Lions International Convention, Carisbrook 2018
Lions International held their District Convention at the Maryborough Trotting Complex, Flagstaff November 9,10 and 11. 150 people registered, and they had a Free Public Health Forum from 12 -2pm on Saturday.
There were many stalls showing Lions programs, very similar to those that Rotary run, Exchange, Peace, Health Lions cakes etc as well as Allied Health stalls for Diabetes, Children’s Cancer, Eye Health and Vision screening, Alzheimers, Crime Watch Disaster Response and Hair Library. There were also a couple of CPR dummies to step over or stop and learn
There was a Tai Chi demonstration which was enjoyed by all.
David Heath is a Nurse Practitioner from Bendigo Health and he spoke about Prostate Cancer. . Men need to be proactive, especially if there is any family history of breast or prostate cancer Lions are raising funds for a Trans Perineal Ultrasound machine to be placed in Bendigo This will help country people enormously and mean they won’t have to go to Melbourne or Adelaide for care.
Professor Ralph Martins AO spoke passionately about Maggie Beer‘s cookbook Recipes for Life for Aged Care facilities. Maggie says our elderly still need good food, so they can participate in activities which keep them moving. Maggie’s cook book is available.
Julie Davey wrote her “A is for Attitude” book in 1998. She sold two printings and then offered it to Random House, who printed 10,000 copies, sold 3.000 and were going to sell the rest on the throw-out table. Julie sold her house, bought the remaining books, a four-wheel drive and a caravan and has been tasking her books to schools around Australia. By working with Grade threes, Julie is helping them to build resilience and skills, so they can cope with their teenage years. The book has been taken up by a Singapore publishing house and is in available in 15 counties and many languages.
Belinda Hogg an Exercisologist in Maryborough spoke about Diabetes and how a good diet and exercise can prevent diabetes and help those who have it. About 10% of the population has Type 1 Diabetes which is treated with Insulin, Type 2, affecting about 85% of those with Diabetes is the fastest growing and Gestational Diabetes is also on the increase. iet and exercise helps here too
I commend Lions International for making this session open to the public. Terry and I enjoyed it and learnt something new.
Around 100 people attended last week's Oaks Day event raising in the vicinity of $2000 for the Maryborough Education Centre Literacy programs. As well as the crowd, pictured is PP Garry Higgins, with posy of flowers in one hand and a mike in the other interviewing an impressive Florist on how to attach flowers to a lady's hat - if only some of his Carlton team-mates could see him now.
PP John Caulfield was called upon to officiate at the club's 2018 Annual General Meeting last Thursday. The main business of the 10 minute meeting was to receive a financial report on the club's financial status - which is fine - and appoint the officers for the 2019-20 Rotary Year. Officers elected were Leigh Williamson as President, Bob Butterfield as President Elect, Thea Allan as Secretary, Graeme Rogan as Treasurer, Derrick Marsden as Foundation chair, Garry Higgins as Membership Chair, Chris Frahn as Public Image Chair, Martin Mackay as Community Chair, Alison Teese as International Chair, Mallee Rowe as Youth Chair and Geoff James as Vocational Chair. We still need a Fundraising Chair and a President Nominee (to become President in July, 2021) - Interested? Please see Leigh ASAP.
Past President Derrick provided an interesting review of the history and work of Rotary's Foundation at last Thursday's meeting. He reminded members of the fact that we are in sight of ridding the world of Polio, and providing millions of dollars to support projects of peace, economic development, provision of clean water, literacy and education and maternal and child welfare. He then showed an inspiring video of Rotary's work through the Foundation - a video that could be heard clearly through our new Soundbar speaker.
Last Thursday, Terry Welch, CEO of the Maryborough and District Health Service thanked Rotary for its support through the Family Violence Program. Terry reported to members that it was largely because of the #SayNO program that the hospital recently received its "High Commendation" status in the State wide awards for Hospitals. Terry also presented to President Meryl and our club a "Community Partnership Recognition" certificate for our general support and collaboration over the last year.
Rotarian David Hare commenced his period as Meeting Chair in style last Thursday, when he employed his son Hamish to play the bagpipes as our "call to order" music for our meeting. That's going to be a hard act to follow! Thank you, Hamish, please come again!
