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Volume 26 No 6
August 7, 2007
Notice for the meeting at the Ocean Grove Hotel, Tuesday 14th August, 6.00 for 6.30
Subject Barwon Prison Education Speaker Wayne Chrimes
Chairman Hans Franken
Assistant Cashier & Thanker Ken Fleay Greeter & Assistant Sergeant Vic Harnath
Birthdays & Anniversaries
15th Hans Franken [also Napoleon Bonaparte 1769, Samuel Coleridge Taylor 1875, & Princess Anne 1950]
17th Norm Elliott [also Sam Goldwyn 1882, Mae West 1893, and Jim Courier 1970]
18th Moyra McArdle, Geoff Chandler [also Max Factor 1904, Roman Polanski 1933 & Robert. Redford ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………..1936]
Please note that B’s & A’s are recorded in the week following the advertised meeting. . ******************************
Notice for the meeting at the Ocean Grove Hotel, Tuesday 21st August, 6.00 for 6.30
Subject The Ocean Grove Surf-lifesaving Club Speaker Bruce Wood
Chairman Noel Emselle
Assistant Cashier & Thanker Martin Geerings Greeter & Assistant Sergeant Judy Greer
Birthdays & Anniversaries
22nd Judy & Rod Greer. This is St. John Kemble’s day. He, [1599- 1679] was a Catholic priest, living around the time of the English Reformation. At the age of 81, he was falsely accused by Titus Oates as a Catholic conspirator against the king, and was hanged, drawn and quartered. A preferable death, in the humble opinion of your editor, to that of St. Afra – Bulletin 26/4- who was burnt at the stake. The Engish are a civilized lot!
23rd Trish Emselle. [also King Louis XV1 of France 1754, Gene Kelly 1912, and Keith Moon 1947].
24th David Tyrrell. [also Duke Kahanamoku, surfer 1890, Yasser Arafat 1929 & Inge de Bruijn 1973].
25th Leigh Holloway. [ also Leonard Bernstein 1918, Sean Connery 1930, & Claudia Schiffer 1970].
26th Marg & Hamish Campbell. This is the anniversary of the eruption of Mount Krakatoa in 1883. Most of the island of Krakatoa was destroyed and the eruption generated the loudest noise reported in history. For five days after the cataclysm, atmospheric shock waves were felt as they reverberated around the world seven times.
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New pilot project to study meeting frequency
A new six-year pilot project to examine the effects of meeting frequency on club success was approved by the RI Board in February and launched on 1st July. It will run until 30th June, 2013.
The approximately 200 clubs participating in the project may determine their own meeting schedules based on member preference rather than RI policy. These clubs will report to RI annually, providing insight into the relationship between meeting frequency and contributions to The Rotary Foundation, membership development and retention, success of service projects, and other elements of an effective club.
The RI Board seeks more supporting data on the impact that a weekly, biweekly or other meeting schedule would have on a Rotary club’s essential operations.
I wonder whether I can enthuse my readers to offer their views on the following:
• List your preference for regularity of meetings. e.g. weekly, biweekly, monthly, or other.
• List, in order of preference, your choice of meeting time. Breakfast, lunch, dinner or supper.
I will print the responses, without names, at the end of this month. Please respond – it should be fun.
Continuing the ‘Dear Mum’ letter
“Scoutmaster Keith got mad at Adam for going on a hike alone without telling anyone. Adam said he did tell him, but it was during the fire so he probably didn’t hear him. Did you know that if you put petrol on a fire, it will blow up?
The wet wood didn’t burn, but one of the tents did and also some of our clothes. Matthew is going to look weird until his hair grows back. Sorry, but I have the trots, so will have to go. YLS”
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The Four-way Test was introduced 75 years ago
Rotarian Herbert J Taylor, of Chicago, undertook in 1932, the management of a business in desperate financial condition, and to keep it going, he had to contribute a personal loan. He knew that he had a good product, but he realized that his competitors were also making good products. How could his firm hope to compete, so badly handicapped by the weakness of its financial position and the overpowering gloom of a depression? The solution lay in his adoption of what was to become ‘THE FOUR-WAY TEST of the things we think, say and do’. It was promptly adopted by his Rotary club, and remains, unchanged to this day, throughout the Rotary world;
Is it the TRUTH? Is it FAIR to all concerned?
Will it build GOODWILL and BETTER FRIENDSHIPS? WILL it be BENEFICIAL to all concerned?
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Is China the world’s most progressive nation?
Marco Polo thought so, and that was more than 700 years ago! Little more than 20 years ago, 80% of the countryside population was illiterate. Today, with compulsory education, 99% of school-age children in China actually attend school.
Professor Li Li [Lillian to us], was our guest speaker tonight. Surely one of the most interesting speakers we have had at our club, and on the most astounding set of education developments imaginable. Lillian is the Vice Professor of accounting at the Jiangsu Institute of Economic and Trade Technology, and is in Australia on a study tour. She introduced her talk by referring to the rapid change in Chinese education in just a few decades, marked by revamping of the system in 1949 and 1978, and absorbing the effect of the cultural revolution in 1966.
In 1987, only 10% of students progressed to higher education at college or university level. It’s now 75%, with students numbering 700,000 or more studying abroad at university or similar level. By 2005, there were 21 million students in China, even though it is no longer free. Lillian casually spoke of class sizes of 50-70!!
China is closing the gap between East and West, and will surely become one of the world’s great economies in the lifetime of most of us. She is no longer asleep, and will probably prop up Western stock markets, to our mutual benefit.
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Bits ‘n Pieces
• Why did the DG give us a white glove? Marg. Campbell has some ideas, how about you?
• We agreed to let our Rotary district incorporate. Fair to say that most of us did not give a ‘tinker’s cuss’.
• 14 members have still not paid their subs. Due on 1st July, this year!.
• Our Community Service team has done a great job at the Surfside Primary School garden. And so did about 20 parents last Sunday.
• If our new public relations banner were to be strung between two masts in a sizable dinghy, we could all sail to Tassie.
• Ex Treasurer Coral has a ripper of an idea for a partners’ night on 4th September. And RC Queenscliffe will feature Judy Patching of Olympics fame at their dinner meeting on 20th August. BE THERE!!
