Meeting for August 3, 2010

Apologies
Karl M …. (Maroochydore,Qld.);
Nev D …. (Burleigh, Qld.);
Sally B …. (Moruya, South Coast);
Anthony J …. (Orange)
Steve E …. (baby sitting duties)
Jack A …. Sick bed

Guests
Maree Richards (Pres. Bathurst East).

Dates of note…
Karl M has a birthday on August 4
Bob P has a birthday on August 10
David W’s wife Kathy has a birthday on August 10

Meeting of August 27th, 2010
First up, a note from the treasurer: annual fees are due to Bob P as soon as you can. We voted at the fastest board meeting ever that fees remain the same so it’ll be $250 for the year or $125 for the six months. The next board meeting is August 23 (though Pete spelled it "Bored meeting" in an email to me... not sure if by accident).

Heads and tails was won by Alan B (again, though only after some controversial coin flipping by Adam S) while the lucky door prize won by Frank S.

It was great to see Arthur C at the meeting. He usually arrives & wins the prizes – but not this time! I have to say that Arthur is another that we will not ask to sing; not for his singing effort but for his ‘please forgive me but I forgot the words’. Great to see the honesty here as he is not the first & certainly will not be the last in this situation. Speaking of singing, our singing is a bit off so maybe it could be a good opportunity for someone (those that complain the most) to organise a guest speaker for some singing lessons. (Blog editor nore: ...Or perhaps Pres Pete should just heed the advice of the members and only ask Rob B to sing…)

Reports
There’s still a “save the date” from Chris B for November 6 for our upcoming ‘high-class’ dinner.

Another ‘save the date’ is for the Edgell Jog on Sunday, September 12.

Rob B has a draft program that I should hopefully be posting in the blog next week.

Adam S has told us that we’ll be touring the community collage THIS WEEK so do not go to the RSL for the meeting. Light finger food will be available.

David N will be booking Warren Summerville to come to the meeting on August 17th to accept the Paul Harris Fellow. Note that this will be an evening for partners to come. It’s important that we make a good showing for this night so please make a special effort to attend.

We also need a FULL turn-out for the DG’s visit on August 31st though I think Alan B is planning to have the flu that week.

Adam S. gave us an update on the house for auction with further investigation required. Alan B has made a huge offer for a parcel of land at Trinity Heights & we thank him accordingly. The banks are still the biggest hurdle & again I sensed a vibe of excitement. There was a lot of information being thrown about by Adam S and Chris B about things I (Eric) have no idea about but if you’re interested in how the land has a 1.5m drop, "land equity" and "security" then contact Adam or Chris. An email came from Pres Pete on Friday arvo: "Had a phone call from PDG Irene Jones last Wednesday – it does not take long - to enquire about the house project. The story has it that she received a call from RI in Parramatta from a potential neighbour that a “Rotary House” was being built next door and there was concern that this may have been for a refuge or similar. I assured Irene that was not the case and no decision had yet been made on the matter. Irene was quite “chuffed” with the idea and advancement. Well done to Adam S. and Chris B."

Congratulations to Danielle B. for winning the “pull up banner” design. I really think it was unanimous decision without upsetting the other 2 entries put forward.


We had a “3-minute update” from Greg S. Congratulations to young Evan, son of Greg & Sharon whom represented first Victoria, & now Australia in the prestigious “Copper Cup” sponsored by Smirnoff. There are 10 in the team with Evan chosen as 2nd picked & will be travelling to Holland for the world titles. We wish him well & no doubt Greg S will keep us updated.

Communication has started with the Bathurst Regional Council in relation to the erection of a new service clubs sign. This is in discussion now with the three Rotary Clubs acting as one. The combined Rotary Clubs of Bathurst would like to encourage BRC to formulate a design for appropriate and consistent signage to be placed at each entrance to the city as part of any entrance structure, and the Clubs would like to be involved in the preparation of the design, and possibly even the construction of the signs and/or the entrance, as a community service project.

I (Pres Pete) was saddened to receive mail of the passing of PDG John Clough. John had 50 years of Rotary service and a few of our elder members would certainly have known him.

Applications for the GSE teams are nearing a close fellows. 2 teams are leaving our district next year; one to the USA & the other to the Philippines. If you do know of anyone that may be interested then please notify.

RYDA is also looking for a coordinator this year. Since the three to four weeks lead up in November requires pretty much a full time commitment, anybody interested should be retired.

