As always all good things come to an end and Sunday was a morning session and we concluded the conference at mid-day.
There were three very good sessions starting with youth. PDG George Weston is the Youth Chair for D9705 and introduced the speakers.
Rotarian Emma Jayne Bell from the Rotary Club of Hall. What an inspiration this young lady is and Emma will lighten up any gathering. Emma is a great speaker and has done so much in Rotary. Emma was an Exchange student and went to New York where Emma was hosted by the RC of Peekshill. Emma loved that 12 months with her host families. Emma also attended RYLA and was the Charter President of the Rotaract Club of the University of Canberra.
Emma since joined the RC of Hall in 2021. Emma now looks after our social media platforms for D9705 in particular Facebook. A breath of fresh air is Emma Bell:
We then had two of the areas of D9705 give presentations on one of their club projects. First was Ash Pagett who gave a presentation on the RC of Weston Creek’s project in Sri Lanka called Educational Uplift. A small project initially however the idea is taking off and they are doing great work there:
Another highlight was the presentation on the RC of Berry and their Rotary Nature Play Park. Phil Crocker the President of the RC of Beery had us amazed at what this club achieved for the children and not so children with the building of this play park.
The Shoalhaven City Council, the State Government of NSW and the Commonwealth Government all got behind the project. The total cost was $6.5 million and the RC of Berry built it! It is a very safe environment and is getting plenty of use. The play park was opened in January 2022.
After morning tea we were given a wee chat about Rotaract by the current D9705 Rotaract Representative Shawn Wilson and the incoming D9705 Rotaract Representative Libby O’Brien.
The main take away from these two inspirational speakers was that we need to all work together in Rotary as partners. Shawn made some interesting observations:
- Rotaract is not a farm for Rotary
- Not a children or youth project
- Not a social media consultancy.
- Age is not the criteria as anyone can now join Rotaract from the age of 18 the 30 year old cut off does not apply anymore.
Shawn wants to see Rotary and Rotaract intertwined and we have so much to gain by working together.
Finally the best to last with Dr. Chadden Hunter. Nothing to do with Rotary but everything to do with ordinary people doing extraordinary things (well that is Rotary is it not?)
Chadden is the producer and director for the BBC and for Sir David Attenborough and the Planet Earth series. Chadden said that the series have attracted 500 million viewers. The talk was wonderful and most entertaining.
Dr. Chadden is an Australian wildlife biologist and filmmaker. After completing a PhD on gelada baboons in Ethiopia, Chadden worked with the National Geographic and Discovery Channel. Chadden’s work with Sir David is legendary from snow leopards…….well you know the story.
Behind the scenes of David Attenborough’s documentaries
Our heartfelt thanks go to:
DG Leo Farrelly for the hard work planning this event since Leo became our Governor Nominee. It takes 3 years of planning to put a district conference on.
To the Chair of the conference committee Peter Kain from the RC of Belconnen.
President Brendon Fritsch and all the members of the Temora Rotary Club who worked so hard in the planning and on the weekend and of course the weekends and days before the event.
The MC and Chair of the conference from the RC of Hall Andrew Giumelli who ran a smooth conference.
Our sincere thanks to IPDG Michael Moore AM PhD and Helen Moore from the RC of Canberra who stepped in for DG Leo over the past two months.
DGE Geraldine Rurenga was unable to attend due to family. However Geraldine will be taking the reins on July 1st and her conference will be in Wagga Wagga from Friday October 21-Sunday October 23rd 2022. The event will be held at Joyes Hall at the CSU In Wagga Wagga. Join us then to Imagine Rotary.
