On October 22nd, local nurse, Heather Blazko shared a moving story of the life of her mother, Judy Gibbs, who was struck down with Polio as an infant during the 1937-38 Polio Epidemic. (See the picture in the "Read more..." section) Judy was taken to hospital soon after developing polio symptoms, and did not leave hospital isolation for the next six years.

At the October 22nd meeting, Austin Taylor was inducted as the newest member of Maryborough Rotary. Membership chair, Tracey,  performed the induction and reported that Austin will serve with the classification of "Advertising/ Marketing" having recently retired from the Shell Petroleum company as their Advertising Manager. Austin is pictured receiving his Rotary pin from his wife, Vicki and the two of them, fortunately for us, deliberately chose Maryborough as their place to retire. We look forward to working with Austin and Vicki in the years to come.

October 24th is World Polio Day, so at Thursday's meeting, Foundation Chair Derrick provided an overview of Rotary's work with Polio over the years. Rotary, with its partners, has since 1985, inoculated over two and a half billion children against the wild polio virus, and Rotary itself has contributed over US$2.1 billion to the Polio cause. On August 25th, the WHO announced that Africa is finally Polio free, and Polio now only exists in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Well done, Rotary! Let's finish the job!

Click the picture to watch the video on YouTube or click this link:

Rotary will be 100 years old in Australia next year.

This is a big deal for Rotary in Australia, and Maryborough Rotary is looking for ideas for a community project to celebrate this milestone.

 

Inspired by the efforts of PP Leigh Williamson, President Alison announced on Thursday that we would resume our Rotary tradition of "Heads and Tails" at our meetings. Alison will deliver the mystery prizes to winners as circumstances allow, and the first winner was PP Martin, pictured receiving his prize from our Prez. (See the game in action in "Read more..."

On October 17th, local environmentalist, Tony Macer inspired our members to become more active in looking after our planet. Soon after the birth of his first grandchild, Tony couldn't sleep because of his concerns for the world into which that child would grow, and from that moment on, he has dedicated himself to making others aware of environmental problems.

At the October 15th meeting, PDG Anthony toasted the Rotary Club of Elmira in upper state New York. Anthony knows a few of the members there after participating in a Rotary Friendship Exchange with them. The Elmira club was founded in 1916.

At the October 8th meeting, our club conducted its first poll on Zoom and we discovered that 69% of members in attendance actually read the, "Read more..." bits on our bulletin; and 69% claimed they might watch a video of our meetings if it was posted on YouTube.

 

On October 8th, PP Garry Higgins OAM presented a paper to members which included a proposal to the Board that the club performs a "Diagnostic-reset" for its operations during the Covid-19 period. Garry argued that this Covid period is a real opportunity for the club to make itself more relevant in the community.

At our October 8th meeting, past member and president of our club, Brian Thomas proposed a toast to the Rotary Club of Ystad, in Sweden which meets every Thursday at the Hotel Fritiden (pictured)

On October 1st, the current district chair of the Australian Rotary Health (ARH) organization, Catherine Eagleson, Past President from Drysdale Rotary, briefed members on the work of ARH, and on her work as a puzzle creator raising funds for this valued Rotary project. See more by clicking "Read more..."

Members may have noticed that the bulletin (and our new-look" website)  now only provides a brief sentence or two summary of each article, with the details and further photographs being discovered by clicking the "Read more..." link in the bottom right hand corner. Have you been clicking that link? Also, do you see any value in having a video of our week Zoom meeting available to watch if you do not make the meeting? As an example, you can watch the October 1st meeting by clicking this link: https://youtu.be/GOgtel9x4Os

At the September 24th meeting, PP Garry Higgins led club members in a planning exercise to consider how our club should move forwards in a world of "Covid normal". Garry indicated that the exercise was one he had conducted in his own business. Members were divided into 3 groups to consider a set of questions that will guide our future plans. See "Read more..." for details

October is Rotary's Economic and Community Development Month - a time to reflect on Rotary's great work in these areas. See "Read more..." for more details.

Over a thousand Rotarians from around the world including several from our own club attended the Zone 8 Virtual District Conference last week-end (September 19th - 20th). Participants were treated to some of the best speakers in the Rotary world including International President, Holger Knaack who opened the event on Saturday, and PDG Jessie Harman who closed the event on Sunday. See "Read more..." for a link to watch the conference.

At the September 17th meeting, members watched an introductory video about the "Indigenous Literacy Foundation", the DG Partner's project for 2020-21. The program supplies books to children in remote communities, promotes early literacy and produces books in indigenous languages.

At our September 17th meeting, in the absence of our planned speaker, Maree Stephenson, who was unable to attend, new member, Max Berry stepped up to the "plate" and provided members with an entertaining overview of his working life journey. See the details and another photo by clicking "Read more..."

As part of our series of toasts to International Rotary Clubs, PP Derrick proposed a toast last Thursday to the Rotary Club of Katmandoo in Nepal. Katmandoo was the first Rotary club in Nepal in 1958, and now there are around 70 clubs in Nepal with over 2000 members - so many members, in fact, that in 1996-7, Nepal was granted its own Rotary District status - District 3290. The first District Governor was Tehmas R. Manekshaw, a member of the Katmandoo club, and Derrick and Karen met this gentleman when they visited Nepal recently as part of the Seven Sisters Program.

On September 10th, club members were treated to an entertaining and informative talk by popular author and journalist, John Harms. Harms has written several books including the biography of Michelle Payne. Read details of John's talk and get further links by clicking, "Read more..."

Members moved very easily into "fun" mode last Thursday as the club held its very first "Mask-erade Parade". Masks ranged from the Covid-19 variety to full-on Venetian Masquerade masks, but "Mask Judge", Esther determined that the most exciting masks were those worn by PP Thea and Rotarian Trace.