| AUGUST | : | MEMBERSHIP MONTH - Chair TBC |
| 6/08/2020 | : | *Meeting (Zoom) Paul Harris Presentations |
| 10/08/2020 | [MON] Board Meeting (Zoom-7pm) | |
| 13/08/2020 | : | *Meeting (Zoom) Helen Kaptein (Curator/ Educator Officer of Maryborough Gallery) |
| 20/08/2020 | : | *Meeting (Zoom) New Members Speaking |
| 27/08/2020 | : | *Meeting (Zoom) Committees - Service & Governance |
Being the fifth Thursday of the Month, last Thursday evening was designated as a Fun Night at Rotary. After members were shown a YouTube clip of a rather "wild" looking and sounding Scottish Bagpipe band, chair John Williamson made use of the Zoom "Random Breakout Groups" feature, and all members found themselves in a Breakout "room" with a couple of other members where they were invited to assess the possibility of our club importing the band for the 2021 Highland Gathering. After the breakouts, members voted using the Zoom Polling feature - with an indecisive result - but we all agreed we would love to be in the Highland Society Board Room when the video of the band was shown to organizers with our club proposal to sponsor them! We also watched a Covid-19 ditty sung to the tune of "Islands in the Stream". Thanks to President Alison and Chair John for a fun night.
Maryborough Rotary Club’s new president, Carisbrook’s Alison Teese, intends to combine creativity and the use of modern technology throughout her 12-month term as the world copes with the COVID-19 pandemic. A member of the club for nearly eight years, Ms Teese, took over as president from Leigh Williamson at a changeover meeting, held online at the end of June. Ms Teese said she had never envisaged being president when, in 2012, she responded to a call from the club for more women members. “I never joined with the view to becoming an office bearer, I was just keen to get involved in their fundraising, their friendship and particularly interested in Rotary as an international organisation,” she said. Ms Teese said the wellbeing of the club during COVID-19 is her first priority as president, and with that in mind video conferencing would play a major role. “The first thing is to keep everyone safe and happy within the club and to take advantage of going to online meetings like Zoom,” she said. While Zoom meetings were taking place for the health and comfort of club members, they also offered a wealth of other opportunities; one of these being meeting with other Rotary clubs, both within their district and overseas. “Our district runs from Maryborough to Swan Hill to Mt Gambier and all the way back to Geelong,” she said. “It’s a big district and of course we don’t get to see a lot of these clubs. “Now we’ve got this opportunity to share meetings and speakers, and also with overseas clubs, that we really always wanted to do, but were involved in our dinner meetings program.” She is also excited about the prospect of utilising video conferencing to get good guest speakers, who would normally not be able to make a trip to Maryborough, for their meetings. She said they have already begun doing this and were able to have Hugh Bucknall from the Melbourne Rotary at the changeover meeting to hear what the club was doing. Ms Teese said members have taken on board a comment made during Mr Bucknall’s talk to ‘never waste a crisis; you learn when things are tough’, seeing it as a challenge to exercise their creativity. (Written By Lurlene Salmon)
At last Thursday's meeting, International Chair, Murray Henderson and Community Chair, Martin Mackay provided an overview of their committee's strategic objectives for the coming year - given the limitations imposed by the pandemic. The International committee certainly has plans to provide funds for an overseas project and re-introduce the toasts to an international Rotary club, but, after discussion, they will explore even some projects they thought might be shelved such as a movie night, not in the movie theatre, but possibly through an online streaming service. The Community committee will push ahead with a number of their projects, but after a long discussion, there were concerns expressed about the club's legal vulnerability and status for any projects where our Rotary sign implies ongoing responsibility for the cause e.g. at Dowie Park and the section of the Highway that Rotary cleans up. The feeling of the meeting seemed to be that we can safely have a sign that says we donated something, but we should remove all signs and get out of agreements that suggest an ongoing arrangement. This follows criticism of our club on Facebook because the Ballarat road looks messy. This doesn't stop our club members from "doing good" by still cleaning up the area, but we need to be careful with signs.
Last Thursday, Rotarian John Sedunary coordinated presentations of 2020-21 club objectives from both the Youth and Vocational Committees. Both committees presented their objectives to all the members present, and some vigorous, interesting discussion followed as to the objectives we should place as highest priority in this year of the Pandemic. In the process, John reminded us all that we, as individual Rotarians, and as Rotary committees will always be most effective with our Rotary service when we have a clear idea of "why" we do what we do. It is the "why" that taps into our beliefs, and when we know "why", we will be far more passionate and influential as Rotary members. John also suggested that, for this year, the Youth and Vocational committees consider the possibility of working together on some key joint projects that have similar aims. The two committees plan to meet in the next week or so to consider the possibilities.
