First of all…
We were very happy to welcome back for a visit, Peter Flude from the Rotary Club of Beaumaris (Victoria). We also had my brother Robert visiting us on the tail end of his three-month tour of the Middle East (including Lebanon, Beirut, Turkey and Iran).
Also joining us was David W’s guest, Peter Sackett. We also had apologies from Peter F.
Hopefully, everybody has had an opportunity to read Peter C’s business plan for the raffle so we can discuss it at the meeting.
November dates to note…
Tom B has a birthday on November 28
David W and Kathy have their 28th wedding anniversary on November 28
David L’s wife Maree has a birthday on November 29
Peter C and Vicki have their 23rd wedding anniversary on November 29
Arthur C and Hilary have their 36th wedding anniversary on November 30
Last Week’s Meeting (November 17, 2009)…
We opened up with David W taking the H&T.
At this point we realised that Rob B had entirely neglected to pay for his dinner! And then Anthony J admitted that he’d forgotten too! Sorry guys, but I had to officially log that.
Anthony J let us know that that he’d received some correspondence from the Mitchell Conservatorium of Music that they’ve awarded the scholarship that we donate every year has been awarded to Nicola James, who plays the viola.
David W gave us an update on the meeting he attended with RC Bathurst Daybreak about the district conference. He told us that things are sounding really good. All they wanted was a few more details on the round of golf that Bob has been organising for them. Bob P said that he’d clarify whatever they needed.
I also understand that Rob B, Adam S, and Danielle B had a meeting about the Australia Day duck race we’re organising. I’m not sure what was covered at the meeting but if any Rotarians want more details they should contact any of these three.
There was also some discussion of the meeting schedule over the next few weeks. We’ll be doing a tour of the Bell Tower on December 1 and Greg S will be giving of a tour of Devro on Dec 8. While Sally was not in attendance, apparently she and Danielle will be getting some suggestions for the Christmas party together. Please correct me if I’ve got that wrong…
For New Year’s Eve we won’t be doing a BBQ but will be doing something with the parking for the city. David N and I will be liaising with Danielle on this. More details to come…
On Saturday, December 12, the city will be doing a Garage Sale on Mount Panorama. There’s a great potential to spin to money with gold coin donations for parking but we’ll need A LOT of Rotarians. We’ll run it in two shifts: first shift from 7 a.m. to 9:30 and then from 9:30 to 12 noon. PLEASE EVERYBODY KEEP THE MORNIG OF DECEMBER 12 OPEN.
David W then introduced his guest to the club, Peter Sackett. Peter did his apprenticeship in the mid 1970’s as a mechanical engineer working on manufacturing machines. He did it part and it took him 9 years! His first job was in Bundaberg ensuring the trains kept running. The trains were transporting a million tonnes of sugar cane each year along 500 kilometres of tracks. He describes that job as playing with the ultimate train set.
In 1986 he moved to Bathurst to work as a development engineer at Uncle Ben’s. He then moved to Parks to work at Australian Topmaking Services in 1995. But in 2000 he said that he got sick of the 24/7 factory jobs… jobs where he’d get called at almost any time of the day or night if a machine went down. So after 25 years, he finally went into business for himself and formed a mechanical engineering consulting group: Central Design and Engineering.
His firm has done components of the Mount Panorama race control tower and the pit redesign, the Bathurst Visitor Information Centre, the Carillion Bell Tower, parts of the new hospital (just the steel work and NOT the design), and the Bathurst Aquatic Centre.
He started out with four people and is now up to 24 engineers. He then started outsourcing his IT department which has now become a separate computing firm. Then he expanded further into an energy management firm. And what started as their own in house printing is now a called Print Flow. I was truly amazed how he took his original small firm and spun it further and further using whatever came along that seemed like a good idea. And his philosophy that it’s easier to replace clients than it is to replace staff was really outstanding; you need to take care of people.
This week’s meeting (November 24)…
I think this meeting will be about discussing the duck race. We can’t miss getting the local schools involved so we’ve got to start acting on this if this duck race is going to work as a fund raiser.
I also think there will be substantial discussion around Peter C’s business plan for the raffle.
In the coming weeks…
Dec 1st – Carillon Bell Tower (Rob B)
Dec 8th – Devro (Greg S)
Dec 15th - Chris B
Dec 22nd - Christmas Party
Dec 29th - No meeting
Jan 5th - No meeting
Jan 12th – Rob B to organise am informal cycling/walking BBQ River Park
Jan 19th - Steve E to organise a family BBQ and activities
Jan 26th – Committee - Aust day, duck race
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