An Australian Rotary Health Friends and supporters dinner will be held in Acton; ACT on August 14th. Pres Pete has the forms for those interested.


I (blog editor Eric) admit to losing the thread in the discussion of the prizes in the Duck Race so the information below came from Pres Pete (though I’ve improved the spelling and grammar):

The expansion of the duck race has certainly raised interest. Yes, it will be going ahead in the new format. After an open discussion the club decided that the ducks entry fee will be a flat $ 10 across the board for all categories. Prizes will be made of cash or gift vouchers.
The P & C associations will retain 50% of the monies for their schools.
1st Prize will be $ 300.—
2nd Prize will be $ 200.—
3rd Prize will be $ 100.—

The Chamber of Commerce will retain 50% of the monies for their organisation.
1st Prize will be $ 300.—
2nd Prize will be $ 200.—
3rd Prize will be $ 100.—


Thanks to David W for stepping up to the plate. Our guest speaker notified Danielle that it was a no show earlier in the day; but the ever alert David bought along the ducks for the great race. “Tubs o’ Ducks” involved confirming the numbering of some 400 rubber ducks. Thanks ro Rob B and Chris B for sticking the weights back on to a few of the ducks too. It was a great, fun night for fellowship with Rotary being the winner.

Meeting Tuesday 20 July, 2010

Tuesday 20th July, 2010

Apologies:

Eric D …. (USA);
Karl M …. (Maroochydore,Qld.);
Nev D …. (Burleigh, Qld.);
Bob P …. (Gold Coast);
Sally B …. (Moruya, South Coast);
Chris B …. (Sydney);
Jack A …. Sick bed

Guests;

Judy Burge, Business Pofessional Women (Guest Speaker)

Eric Mayhew, Rotary Youth Award Winner and his mum.

Ruth Aubin, (Jack's wife)

Heads & Tails, won by Alan Brown

Lucky Door, won by Pres Pete and donated to our guest, Judy Burge

There was a lot to get through and we were on the go the whole time. We finished late and I apologise for that fellows.

Well done to Frank S. was found at the front door as always doing a stirling job.

It was good to see the return of Steve Ellery who had been baby sitting the twins over the last few months due to the enormous task that his wife Lisa undertook in the preparation of the new CWCC site. A club visitation is a certainty & organisation is well on the way.

Fancy allowing PDG Jacks wife Ruth to lead off for Rotary grace. I thought it would be a good idea in Jacks absence but with the wrong tune started I think that Ruth deserves a special invite into the those that DO NOT ASK TO SING club. In fairness to Ruth she did a mighty job once started.

Rob B. has the programme ready but it doesn’t matter what age they are - kids will be kids.

We had Eric Mayhew along as the Youth of the Month.

He is actively involved in community work and a worthy recipient. I was very impressed to have young Eric Mayhew seek me out at the meetings end just to thank me for the night and for his award. If all young people were of such ilke; then we leave this place a better world. His parents have young Eric to be very proud of & I applaud them for the gratitude shown.

Adam S. put forward an idea to the club - of a home being built for auction. The club as one; agreed with the idea in general with further information now being sought. The land is temporarily on hold; the plans are in infancy stage; with the banks being the biggest hurdle. I sensed a vibe of excitement by all during these discussions. Nothing ventured; nothing gained.

I passed around the “pull up banner” design ideas that have been forwarded. A lot is at stake here with a bottle of wine & port for the best design on offer. So far, I think it would be fair to say that there is only one outstanding design. Competition closing soon.

The expansion of the duck race has certainly raised interest. Yes, it will be going ahead in a new format but we need to quickly decide to what extent and move forward. To date we have had suggestions from Peter C.; Bob P. and now Greg S. Decision time, fellows.

Chris B. was to bring us up to date on the dinner that is being organised for November 6; but a late call to Sydney put a stop to that.

Danielle gave us a 3 minute speil on her sister, Tricia who is an Industrial Designer working at Ford in Melbourne. She has a graduate position, as a Durabilty Engineer of which she is in her second year and located at the Proving Ground in Geelong. Where she is part of the Durability Team, putting every vehicle through rigorous testing before they can be manufactured. Being a girl in a very much male dominated environment has its challenges, but she enjoys learning quite a lot from some of the guys who have been there for quite some time. Next year she will move onto another graduate position back at the Broadmeadows head office.

Our club guest Judy Burge spoke on the pitfalls of the now defunct Bathurst Branch of the Buisness Professional Womens Association.