Last Monday, Brian Reed, friend Joe La Greca, and I travelled to Welshmans Reef to visit Ron Snep at his “ Welshmans Reef “ vineyards. Brian had a plan to run a wine tasting fundraiser for Maryborough Rotary, and so had arranged with Ron to sample some of his wines. Brian had persuaded Joe and I to accompany him, to help relieve some of the burden of having to sample all of Ron’s delicious wines on his own! Ron Snep will be known to many Maryborough Rotarians- he has been growing and bottling his own grapes for many years, as well as bottling wine for many other local growers. We sampled six reds and four whites, all of which would be well suited to what Brian has in mind. Brian has been liaising with Candice as to how the Club might get up online wine sales. Watch this space for further developments - All the very best, from PP Leigh
Last Thursday, Rotarian Frances Clark, CEO of GELC, talked about the Second Wave - of Food. During the Covid crisis, GELC has been providing food for local people in need, but the belief is that the need will become greater once Government assistance finished in September. Then there will be a "Second Wave" of need for support. GELC has certainly been busy. They are cooking and distributing 200 meals a week, along with parcels of staple food products. They were fortunate to receive government funding to employ two workers for six months to assist the process - one chef, and a driver. Asked whether the service needs more financial assistance, Frances said, "Not right now, but almost certainly in September during the Second Wave".
PP Garry Higgins provided an update at last Thursday's meeting of the latest developments with the Club's Family Violence Program. For new members, Garry provided an overview of the history of the program - how it arose out of a Strategic Planning day when members were looking for some way the club could meaningfully support the local community. Whilst there were some initial concerns over whether the project was suitable for a Rotary club, support grew and the program was officially launched at the Highland Society with guest speaker, Phil Cleary. That launch was a catalyst for letters of support to flood in from all over the world and the profile of the program grew significantly in Australia - so much so, that our club was the only non-legal organization invited to report at the Royal Commission on Family Violence. Since then, many forms of flyers, posters, wallet cards, public signs, videos and social media posts have helped to raise awareness of the problem, and challenge Australians to, in the terms of the hash tag, #SayNO2familyviolence. However, many Rotary clubs and other organizations have asked how they could use the Maryborough model in their own communities, so a long time goal of the club's Family Violence committee has been to make a package of templates, guidelines and wisdom available to communities all over the world. That goal took a big step forward when the club recently committed $14,000 for Arc Ventures to prepare such a package. Garry's hope is that the first drafts of the package will be available in a month or so. The club has also put in for a Rotary District Grant in conjunction with the Rotary clubs of Horsham and Horsham East to build an accompanying web-site that will assist in the distribution of materials.
For our first Zoom meeting with President Alison, members watched a video of new Rotary International President, Holger Knaack's address to the 2020-21 Virtual Rotary Convention. In line with his Rotary theme, "Rotary Opens Opportunities", Holger encouraged members to see the Covid-19 as an opportunity to grow Rotary in new ways. To illustrate the point, members also watched some video footage from the Convention showing Rotary clubs around the world working during the Pandemic to assist communities affected by Covid-19. To round off the meeting, we watched a video from Australian Pop Opera group, Aria, presenting "The Prayer" at the Virtual Convention, and enjoyed an elimination game conducted by July Meeting Chair, John Williamson. After the game, there was some useful, animated discussion amongst members concerning likely local and national scenarios during the next twelve months in this Covid-19 World - some fairly bleak, others quite positive - all, very valuable. All in all, a great start to our new Rotary year.
Almost fifty members and friends zoomed in last Thursday to see Past President Leigh Williamson hand over the reins of Maryborough Rotary to Alison Teese OAM. The second picture shows Alison pointing to her new President's badge. Guest speaker for the evening was Hugh Bucknall (circled) from Melbourne Rotary, and Chair of the Australian Rotary Centenary committee. Hugh talked about the Centenary celebrations planned for 2023 and encouraged members to join in for the launch of the program on July 10th (See the notice below). He also talked about some of the ways Melbourne Rotary has been dealing with the Pandemic such as getting guest speakers from around the world, and offering members the opportunity to purchase a "virtual" seat at their virtual meetings ranging from $60 down to $10. With this income, the club has been able to help people in need e.g. to pay an out of work tradesman to do renovation work for an out of work family that couldn't afford to get essential repairs completed. Alison revealed, when introducing Hugh, that he has connections with the Bucknalls in the Maryborough area.
