The best was kept to last with Past Rotary International President Bill Boyd presenting the third Royce Abbey Peace Oration. This was held in the Wagga Wagga Civic Theatre.
PRIP Bill spoke so well sitting on his stool and had us all intent on hearing what Bill had to say on Peace Through Service, the aim of our current RI President Sakuji Tanaka.
The Royce Abbey Peace Oration will be made available through the Peace committee. However the words spoken by Bill are inspirational and motivational. In part Bill said that: The strengths that he sees in Rotarians are that we are by definition leaders, we have perseverance e.g. polio, we have passion above all to serve our community be it local or global. By this Bill means that with 34,000 clubs in 210 countries we serve the community on a global scale.
“The pathway to peace is not a super highway BUT every act of service by a Rotarian is a step towards peace. Just the provision of clean water and literacy programmes in a small village in Africa, can lead to peace. One person at a time, one community at a time and then one group of communities. Humanitarian works of Rotary will do more to reduce conflict and terrorism than all the armies of the world put together.”
Bill Boyd 23/9/2012.
As a delegate I would like to thank all involved in putting this conference on and especially PDG Ray King the Secretary and PDG Fred Loneragan the Chairman. The troops who worked so hard behind the scene including Doug Masterton, John Gray, Paul Murray and a host of others.
