Bulletin No. 14

Bulletin of the Rotary Club of Ocean Grove Inc.
www.rotaryoceangrove.blogspot.com
Volume 26 No 14
October 2, 2007

Notice for the meeting at the Ocean Grove Hotel, Tuesday 9th October, 6.00 for 6.30

Speaker Alan Beckhurst Chairman Peter Hawthorne
Subject Underwater Photography. Alan is involved with the project to sink the de-commissioned Aust. Naval vessel ‘Canberra’ as an artificial reef and recreational diving facility.

Assistant Cashier & Thanker Bruce Gilbert Greeter & Assistant Sergeant Tony Haines

Birthday 11th Patsy Bush [ also Pierre Napoleon Bonaparte 1815, Eleanor Roosevelt 1884, and Bobby Charlton 1937]
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Notice for the meeting at the Ocean Grove Hotel, Tuesday, 16th October, 6.00 for 6.30

Speaker Anna Portelli, Administrator at the Surfside Community Centre Chairman Wal Kelly

Assistant Cashier & Thanker Tim Kemp Greeter & Assistant Sergeant Paul Gleeson

Birthdays 19th Rod Birrell & David Cooke. [also George Abbot, Archbishop of Canterbury, 1562.]

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Reflections on the AFL Grand Final particularly for the benefit of my overseas readers.

Geelong, the only provincial team in the National competition, beat the second best team, [in terms of season performance], Port Adelaide, by 119 points, a clear all-time record, before a crowd of 97,302, which consumed 85,000 beers and 22,000 pies.
As a member of the Melbourne Cricket Club, [and I won’t bother explaining what that has to do with football], I left home at 3.30AM to be there for the start of the match, 11 hours later. I, accompanied by my two sons, needed to do that to be assured of a seat, by queuing outside the gates for the three hours before they opened at 0800. We were on the waiting list for membership for 22 years, and then another 10 years before ‘full’ membership gave us the right, but not the reservation, to attend the big event. The MCC is the biggest sporting club in the world, and there are 120,000 on the waiting list
In theory, one could loan one’s membership card for a princely sum, to a non-member on Grand Final day, but if caught, the penalty is a firing squad, or worse, expulsion!
The pre-match entertainment, generally a spectacle, was a decibel-bursting excressence, surely heard in Geelong. The band was ‘Jet’, named after a 747 at full throttle. The only highlight was a lycra-clad acrobatic girl who delivered the premiership cup suspended from a helium filled balloon. Yu wouldn’t be dead for quids. And I’m not going to explain that, either.
In the same event, 100 years ago, Melbourne, 50 points, beat South Melbourne, 45 points, before a crowd of 45,477, at the same, but slightly smaller, venue.

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Women in Rotary

Until 1989, the Constitution and Bye Laws of Rotary International stated that Rotary club membership was for males only. In 1978, the Rotary club of Duarte, California, invited three women to become members. The RI Board promptly expelled the club. The club then successfully sued RI right through the California Supreme Court and eventually, the United States Supreme Court. It was basically, a question of civil rights against discrimination.
Constitutional change was effected in 1989. Since that time, women have become members and leaders of clubs and districts throughout the world.

Have you ever been guilty of looking at others your own age and thinking,”Surely I can’t look that old”
Well, you might love this tale from a woman.

“I was sitting in the waiting room for my first appointment with a new dentist. I noticed his diploma, bearing his full name. Suddenly, I remembered a tall, handsome, dark-haired boy with the same name who had been in my high school class, nearly 40 years ago? Could he be the same fellow that I had a secret crush on, way back then?
Upon seeing him, however, I quickly discarded any such thought. This balding, grey-haired man with the deeply lined face was much too old to have been my classmate. After he examined my teeth, I asked him if he had attended Bellarine Secondary College. “Yes, I did. I was a prefect”, he said with pride. “When did you graduate”, I asked. “In 1968, why do you ask?”. “You were in my class!”, I exclaimed.
He looked at me closely, then, that ugly, old, wrinkled, bald, fat, grey, decrepit son-of-a-bitch asked,

“What did you teach?”.
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Barwon Water’s new biosolids project

Barwon Water will turn waste into farm fertilizer at a new biosolids drying facility at the Black Rock water reclamation plant. How much? Only about 54,000 tonnes each year, enough to fill Skilled Stadium to a depth of one metre. Where from? Us! 5.5 kgs. of biosolids are created treating every household’s sewage every week! The drying process reduces the water content to 10%, producing small, round pellets ready for use as a fertilizer or fossil fuel. To find out more, you are invited to attend an open day either 6 or 7 October, [next weekend] between 11am & 3pm. Our RC will arrange a visit in due course.

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Education is not what it was. Fortunately!

Our three guest speakers were complimentary to each other, tonight, and it was a treat!. Anthony List [sponsored by Bayside Centre], and Luke Tyrrell [OG Rotary] were the only two Geelong region students selected to attend a week long ‘Experience in Citizenship’ program in Canberra, visiting Parliament and Government Houses, the War Memorial, CSIRO, RMC Duntroon, Aust. Institute of Sport, and many other historical and cultural centres.
They acted out historical and parliamentary roles and met the PM, GG, Paralympics officials, ultra tall basketballers and indigenous identities. The two boys expressed their heartfelt thanks to their sponsor clubs and to the host Rotary clubs of Canberra and Canberra/Woden. A great success for two marvelous, local ambassadors.
Ex Rotarian, club secretary and market officiado, and principal of Mandama Primary School, Mark Donehue was our principle guest speaker, and an inspirational one, with his clear and concise summary of modern education methods and technology.. He visited schools or facilities and conferences in San Diego, Seattle and Vancouver, with the award of $10,000 granted to him by the State Government for a self-designed study tour of North America.

A very appropriate choice of districts, as, for instance, there are 145 schools in our Geelong region, 148 in the San Diego region. Accelerated development for potential leaders, mentoring for first-time principals, coaching of aspiring leaders and development programs were key features of Mark’s study tour. But surely, the factor which made the greatest impression for Mark, was the enormous spread of technology. We have a long way to go if we ever hope to catch up with the American advances in educational technology, but perhaps our chief aim should be to improve the image of teaching as a vocation, and to make it more appealing as a profession. That’s my observation, not Mark’s.

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Notice Board- [a little one]

Don’t forget the market next Sunday. 45 stalls so far, but surely more to come.
September 2008 for the Greers visit to sister club Southampton. You are all invited.
Rotary Xmas cards are available from Sec. Rod, and don’t forget the District Conference in Swan Hill, Feb 29th to 2 March next year.