Thank
you all of you members of Maryborough Rotary, Family and Friends for your warm welcome and for having confidence that I can serve Rotary.
Indeed, it is an honour to be the President of Maryborough Rotary and it is humbling to be following in the line of fine Past Presidents who have lead the way and who encouraged me to join Maryborough Rotary in November, 2012.
My life and interests have been focused on the land with farming, agriculture, conservation, and social justice issues, I hope to add value to our work in Rotary with these interests.
Our world is experiencing the COVID-19 pandemic and this is affecting us all in our lives, our communities and in all countries in ways we did not imagine – what opportunities.
I commend to you our Maryborough Rotary 2019-2023 Strategic Plan and 2020-21 Action Plan which has been developed by our Club of over 45 members. The plan is available on our website and will be sent to all members.
Most important, we thank Leigh for his wonderful year as President, and we thank Jan for all her support to Leigh. Thank you all, and I look forward to working with you as President.
you all of you members of Maryborough Rotary, Family and Friends for your warm welcome and for having confidence that I can serve Rotary.Indeed, it is an honour to be the President of Maryborough Rotary and it is humbling to be following in the line of fine Past Presidents who have lead the way and who encouraged me to join Maryborough Rotary in November, 2012.
My life and interests have been focused on the land with farming, agriculture, conservation, and social justice issues, I hope to add value to our work in Rotary with these interests.
Our world is experiencing the COVID-19 pandemic and this is affecting us all in our lives, our communities and in all countries in ways we did not imagine – what opportunities.
I commend to you our Maryborough Rotary 2019-2023 Strategic Plan and 2020-21 Action Plan which has been developed by our Club of over 45 members. The plan is available on our website and will be sent to all members.
Most important, we thank Leigh for his wonderful year as President, and we thank Jan for all her support to Leigh. Thank you all, and I look forward to working with you as President.
Fellow Rotarians and friends,
I would like to take this opportunity to say what a terrific Maryborough Rotary Changeover Zoom meeting the Club held on the evening of Thursday 25 th of June - well done to meeting Chair Geoff James, and Secretary Thea . Congratulations, and best wishes, to President Alison, and her board, on accepting their roles, and I wish them all the very best, in a year that will have some quite different challenges to anything that has gone before. I have had an extremely enjoyable and fulfilling year as your President, and my job was certainly made easier to have a board, membership, and friends, who were at all times supportive, hard working, and a pleasure to work with.
Our Club has had a very good year over many aspects.
We have had good attendances at all of our dinner meetings, and zoom meetings from late March, and enjoyed many interesting guest speakers.
I feel our Club has had a very good year in terms of our youth programmes, (Chair Graeme Rogan ) our signature Sayno2familyviolence programme, ( Chair Garry Higgins) and the Foundation, ( Chair Derrick Marsden )
Our membership increased by a net four ( well against the trend in the English speaking Rotary world) and importantly , some of the new members were in the younger age bracket.
The Clubs fundraising was strong - we held two extremely successful bike rides (many thanks to Peter Haywood for his wonderful organisation) , a Rock and Roll dance at the Town Hall ( thanks to Jackie and Shane Dellavedova) , Oaks Day fundraiser at the Highland Society with 160 guests, ( Alison Teese , Esther Waters , Robyn Jennings and Jan Williamson did a huge job ) two film nights at the Paramount Theatre, a Cooking for a Cause dinner ( thanks to Louise Hanby D Wynn and Chanaka ) a strong fundraiser at Carisbrook Harness Raceway in aid of Family Violence, ( Bob Butterfield, Chris Frahn and Committee) a very well attended by members Bunnings BBQ at Kangaroo Flat, ( thanks to Robyn and Brian Reed), and a terrific New Years Eve Dance, ( Meryl and Geoff James again to the fore )
The Energy Break Through in November was well attended by many members and friends, and was its usual strong financial result.
The Swap Meet at Ballarat was also well attended by members and friends, and was a good money earner - Derrick Marsden was there for every minute the meet was open , and more. Well done Derrick.
One fundraiser that typified our members and friends willingness and commitment , was catering for breakfast at the curiously named “ Chopped “ event , held at the Carisbrook Raceway. We were invited to do the catering late on a Wednesday, and by 6am on the Saturday morning , the Club was in full swing. Many members and friends gave many hours, at short notice. We served 700 breakfasts over the two mornings, and raised around $3,000. A wonderful effort !
The funds were distributed over a varied range of causes and projects. Some I have listed.
Maryborough Rotary gave $10,000 to aid in the establishment of the Maryborough Aeromedical Transfer Station ( donation foreshadowed in 2018 - 2019 ) in November, at a launch at the Highland Society.
