Bulletin of the Rotary Club of Ocean Grove Inc.
Joint winner of the Lange trophy for best membership growth.Sole solver of the mystery of the white glove.
www.rotaryoceangrove.blogspot.com
Vol. 26 No. 40
May 6th, 2008
Notice for the meeting at the Ocean Grove Hotel, Tuesday 12th May, 6.00 for 6.30
Speaker John Dodgshun Subject ‘Farewell to an old Queen’. It’s about a ship!
Chairman Rod Birrell
Assistant Cashier & Thanker Bill Walton Greeter & Assistant Sergeant Bob Smith
Birthday
13th Jan Fox [also Daphne Du Maurier 1907, Joe Louis 1914, and Burt Bacharach 1929]
And be it known that this is the very last time that birthdays and anniversaries will be linked in the above manner as everyone has had a mention, and you all must be sick of it anyway. From this point on, significant world events celebrated during the week following each bulletin, will be mentioned.
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Notice for the meeting at the Ocean Grove Hotel, Tuesday 19th May, 6.00 for 6.30.
Speaker Richard Trigg Subject Eyearstim Buddy Diddensay
Chairman Martin Geerings
Assistant Cashier & Thanker Heather Wallace Greeter & Assistant Sergeant Dick Clay
Birthdays
22nd Joan Steains and Phil Edwards
24th Anne Geerings
Notable World Events in the week ahead, [that was]
In the humble opinion of your bulliman, May 20th was the most significant day of the week ahead. e.g. Captain James Cook released the first sheep in New Zealand [1773], Levi Strauss and Jacob Davis won a patent for miners’ work pants – ‘blue jeans’ [1873], Cuba gained independence from the United States [1902], and Amelia Earhart took off from Newfoundland to begin the world’s first solo nonstop flight across the Atlantic Ocean by a female pilot, landing in Ireland the next day [1932].
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Organ Donations – where next?
Despite the best efforts of dedicated Rotarians like Peter Hawthorne, our Australian efforts in the field of organ donorship is amongst the worst in the Western world. The waiting list for kidneys, for example, is at least three years, so much so that there is recent media speculation that the sale of kidneys for $50,000 should be legalized in Australia. Obviously, unacceptable because of the threat of corruption and misuse, and in any case, currently illegal and likely to remain so.
The Torquay RC programme on 21st April featuring double lung transplant recipient Martin Mileham was an ideal opportunity for us to gain valuable ‘inside’ information, but our 39% attendance was hardly indicative of enthusiasm, [although, better than Torquay’s!].
This is surely a project which Australia-wide Rotary could take on! Brochures in medical centre waiting rooms, letter-box drops, drink coasters in hotels and restaurants, road signs, TV ads. etc. The indisputable point is that thousands of people die every year with perfectly healthy organs which could save lives, but our national record of organ donorship remains disgraceful.
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And on the subject of medical matters
I mentioned last week, the forthcoming Prostate Support Group meeting on 12th June, and I will continue to do so. DIARISE it, fellows!
What does China have that we don’t have, and vice versa?
Since my return from a cruise, visiting China, South Korea and Japan, I admit to strong feelings about the pollution problems, particularly in Beijing. The Chinese claim to be planning a shutting down of factories for the duration of the Olympics, and taking half the vehicles off the roads. Good luck to them.
Beijing has a total land area about the same as COGG. Population 13million, compared with 200,000. Therein lies the problem.
In the medium to long term, ecology may provide the solution. The world is running out of fossil fuel. We must devise an alternative to the internal combustion engine, one of the main causes of industrial pollution. When petrol reaches $2 per litre, more locals will use the train. Where will we park in order to catch it? We may get better service, and perhaps a ticket system to rival Hong Kongs! But I digress!
China currently has pollution that we don’t have, and we have graffiti and vandalism that they certainly don’t have. Next week, I am going to tell you about the scrupulously clean Japanese village of Okawachiyama.
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Notice Board
Wal Kelly reminds us that there will be a CPR refresher course, costing $10pp at Bellarine Memories on Monday 19th May at 7.30. Register with Wal by 13th.
The Ocean Grove & District Community Association is holding a Community Workshop about the short-term future of our town next Wednesday, 14th May at 6.30 pm. You can register your interest at bhageel@bhaust.com.au or by phoning 5222 6228.
Corduroy pillows are making headlines.
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Davidson’s is always a great meal
For entrée, we had seared scallop with crab bisque sauce, duck rillette with red current jelly, chicken liver pate, pickled pork terrine, lamb croquette with tomato salsa and prawn cocktail with rose sauce. No choices, we were required to eat the lot!
After a bit of a rest, we had to choose between Barramundi, Beef or Chicken, and after a bit more of a rest, and a degree of imbibing, and social intercourse, including an extraordinary story about Fred Andrews encounter with an angle grinder, a Pakistani medico and a cardboard corset [fair dinkum!], we then got stuck into the pieces of resistance, including orange panna cotta, flourless chocolate cake, caramelized pear, mosaic frozen terrine and choux pastry with chocolate mousse garnished with an exotic petit fruit salad fruit!! I was going to tell you about the talk given by the Maitre D, but by the time I had finished absorbing the menu, he’d finished – and so was I. A bloody good night for the 22 members and 15 partners who partook of that gastronomic orgy. Algy and I shared a bottle of red, and it cost more than the entire meal!
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Bits and Pieces
There is to be a working bee next Monday morning at 9.30, at the Barwon Heads Community Gardens.
The Ocean Grove Neighborhood Centre Inc. has expressed warm appreciation for the third of our annual contributions of $2000, which was put towards funding the 1st youth award, partially funding the 2nd youth art show, funding 8 young people to attend centre camps, funding 60 young people over three years on a weekly basis, funding 4 art workshops for youth, a defence workshop for young people, assisting with the acquisition of a billiard table and an air hockey table [what’s air hockey?] and subsidizing youth workers wages. You’ve heard about the loaves and the fishes, I suppose!
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