young.

10-14 June, 2017: Rotary International Convention, Atlanta, GA, USA.

---

*Partners and Guests Night

Apologies for Monday meetings: call Ian Jennings on 0428 492 157  BY FRIDAY 12:00 pm.

This is great news for us and you are all invited to attend the Zone 8 Institute in Darwin in 2017.

“It was good to catch up with Sam Owori RI President Nominee for 2018-2019 in Evanston today prior to the RI Board meeting. Sam will be coming to the Zone Institute in Darwin in 2017. I don’t think I have ever seen Sam not smiling!”

Sam is from the RC of Kampala  in Uganda.

RI Director Noel Trevaskis. (Bega Australia).

The Coolamon Community Chronicle is out second edition.  Get your copy it is free!

Congratulations to the Coolamon Central School Journalism Club who put this together.  Six of the eight are pictured on the front page.  The team is made up of, Sophia, Elise, Minnie-Lee, Hannah, Chloe, Brodie, Madison and Beth.

The CCC Committee is made up of Beth Batcheldor, Rtn. Myffy Collette, PP Grahame Miles, Rtn. Bernadette Milne and PP Paul Weston.