The Board approved a quote for $12,000 , from ARC Ventures , to produce a “ toolkit” for our Sayno2familyviolence program.
There was a number of Youth Programs that received substantial funding , among them Defy the Drift ( six local students involved) and two students to the National Youth Science Forum.
The Club gave funding to Gippsland Fire Aid, after the disastrous bushfires around the New Year.
Involvement and engagement in all of these activities means that our members and friends enjoyed a lot of fellowship, camaraderie, and fun through the year, which is so important for our Club to prosper.
It us unfortunate that the pandemic impacted on all of us in March. It is testament to our Club's resilience, that we continue to function , when many community organizations are not. Maryborough Rotary will be in a strong position when conditions return to some form of normality, hopefully sooner rather than later.
I will submit more detail for my annual report, which I hope our club can have printed into hard copy, as a more tangible reminder of what it means to be a member of Maryborough Rotary. I will however, thank Thea Allan for all of her hard work as Secretary, and note her ongoing commitment in the role for President Alison.Well done Thea. Also to Geoff James , for editing the Bulletin for the year, and for all of the other “heavy lifting “ he does for our Club. Thanks to Graeme Rogan, for his great work as Youth Chair, but also doing a great job as Treasurer, with challenging software to master.And to the rest of the Board, Meryl James, Anthony Ohlson, Derrick Marsden, Brian Reed, Bob Butterfield, Chris Frahn, Martin Mackay, and Garry Higgins, many thanks for your hard work, and support. And a special mention to Peter Haywood, for acting as Program Director, and coming up with all of the interesting guest speakers we had throughout the year.
And finally, to Jan , for all of her hard work and support throughout the Rotary year.
All the very best,
from Past President Leigh.
Last Thursday, 31 club members and guests (our largest Zoom gathering) tune in to hear the CEO of the Central Goldfields Shire, Lucy Roffey. Lucy talked about the trend towards a more collaborative and participative style of government in modern Councils, and the preparations being made for the Council elections to be held later this year - the first Council elections since governance of the shire was taken over by Administrators, several years ago. Lucy outlined how the rules have changed in recent years, including the fact that every person who stands for election must now participate in prior training to prepare themselves for the role. Once in the Council, the training continues to prepare councillors for the types of decisions they will be called on to make. Lucy revealed that a Shire Council is rather unique in its scope - Councils must make decisions in over forty significantly different areas from road maintenance to childcare centres to home help for the elderly. Lucy encouraged club members to seriously consider standing for Council once the call for nominations goes out.On a separate note, last Thursday's meeting was the last "home and away" meeting of current President, Leigh Williamson. Thanks Leigh for a great job in keeping our meetings lively, and enjoyable throughout the year - particularly during our Zooming months. Next Thursday, everyone is invited to attend our Club Changeover - also on Zoom - when we will induct the 2020-21 President, Alison Teese OAM.
Last Thursday, our members heard from Maryborough's new Salvation Army Captain, Ronald Stobie. Ronald arrived last December and has had a baptism of fire with the Covid 19 lockdown. He indicated that the Salvation Army has been assisting a whole range of new clients since the crisis started. As the distributor of Government based grants the Salvo's have been providing bill paying support, assistance with accommodation, case management, financial counselling and general "TLC". Capt. Ronald co-ordinates an "army" of around 150 volunteers in completing this community work. Ronald believes we have yet to see the worst of the crisis. Once government support is cut back in coming months, many people will struggle to cope with not only less income for necessities, but a lack of knowledge on how to change your lifestyle and "make do" with less. Ronald's advice is that if we know of anyone who is struggling, they should be directed to any of the local support services as soon as possible because problems get much harder to deal with the longer they are allowed to continue. If any members would like to support the Salvo's through their current online "Red Shield" appeal, see the details below.
Last Thursday, we enjoyed our first International speaker at our Zoomed Rotary meetings. James Williamson, son of President Leigh was good enough to get up at 3.30am in Minneapolis and speak to our members about his experiences in that city during the recent and current "Black Lives Matter" crisis. James lives just across the road from a business that was all boarded up to try and prevent looting, and his wife's father is a Drug Store owner whose business was looted during the times of unrest. It was valuable to hear from someone living in the midst of the protests and yet, being an Australian, sufficiently removed from the event to have a balanced perspective on the issue. Thank you President Leigh for organizing this link up. Next week, we'll try and get Donald Trump to speak to us...no, just joshin'. But this overseas speaker caper is an option we haven't had before Zoom.