Our #SayNO2familyviolence committee held another of their fundraising and awareness raising days at the Maryborough Harness Racing club on Sunday. The races as well as the #SayNO message were spread far and wide through television coverage. Each race name had an ant-family violence message. Pictured are our Rotarians, Terry and Thea presenting their trophy to the winners of the race they sponsored called the "#SHOWTOLERANCE PACE".
Quite a number of Rotarians and supporters attended the Paramount Cinemas on Thursday night to see the "World Premiere" screening of "Bohemian Rhapsody" - an enthralling biography of Freddie Mercury, the lead singer of Queen. The movie apparently took almost eight years to produce and I reckon quite a bit of that time would've been spent by the lead actor getting the idiosyncrasies of Freddie down pat. Also the sound and technical expertise of the guy playing the lead guitarist part would have taken a lot of time to perfect - it was all very impressive. Also impressive would have been the amount raised for Polio by those who attended. Around 15 Rotarians met for tea at the Chinese Restaurant before the movie and that was also a very pleasant gathering. Thanks to Karen and the Foundation committee for organizing the event.
On Sunday, eight Rotarians (Terry and Thea, Garry, Chris, Martin, Leigh, Meryl and Geoff) provided sausages and hamburgers to the masses as part of this year's Spring Fling Carnival down at the Hockey field. We also reminded people about the programs of Rotary.
PP Graeme shares the plans of the Youth Committee at last week's Committee festival. We had reports from Service, Governance and even the Conference committee. See chairs from other committees by clicking on "Read more".
The Conference committee, under the new chairmanship of PP John Caulfield, has been working hard and has already met 19 times to make plans for next year's District Conference in March. Many aspects of the conference are already in place such as the venue, the themes, the Saturday night event, public address and media systems, and (almost) the program. At last week's meeting, Rotarian Alison OAM provided a brief overview of one Conference speaker, Dimity Hawkins who was part of the team that won the Nobel Peace Prize last year. Her story is quite inspiring. We will provide information on other speakers as we move closer to the event. Our next major task is to finalize the costings and set up the Conference website to take applications. Stay tuned to this space for the latest on how you can "Be Inspired" by the Golden Heart of Rotary next March 22nd.
Last Thursday, our members enjoyed presentations by three impressive young people from Year 11 at Highview College. Kate Winkelmann provided an update on her preparation for attendance at the National Youth Science Forum next January, whilst Sam Matthews and Keltyn Rinaldi provided us with a review of their recent attendance at the Defy the Drift program. Click "Read more" for more pix.
AG Martin, President Meryl and PP Graeme pictured with some of the young people at the Leadership Instruction for Indigenous Teens (LIFT) camp at the Blue Light Camp site at Maldon - conducted from October 19th to 22nd by the Police and supported by our club.
You have to eat and Rotarians also eat, so look for them everywhere.
Members enjoyed a fun night at Peppa's Restaurant last Thursday whilst raising funds for Australian Rotary Hat Day. Fun coordinator, Tracey Smith provided a program which included drawing competitions and making up verses to songs, along with an auction for a dozen eggs! Click "Read more" for more pictures.
Our members enjoyed a presentation last Thursday from our most recent member, David Allman, who spoke about his work as a Salvation Army Captain and the particular needs of the people of Maryborough. Members were enthusiastic about David's suggestion that members could bring items for the amenity packs that can be presented to people in need by "Salvo" social workers. David is going to make weekly suggestions for things to bring, so when you're shopping, you might like to purchase one or two extra items for the packs and bring them along to Rotary.
As his Vocational talk, PP Derrick shared his intense experiences with organizing the upcoming festival for the Fellowship of Cricketing Rotarians. Originally expecting around 100 Rotarians, mostly from Australia, Derrick finds himself planning for well over 200, most of whom are from India. This has brought with it a whole range of extra expectations and duties. We know he is looking forward to the event, but we also know Derrick will be glad when it is over!
Once again our Service and Governance committees were hard at work last Thursday planning upcoming events. Thursday was also the final night for Meeting chair, Peter Haywood who completed his month with a very funny joke. He also managed the "Swindle" when the jackpot prize was finally won by yet another visitor to the club, this time, a grandson of Thea and Terry's. Thanks for a great month, Peter.
