5 January, 2010
Notice Board
- 29 Ocean Throughway recorded 523 mm of rain in 2009, falling on 71 days and creating a ten year average of 540 mm. The ten year high was 721 mm, in 2001, the low, 335 in 2006.
- The Amy Gillett Foundation has warmly thanked the Rotary team for our efforts last Sunday – The Cummins, Waltons & Foxes, plus Gerry Spencer and Bruce Gilbert. 2529 riders took part.
- The market involved 103 sites, 1026 cars, $230 in the raffle and $1,201 in the donations bin. The progressive net profit has climbed to $13,733.
- Tonight’s raffle ticket sales at caravan parks will be enumerated next week and Pres. Rod. thanked the Calnins for their hospitality.
Forthcoming events
19th Jan.– Alison’s night at 20 Trethowan Avenue, a partner’s night. See below.
26th Jan. – No meeting of our club, as it’s a public holiday – Australia Day.
2nd Feb.– The International dinner at ‘Bistro @ 310’, a fundraising effort for the Rotary Foundation. This is a partners’ night, and a scheduled meeting of the club. So if you can come, [and Geoff Brentnall certainly hopes you can], you must register with him. In addition to partners, guests are most welcome. The address is 310 Moorabool St Geelong, 6.30 for 7.00, a Greek banquet with live music. $50 per head. Register with Geoff Brentnall no later than 22nd January – 5256 1527 or geoff.brentnell@eftel.net.au.
9th Feb.– Felicity Dales talks about her epic ride for the Amy Gillett Found’n from Canberra to Melbourne.
Car Raffle Sales Duties
Fri. 8th Jan. - Drysdale Safeway. AM Geoffrey Cummins. PM Charles Dawborn.
Fri. 8th Jan. - OG Safeway. AM Peter Hawthorne, Alison George, Alex Magee. PM John Paton
Sun. 10th Jan – APCO, BH AM Hans Franken, James Richini. PM Ian Bent.
Fri. 15th Jan – OG Safeway AM Margaret Campbell, Geoffrey Cummins. PM Dick Clay
Globalization [a definition kindly passed on to your editor by Gerry Spencer]------Princess Diana’s death
An English princess with an Egyptian boyfriend crashes in a French tunnel, driving a German car with a Dutch engine driven by a Belgian who was drunk on Scottish whisky, followed closely by Italian Paparazzi on Japanese motorcycles; treated by an American doctor using Brazilian medicines. This is sent to you by a Canadian, using American Bill Gates’s technology, and you’re probably reading it on your computer that uses Taiwanese chips and a Korean monitor, assembled by Bangladeshi workers in a Singapore plant, transported by Indian truck drivers, hijacked by Indonesians, unloaded by Sicilian wharfies and trucked to you by God knows who. That, my fellow Rotarians, is globalization
Landmarks and turning points in Rotary’s history
1968 - First Rotaract club chartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, USA.
1971 – Rotary Youth Leadership Awards [RYLA] officially adopted, based on a 1959 model in Queensland.
1978 - The network of Rotary regional magazines approved.
Mahem at the Market
Selling raffle tickets at the Portarlington market does not conjure up visions of drama or excitement, but, there is always the unexpected!. Wal Kelly & John Fox were on duty on 27th December, when the comparative peace and tranquillity of an otherwise uneventful Sunday morning, [although we did sell 19 books], was shattered in the following manner;
A motorized wheelchair driven by an elderly lady collided with and knocked down, a small boy, right beside our marquee, causing temporary distress to child and mother, but little damage to the child, the driver, the mother or the wheelchair. At the same time, and only a few metres away, four nondescript dogs decided to engage in a fracas [equally brief], and all that time, a novelty goods salesman at a nearby stall, continued to take advantage of a favourable breeze to spray soap bubbles over all of us! We all survived.
Notice for the familiarization and pizza night at the Ocean Grove Lookout, Tues, 12th Jan, 6.00 for 6.30 This is at the southern end of the Lookout Reserve Rd. off Orton Street, where the club plans to instal a memorial garden.. Bring drinks and chair. Chairman Geoff Chandler Subject Adventure in Service
Assistant Cashier John Dodgshun
Birthdays & Anniversaries 13th Noel & Trish Emselle 14th Geoff & Jan Chandler 17th James Richini.
What’s the Difference? Between the Prince of Wales, a bald man and a monkey’s mother?
Answer - The Prince of Wales is heir apparent, a bald man has no hair apparent, and a monkey’s mother is a hairy parent. Sorry about that.
Why must we be so shy about what we do in the community?
After checking out the locality of the Amy Gillett Ride drinks station on the Bluff Road at Barwon Heads, your editor drove on about 500 metres to two adjoining walking tracks on the western side of the bluff. One was well gravelled and clearly signposted, leading to the bluff lookout. The other [unmarked] led west along the coastal cliff to the excellent wooden walkway overlooking one of the most beautiful bits of ocean scenery anywhere along the south coast. Our Rotary club constructed that walkway less than two years ago, and we should be extremely proud of it.
It is marked by a small, nondescript, 12cm square wooden plaque at each end of the walkway, into which is inserted an even more nondescript and badly corroded metal Rotary wheel. No mention of the Ocean Grove Rotary club, either at the entrance to the walkway, or anywhere along it. Why do we do perform such excellent public service work, and then don’t bother to promote it in any way? We didn’t even bother to give it a formal opening!
ROTARY AT WORK New vocational service award will recognize the efforts of district governors.
The new Rotary International Vocational Service Leadership Award recognizes district governors who incorporate discussions about vocational service and ethical behaviour into leadership development activities. To qualify, district governors must conduct a forum that addresses points such as encouraging Rotarians to join business associations to promote ethical decision making, using Rotarian expertise to help develop the vocational skills of others, and including ethics as part of vocational service.
District governors may apply at any time during their year in office. Special consideration will be given to district governors who include sessions in Rotary Youth Leadership Awards [RYLA] events to help youth job-seeking skills. Our recent attempts to create student mentorship arrangements and job application skills have failed.
Notice for the meeting in Alison George’s garden, 20 Trethowan Avenue, Marcus Hill on 19th January
This is to be a partners’ night, 6.30 for 7.00. Your partner is assumed to be coming, and if not, you must inform Alison [not Hans]. You must also register any guests with Alison, as we need to have an accurate head count. Many of you will stuff it up [as usual], but we continue to live in hope of an accurate registration.
Registration desk Chairman Gerry Spencer, plus any unaccompanied Rotarian of his persuasion.
Birthdays & Anniversaries
22nd Margaret Campbell. 24th John & Shirley Dodgshun. 25th Heather Grimmett. and, because there is no meeting on the 26th, -it is Australia Day, -31st John Wynn, & 1st Feb. Peter Hawthorne
Three fascinating, but otherwise quite useless pieces of information.
- A male Kodiak bear is gigantic – over 3 metres tall.
- If a shark is turned upside down, it will go into a state of paralysis, known as tonic immobility, for up to 15 minutes. Try it!.
- Giraffes, camels and cats are the only animals that walk by moving both their left feet together, then both their right feet together.
John Fox, 2130, 05/01/2010