Judy is an active person and is still involved as a member with the Bathurst Eistedford Committee. It was interesting to hear that this International Organisation, with membership criteria and ideals similar to that of our own; with access to the United Nations, had problems ‘with middle management’ within their organisation. The people were not there for the right reasons with no help or support given. The words used to describe in those being complacent, ignorant & incompetent were certainly strong; but they still failed to listen with help arriving too late. The end was eminent and the closure occurred in April.

The big message to come out of this was to teach the younger members the tradition; pass on any knowledge or understanding and to let your feelings be known. Steve E. carried out the vote of thanks.

It is obviously the wrong time of the year for Birthdays, Anniversaries etc …. as we don’t have any.

I mentioned that the Daybreak Club may be requiring assistance for the B2B should this event go National. There is no reason that it won’t in time, however, all hands will be required should this be the case. The event is to be held in early April (date to be confirmed) and our efforts, regardless, would certainly be appreciated. Please keep this date free. There is a lot of “outside money” brought into this town just for this event – just imagine if they combined an art union ticket to the entry fee for this event.

DG Neal Fogary to attend our club meeting August 30.

Did you know…..

A new supermarket opened in Umhlanga, Durban.

It has an automatic water mister to keep the produce fresh.
Just before it goes on, you hear the sound of distant thunder and the smell of fresh rain. When you pass the milk shelves, you hear cows mooing and you experience the scent of fresh mown hay. In the meat department there is the aroma of charcoal grilled steaks with onions. When you approach the egg case, you hear hens cluck and cackle, and the air is filled with the pleasing aroma of bacon and eggs frying. The bread department features the tantalizing smell of fresh baked bread & cookies. I don't buy toilet paper there any more.

This week:

I received a phone call from Roger Hayman who is organising the Edgell Jog. Once again, he is looking for volunteers for this event which we have gladly supported over the years. The requirement of sitting down and recording is no longer. Our job will be to retrieve the electronic tag from each runner as they complete the course. It should not be that difficult – unless one gets away. I have indicated that we will be there again this year so please fellows could you please keep Sunday September 12 free. All Rotary Clubs in town have been called on.
There will be a meeting at 5.30pm Wednesday Aug 18 where the finer details will be announced. We need a representative for that meeting as I will be away.

Meeting Tuesday 13 July

Tuesday 13 July 2010

Apologies: Sally B; Neville D; Danielle B; Karl M; Jack A; Eric D........maybe we should have a present column instead!

Visitors: Graham Hanley from the beautiful Myall Lakes - Tea Gardens Club; Bob Newton from the Dubbo West Club

From the collar.....

Hey, there is only 50 weeks to go....... till the end of the financial year!

There was a presentation made by Adam S. (from last years funds) to Anthony J. representing the Macquarie Tutorial Centre. Anthony was surprised & more grateful for the generosity & support that has been shown & given. He spoke of camping equipment that the centre was on the agenda - to knock some discipline into these so called "baddies". Great work Anthony. Furthermore, Anthony added that the centre is setting up in their shed a woodworking area & will be after fellows to guide the youngsters in a hands-on approach. If anyone can help that would be fantastic.

I received a phone call at 5.58pm to advise that we had been let down by a guest speaker. Never fear - life goes on. What an extroadinary meeting fellows. The depth of knowledge that came out from within the club was quite amazing.

From yes, lets have a debate, to visitor Graham discussing the pros and cons of website designs and addresses, to Anthony J. advising us the real reason one should not take a drive just to have a look at Emirates site. Did he really think that he would get past a 6 star motel gatehouse, complete with security guard. C'mon AJ, you can do better than that. Rob B. still believes that Emirates is worth every cent for the experience - even though he won't be rushing back at $2K/night.

Chris B gave us a 3 minute update on his recent Perth trip where he visited Simone, a gorgeous German blonde (his own words) that he met here in Bathurst through the gliding club. Chris had been invited to her graduation from the RAAF where she was presented with her wings. A great achievement for her & a great opportunity for Chris. He spoke about the disciplined teamwork that was evident and on display.


We learnt how Bob's son, Andrew Pardey went through the RAAF training in Tamworth, but failed at the aerobatics stage. That is no mean feat in itself. Bob, he is not the first to fail and certainly not the last...it is a hugh effort in itself and you are rightly proud of that. We also learnt that flying is a supply & demand job - although the RAAF trains & graduates classes, there is no guarantee of future employment.

