Bulletin of the Rotary Club of Ocean Grove Inc.
Winner of the Holmes Trophy for the best attendance by a Club at the 2006 District Conference
www.rotaryoceangrove.blogspot.com
Volume 25 No 25
Notice for the meeting at the Ocean Grove Hotel, Tuesday 9th January 2007, 6.30 for 7.00.
A purely social evening around the hotel BBQ, nothing in particular planned, and probably chaired by Pres. Richard, but who knows? BUT IF YOU DON’T PLAN TO BE THERE, YOU MUST STILL APOLOGISE TO HANS BY NOON MONDAY.
There will be another BBQ meeting on the 16th, but bulletin 26 will be e-mailed with details on 9th Jan, or posted on the 10th.
Birthdays & Anniversaries
4th January Val Kelly 9th Colin & Jan Brown, Alex & Ann Magee, Meryl Holloway.
And don’t forget tomorrow at the Curlewis Golf Club Hosted by Drysdale RC. Golf and/or dinner.
Ah, the incongruity of it all!
Jan and I went to the third day’s play in the Melbourne Test. To me, there is nothing quite so satisfying, [sporting-wise] as strolling down to gate 2 at the MCG, up the escalator, and then to a seat outside the famous Long Room. OK, so the seats are cramped and we both got back-aches, but having languished on the waiting list twenty two years for the privilege, I am not about to complain.
About 250,000 patrons over three days thought they were going to see a titanic struggle over five days between the best and the second best cricket teams in the world. What they got, in less than three days, was a contest, [for want of a better word] between the white-flannelled version of Collingwood FC taking on the Manangatang thirds. I will explain that to the Canadians in February.
Sorry, Robin, but the Poms were abysmal!
Jan enjoyed the Barmy Army more than the cricket. About 5,000 voices, mainly male, baritones, in perfect unison, accompanied by a trumpeter, entertained us with fine renditions of such universal favourites as ‘Jerusalem’, Sir Edward Elgar’s ‘Pomp and Circumstance March in D Major op. 39 no. 1’, aka ‘Land of Hope and Glory’- [on this occasion, as a requiem] , and ‘Rule Brittannia’ [an historical piece].
And did the members approve? Not a bit! Except for we two, all we saw was a sea of glum faces. The fellow sitting next to Jan was wearing a Paul Harris Fellowship badge. I was tempted to lean across and remind him that even Paul could be indulgent!
The inevitable ‘Mexican Wave’ was expected to stop at the members stand. We members always get wicked satisfaction out of responding in patronizing silence to the chorus of BOOS which greet our collective non-participation. But the MW didn’t even get to us. No, the Barmy Army were before us in the queue and they greeted it with stony silence. The only time they were quiet all day! A few Aussie stalwarts tried that truly ‘down-under’ sporting vocalization ‘Ozzy, ozzy, ozzy, oy,oy,oy’ but it went down like a lead balloon. Our two century making heroes carried Warney shoulder high but so far apart that there was some risk of him being split from crotch to adams apple..It was a lovely day.
P.S. They did better in Sydney; got humiliated in 4 ¼ days, instead of 3 ¾.
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If you are not a committed republican, you should see Helen Mirren in ‘The Queen’.
Why does Superman stop bullets with his chest, but ducks when you throw a revolver at him?
Letters to the editor will be accepted on that question. Only on one side of a foolscap page please.
Yes, it was a dry year
29 Ocean Throughway, Ocean Grove recorded 335mm for 2006. The average annual rainfall for the previous eight years was 584mm. Not as much as Cherrapuni, India, with the world’s highest, at 10,795, but a bit more than the lowest, 0.51mm average since records were kept, on the Atacama Desert in Chile.
Recent and forthcoming events
• The DIK collection from OG Public School, 2nd January was a great success. Marion & Bill Walton, Rod & Keith Birrell, Norm Elliott, Noel Emselle, Charles Dawborn, Bob Osbourne, Tim Kemp & John Fox, assisted by Jenny Landers, [Ass’t Principal] loaded 121 tables and 237 chairs onto two trucks and a ute, and took them- without losing any of the load- into the DIK [Donations in Kind] depot in North Geelong where Geelong Rotarian Anton Van Doornik supervised the unloading. Chairman of this committee Tim Kemp, [who I hesitate to describe as ‘DIKhead’], was mightily pleased. At the beginning of the exercise, your editor felt it unlikely that we could load the lot onto the vehicles available. Half way through, he was certain we couldn’t. But we dunnit!!
• I am embarrassed to admit that, until last Wednesday, I had never helped Geoff Ford sell car raffle tickets. Well, we set up our table at the IGA supermarket in Barwon Heads on 3rd Jan. for three hours and sold about 15 books [$300], which Geoff thought was about average! Was there ever a greater contributor to our charity funds than GEOFF? Talking about raffle books, Geoff informs me that of the 90 odd books which he issued to our members about six weeks ago, at least 50 have not yet been returned!! Please do your bit for this important programme by getting them back to him ASAP
• The District Conference is in Warrnambool from 2nd to 4th March. Programme details and registration forms are available from the office of the bull-ed!
• Our market this morning was marred by yesterday’s Tranquility Fair, today’s Rip to River Run and rain [who’s complaining?] Market Boss Judy reports 72 occupied sites and 731 cars. Thanks, team.
For those of us who are getting old
A couple in their nineties, [I have chosen that age group because none of us are there yet] are having trouble remembering things. Their GP reckons their physical health is OK, but perhaps they should start writing things down to help them remember.
One night, while watching TV, Dad gets up and asks Mum if she wants anything. “Yes thanks, I’d like a bowl of ice cream. Now, don’t you think you should write it down?
“No, of course not. I’m not that bloody forgetful!”, he replies.
“Well, I’d like some strawberries on top. Perhaps you should write that down”.
“Of course not. You want ice cream with strawberries on top. I can remember that”.
“I’d also like some whipped cream. Now write it all down or you’ll forget”.
“Look, I don’t need to write it down. You want ice cream with strawberries and whipped cream”, he said, getting very irritated.
He toddles off to the kitchen and after about twenty minutes, with her dropping off to sleep, he hands her a plate of bacon and eggs.
She stares at the plate for a moment………………..”Where’s me toast?”
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Annual giving tops US$94 million
The Rotary Foundation’s Annual Programmes Fund netted a record-breaking US$94.2 million in 2005-06 demonstrating Rotarians’ strong belief in their Foundation as a highly effective vehicle for humanitarian service. Our club boasts seven ‘centurians’- $100 tax-deductible donation in five successive years. The programme, ‘Every Rotarian, every year’ can be found at www.rotary.org/foundation.
