Bulletin of the Rotary Club of Ocean Grove Inc.
www.rotaryoceangrove.blogspot.com
Volume 25 No 34
Notice for the meeting at the Ocean Grove Hotel, Tuesday 13th March, 6.00 for 6.30
Speaker Paul Northey, a returned G.S.E team member to New York Chairman Colin Brown
Assistant Cashier & Thanker Ben Israel Greeter & Assistant Sergeant Wal Kelly
Birthday 16th March Alison George
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Notice for the meeting at the Ocean Grove Hotel, Tuesday 20th March, 6.00 for 6.30
Speaker President Richard Subject A club assembly and reflections on the District Conference
Assistant Cashier Suzie Mann Greeter & Assistant Sergeant Vic Harnath
Birthdays & Anniversaries 24th March Anne Geerings, David & Anne Tyrrell.
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The Buzz of Bees at Barwon Heads
Last Thursday, a multitude of OG Rotarians became ’Event Crew’ at the International Ladies Road Race, around a circuit from the Eastern end of the Thirteenth Beach Road, [not the Northern end of the Ewing Blyth Rd. as shown on all of the issued maps], out to the main Barwon Heads/ Geelong Rd., sharp left onto the Bluestone School Rd., then South on the Black Rock Rd. to the long and scenic route of the Thirteenth Beach Rd. back to the start/finish line. Their tyres on the bitumen ‘buzzed’ like bees.
Five laps of the 15 Km. course in 2 hours at an average speed of 37.5 kph was fairly impressive for surprisingly little girls. Personally, I thought five police motor cycles and several police car escorts and trucks, utes and cars in abundance was a bit of an over-kill, but it was jolly good fun, and we earned $25 each for our club and received a lovely red T-shirt, two packets of jelly beans, a muesli bar, a bottle of gaterade and two sachets of sun tan oil. Clocking on at 9.30 for about three hours, and conservatively valuing the contents of the goodies bag at $25, our total return per head was about $17 per hour, [tax-free]. It sure beats Red Cross Calling.
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Around the Rotary World – Indian and Australian Districts help farmers
After the fertile lands in the coastal region of Jinkapalem, India, became too barren and salty to support crops, impoverished farmers switched to fishing to earn a living. After the 2004 tsunami rendered fishing less profitable, they were faced with the difficult prospect of relying again on the infertile land for sustenance.
To assist them, District 3150 organized a successful land reclamation project, which cost $100US per acre, paid for with funds raised by Australian Rotarians in districts 9680 and 9700. The effort yielded 250 acres of tilled, leveled, and treated soil, which is suitable again for planting rice paddies that can provide food for 100 families.
Mexican towns get fire engines
Rotarians in District 6560 [Indiana,USA] are helping District 4170, Mexico, put out their fires. Claude Johnson, RC Crawfordsville, solicited help from clubs across central Indiana and raised $35,500 for emergency vehicles which included 10 fire engines and an ambulance.
Along with the vehicles came Adam Harrington, an Indiana firefighter who participated in Group Study Exchange, to trade ideas with emergency workers in Mexico City about public safety practices.
Are we set to become the biggest coastal town in Victoria?
Did you read the article at the top of page 6 of the ‘Advertiser’, 27th Feb., headed, ‘Council to sign off on Ocean Grove’s future’ ?
The plan includes, and I quote, “Increasing residential growth by up to 10,334 homes; Identifying a residential expansion area to the north-west of the town which could accommodate a primary school and neighborhood shopping centre; Improving traffic flow by duplicating Grubb Rd., and Constructing three-story buildings in the town to provide for extra retail shops, offices and accommodation.” end quote.
Now I don’t want to be critical of C.O.G.G. for the second week in a row, but I suggest that 10,334 homes might contain an average of 3 bodies, and, added to the existing population of about 10,000, my arithmetic leads me to a total planned population of, say, 41,000!! If the new homes are going to be to the north-west, isn’t it Wallington Rd. that might need duplication rather than Grubb rd.? I am not qualified to talk about parking or other infrastructure. RACV reckons that Warrnambool currently has a population of 30,000.
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Reflections on the Canadian visit
Frankly, I found it strange that three of the four couples only came to Oz. for ten days. Southampton to OG is half-way around the world! So what if I had been asked to plan 28 days, leaving the adopted tour unchanged? To start with, I would have stuck to the four eastern States, and no coach or guided tours. E.g.
Sydney – shopping and sightseeing, partic. The Rocks. harbour cruise, opera house, day trip by train to Blue Mountains or Gosford. 5 days
Cairns – [fly/drive] – Port Douglas, Kuranda, cruise to outer reef, Daintree 6days
Tasmania – [Fly/drive] – Launceston to Hobart via Stanley, Cradle Mtn., Strahan,
West Coast Wilderness Railway, Gordon River cruise, Port Arthur. 7 days
That’s a total of 28 days, and demonstrates the uniqueness of our ‘neck of the woods’ compared to theirs.
What would you have planned? I would like to print your ideas.
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Snippetts
• Last Sunday’s market yielded 61 stalls, 561 cars $174 in the raffle, and in deputy manager Rod Bush’s words, “A bewdiful Day”. Thanks go to Rod, James Turnbull, & Geoff Chandler, [raffle].
• A police check of 70 vehicles in The Parade car park on 22 Jan. found 16 vehicles with windows wound down, 8 with keys in the ignition, 13 mobile phones & 3 cameras in view. Madness!
• The conference was voted a great success by all of our people who attended, and a very comprehensive report was presented to tonight’s meeting by Rod Greer. His observations were supported by our on-the-spot reporter ‘Algy’, who was impressed by the local pipe band escorting the students with the flags of their countries into the grounds of the Flagstaff Hill Maritime Museum for the opening ceremony.
The feature key-note speaker, in the views of both reporters, was Moira Kelly, AO, involved with children throughout the world, particularly through the ‘Interplast’ and ‘Romac’ programmes.
A more comprehensive report will be led by President Richard, two weeks tonight.
* Marion Walton reported that our $1500 contribution towards the Bellarine Police Youth
Boxing programme will be recognized at next Sunday’s launch, 11am at the hotel.
• Since it’s a holiday next Monday, report your apologies to Hans on Tuesday morning.
• Geoff Ford reminded us of the Easter Seafood Fest at Queenscliff. If you didn’t put your name down tonight because you weren’t there, please contact Geoff.
• Tony Haines reported that we have two applicants for the RYPEN weekend at Millicent.
• Peter Hawthorne is pleased with the progress of the ‘Red Cross Calling’ project. $1900 to date.
• There are 12 rooms booked for accommodation at next year’s Swan Hill conference. 4 left at $50 dep.
