Bulletin of the Rotary Club of Ocean Grove Inc.
www.rotaryoceangrove.blogspot.com
Volume 26 No 15
October 9, 2007
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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An invisible man married an invisible woman. The kids were nothing to look at.
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Notice for the meeting at the Ocean Grove Hotel, Tuesday, 23rd October, 6.00 for 6.30
Subject The Graeme Bath Community Awards Chairman Tony Haines
Assistant Cashier & Thanker Geoff Chandler Greeter & Assistant Sergeant Geoff Brentnall
Birthdays & Anniversaries
23rd Bill Walton. [also Sarah Bernhardt 1844, Gummo Marx 1892, and Pele – the footballer, 1940]
25th Jo Hawthorne. [also Johann Strauss 1825, Georges Bizet 1838, and Pablo Picasso 1881]
27th Norm & Elaine Elliott. On this day in 1997, Stock markets around the world experienced a ‘mini-crash’. The Dow Jones Industrial Average plummeted 554 points to 7161.
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Why didn’t Tarzan ever have a beard?
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From the desk of the District Governor
• The District Conference in Swan Hill, 29th Feb. to 2nd March, will include speakers on ‘Metrification’, ‘Australian Quarantine Inspection Services’, a presentation by the Group Study Exchange team from Denmark, and drought relief projects.
• The Rotary club of Stawell will feature a ‘Water Wise Garden and Energy Expo.’ at the SES depot, Sloane St. Stawell on 10th & 11th November from 0900 to 1700. Gold coin entry. Numerous stalls and displays. Morning and arvo. teas and lunch available.
• A new brass Rotary pin will be awarded to every member who sponsors a new member into their club.
• The chairman of the district Literacy Committee reports that one in four adults in the developing world – 872 million people – is illiterate. More than 100 million children remain out of school, and more than 46% of girls in the world’s poorest countries have no access to primary education.
• The ‘Geoff Tully Perpetual Shield’ is to be awarded at the District Conference for the best inter-club project involving at least two clubs. How about we enter our joint effort in water facilities with RC Southampton?
• October is Vocational Service Month. For us as Rotarians, that includes the promotion of high ethical standards in all occupations including fair treatment of employers, employees, associates, competitors and the public. The recognition of all useful occupations, not just your own or those pursued by Rotarians, and the contribution of our respective talents to the challenges and needs of society. It means putting the four way test to work.
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Why is it that no plastic bag will open from the end on your first try?
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For all those born before 1945 No. 1 of 5.
In our days, cigarette smoking was fashionable, GRASS was mown, COKE was a cold drink, and POT was something you cooked in. Being GAY implied you were happy and TRIP was a fall. Rock music was a grandma’s lullaby, beetles crawled and AIDS were helpers in the Principal’s office.
[Incidently, I described Mark Donehue in last week’s bulletin as a ‘principle’. One Rotarian wrote a letter to the editor about it. My proof reader was suspended for 10 minutes!
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Volcano victims get shelter
The Rotary club of Teigmouth, Devon, England, raised more than $4000[Aus.] to help send 100 shelter-boxes containing tents and other supplies to people in Ecuador left homeless by the eruption of the Tungurahua volcano, last year. Those boxes provided emergency accommodation for 2000 people.
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Some more Rotary ‘firsts’
• Rotary established the Endowment Fund in 1917, becoming the forerunner of the Rotary Foundation.
• Rotary first adopted the name ‘Rotary International’ in 1922, changed from ‘International Association of Rotary Cubs’.
• Rotary first established Paul Harris Fellow Recognition in 1957 for contributions of US$1000 to the Rotary Foundation.
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News from home & abroad
• Sunday’s market attracted 650 cars, 46 stalls with several prospects for the future. Meat tray raffles, new jumping castle, camels, CFA expanded catering were just some of the features of a successful start to the new season. Incredibly, RAIN caused the car parking lines to be washed out! An excellent report from Judy.
• We have heard from former exchange student Matt Gerber, still adventuring around the world, currently with a publishing co., but still determined to get to medical school. May visit in Feb.’08.
• Rotary Christmas cards are available from secy. Rod Greer.
• Well-known journalist and local identity Doug Aiton will be the guest speaker at next Monday night’s dinner meeting of the RC Queenscliffe at the Lonsdale GC, 6.30 for 7.00, $20 per head, drinks at bar prices. Phone Kevin on 5258 2932 or 0400 879 055.
• We have 5 candidates for the Sieman Science Summer School and 1 possible ambassadorial scholar.
There are four submarines lying in wait off Port Philip Heads.
If the popular press had used that headline 65 years ago, the s*** would really have hit the f**.
But our guest speaker, Alan Beckhurst, surprised all but a handful of us by reporting that they are there, several metres below the surface, 60-80 years submerged, but keeping company with about 50 other vessels of all shapes and sizes, deliberately scuttled to provide a recreational diving facility of unsurpassed magic.
And they are to be joined by HMAS Canberra, a decommissioned guided missile frigate, at 140 metres, equal to the width of the MCG, when she will be gently settled on the underwater sands about 2.5 kms due south of Collendina beach, sometime in the next twelve months!
As a diving bonanza worth $m’s to the tourist industry, the estimated $8m to prepare her for environmentally safe scuttling, will be money well spent. Alan represents the Victorian Artificial Reef Society, which got the Gov’t ‘nod’ for the project to proceed. His 10 minute video of the general area of this shipping ‘graveyard’ was a treat in itself.
