Bulletin of the Rotary Club of Ocean Grove Inc.
www.rotaryoceangrove.blogspot.com
VOL 26 no. 52
JUNE 23, 2009
Notice for the meeting at the Barwon Heads Golf Club, Tuesday 30th June, 6.30 for 7.00
Annual report to members by President John Calnin
Induction of President-Elect Rodney Malcolm Greer as the 27th President of our Rotary Club
Registrations Gerry Spencer and Ian Downing. Greeter Alison George Birthday Rod Greer 1/7
Paul Harris Fellows are requested to wear their medal and short ribbon, and all attendees are reminded of strict dress regulations and the necessity to come with exact cash - $35 per person.
Rodney Malcolm Greer, B.Comm, STC, born 1/7/1948
Rod was born and educated in Melbourne – Glenroy primary and secondary schools and Melbourne University. He greatly enjoyed a rewarding and successful career in education, with teaching appointments and promotions over the years including secondary schools in Sale, Brunswick, Wedderburn, Stawell and Camperdown. He finished his teaching career as a Campus Principal of the secondary campus at Camperdown College and also Executive Officer for the eleven local schools. His main teaching subjects were Geography, all the Commercial areas and History.
He was also involved with curriculum development at State level, lecturing geography to student teachers and finally, the state schools’ principals’ association. A satisfying career with many challenges.
Rod’s romance with Judy started in primary and Sunday schools, and they married in 1970. He describes it as one of his better decisions, and speaks glowingly of her tolerance and understanding. They have raised three daughters – Fiona [teaching], Megan [business analyst] and Kate [environmental management]. They all attended schools where both Rod and Judy taught.
In each of the communities they lived, they have been heavily involved in church activities, Apex, tennis, golf and running. Leadership involvement included roles as president, secretary and treasurer and varied other commitments such as the custodian of Wedderburn’s ‘Santa Suit’ and chief tennis court waterer. They moved to Ocean Grove in 2003, and joined our club in 2004, having both been Rotarians since 1997.
Rod has been a very active member and was our secretary for two years.
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The origin of Rotary
Every Rotarian knows [or should know] that Rotary was born on 23rd February 1905. Four Chicagoans met in an office on Dearborn Street. But they won’t all know the names and occupations of the four attendees, who were Gus Loehr, a mining engineer, Hiram Shorey, a tailor, Silvester Schiele, a coal dealer, and Paul Harris, a lawyer.
Perhaps they don’t know [and don’t care] , that the building was the Unity Building, and the office they met in was on the 7th of 15 floors. Since we all know that Paul was the founder of Rotary, [it was his idea], it is reasonable to assume that they met in his office. But no! It was Gus’s. It is also logical to assume that Chicago was the first Rotary club, and Paul was its foundation President. Well, he wasn’t. Silvester was!
After a fairly slow start, Rotary grew to about 8,400 clubs in the first 50 years. There are now more than 33,000, of which the total membership is more than 1.2 million. Not surprisingly, most Rotary clubs meet over lunch – Chicago still does. But, do you know, none of the first four who met on 23/2/1905 ever became Paul Harris Fellows, and none of them ever owned a P.C. [or a biro pen]. Strange!
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More about Bill’s cows
Traditional Capitalism You own two cows. You sell one and buy a bull. The herd increases in size as does your business. In the end, you sell up and retire
Szech Capitalism You take out a loan of 16 billion crowns from the bank to buy two cows, then run off to the Bahamas. The bank then finds that the cows never existed and the taxpayers are forced to foot the bill.
An American Company You own two cows You sell one and force the other to produce the milk of four cows. Later, you hire a consultant to ascertain why the cow died.
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A couple of ghoulish origins
In the villages of England, the Church graveyards would soon become full. They would need to move the bodies every hundred years or so. They found some of the coffins had scratch marks inside. To tell if anyone had been buried alive, they attached a cord to the wrist of the body with a bell tied above the ground. Someone would have to spend the night on the ‘Graveyard Shift’ in case the bell rang. If a person looked like someone had recently died, they were called ‘Dead Ringers’ as if they had rung the bell and been dug up. Fair dinkum
The Gordon Institute, Geelong’s iconic educator is turning 125 in 2012
They are looking for Gordon memorabilia, stories and photos for possible use in the book. Hopefully, our members may be able to help. Those who contribute material for inclusion in the book will be credited, and delivered a free copy of the book when it is published. Program chairman Richard Trigg has details.
E-mail to history@gordontafe.edu.au or post to History, Gordon Institute, Private Bag 1, Geelong 3221.
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A Worldwide Survey by the UN. According to Coral Barker The only question asked was;
“Would you please give your honest opinion about solutions to the food shortage in the rest of the world?”
The survey was a huge failure because of the following:
In Eastern Europe they didn’t know what “honest” meant
In Western Europe they didn’t know what “shortage” meant.
In Africa they didn’t know what “food” meant.
In China they didn’t know what “opinion” meant.
In the Middle East they didn’t know what “solution” meant.
In South America they didn’t know what “please” meant.
In the US they didn’t know what “the rest of the world” meant.
And in Australia they hung up because they couldn’t understand an Indian accent.
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Notice Board [All of the following has been provided by our deputy editor Alison George]
• Jim Ricchini [Kerry] was inducted as our 53rd member. Jim is a retired teacher.
• Heather Wallace is currently preparing our 2009/10 market roster. If there are any first Sundays from October to March inc., plus Easter Monday 5th April, when you know you will not be available, please advise Heather.
• Our speaker, Geoffrey Cummins, [who is not and probably never was, an Opera singer] spoke about the John Logan Foundation. John, who suffered from cancer at age 43, died after massive surgery in 2008, wanted to raise money for cancer research, especially of the digestive system. Geoffrey worked in partnership with John to that end, and Geoffrey went through the process of setting up a charity, launched in May this year, and currently reaching $23,000. The original aim was to provide funds for equipment, but unavoidable problems have forced a re-direction of funds to providing the very expensive drugs required for the treatment of digestive system cancer. The target date is October this year, and fundraising is clearly the challenge.
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