Let us not forget the banner competition & your thoughts on the duck race.


This is so strange....
Did you know that the word "race car", spelt backwards spells "race car"


Did you know that "eat" is the only word that if you take the first letter and move it to the last, it spells its past tense "ate"??


Heads & Tails won by Tim S.
Lucky Door won by visitor Bob Newton (drew his own ticket!)


Both Jack A & Arthur C deserve a phone call if you get an opportunity fellows.

Birthday book indicates that Sharon Stanley has another year to add.

Next Week:
Guest Speaker: Rob B. has arranged Judy Burge from the Business & Professional Women (BPW) Bathurst Branch to come along a speak to the club.
3 minute: Danielle B
We welcome Eric Mayhew as the Youth of the Month recipient.

Meeting for July 13, 2010

This week’s blog is a combination effort from Pres Pete and Eric.

July dates of note
Adam’s birthday is TODAY (July 11)! Happy birthday, Adam.
Greg’s wife Sharon has a birthday on July 14.

Sick List
Jack A – From Pres Pete, “it would not hurt if you had a spare 5 minutes to give him a call.”

Apologies from July 6
Jack A

Sally B

Chris B

Apologies for July 13

Eric D. I'll also be away July 20. I'll be in sunny Florida for an academic conference. I'll leave it to Danielle and Pete to do the blog. Danielle, I'll get you my log-in information so you can post if that's okay...

From a Chris Bennett email sent on July 3. Thanks Chris:
“We are having a guest speaker at the dinner in November and if any of you have a suggestion I would be most welcome

Their specifications
• Witty
• High profile
• Can be of use to introduce to a sporting club etc
• We will pay $
• Can captivate an audience


For example I have approached Jana Pittman’s parents but she is in England and unable to attend. She would have been good for the athletics clubs.”

Meeting report
David Weeks passed on a cheque he received from Grant Barrett a local roofer who will be donating $100 for every roof he installs. David also pointed out that he’ll be taking over duties of attendance tracking, so any e-makeup meetings should be sent to him rather than Alan B. David W is also the Fellow to send apologies to.

Rob B has asked for guest speaker suggestions. He’ll be putting together the speaker’s list in the coming week but until that’s ready he’s looking for any suggestion for the upcoming week or two. Contact Rob and myself if you have any thoughts of someone you’d like to invite. To the best of my knowledge, we do not have a guest for this week (July 13).

After dinner, we had the traditional open forum on suggestions for the incoming president that we have in the first meeting after changeover. From Pete “To those that arrived and contributed to the club assembly - thank you. It was certainly encouraging to have genuine input by all. We dissected the club; this really did not need to be done; but now if anybody up the Rotary chain does ask then hey it’s been done. Thanks for covering my back, fellows.”

“The thought of a ‘second’ sergeant was received well. The idea is to have a prepared sergeant arrive at the meeting, in case our club sergeant, Adam, is an apology. Watch out Fellows… if these two get together there could be more fines coming our way! The back-up sergeant will be rostered every month. The back-up sergeant for July is Eric D.” The duties of the sergeant include more than just fines and head-and-tails:
• Start the meeting on time
• Keep the president on time
• Set up regalia (and therefore needs a key to the cupboard)
• Orders food

There was some discussion around the blog. There is a general consensus that it has helped intra-club communication immensely. For it to continue to do this it is important to let me know of guest speakers as soon as you have somebody arranged, two weeks prior to the occasion if possible. When you have a guest speaker, it would be a huge help to me if, whoever is organising the guest speaker, provide me with notes on introducing their guest and also if you could be the one who takes notes on what they talk about. If you then pass these notes on to Danielle; Danielle will type them up and email them to me to post in the blog.

Further on the blog, it would also be very helpful if you’ve got something to report to the club, could you type up a paragraph and email it to me? Every week, somebody will stand up and raise an issue, pass on a cheque, give a director’s report, talk about a project, etc. Every week I try to keep track of what everybody says but, since you’re the one talking about it, wouldn’t it be easier if you wrote it for the blog? This would even work for a three-minuter.

So I’m calling to all Fellows: if you say something at a meeting send me a paragraph in an email about it. It would be as simple as “Eric, at this week's meeting I talked about…” Since we all enjoy the blog and find it really useful to the club, shouldn’t we all contribute?

Professionalism within the club was raised. Dress standards seem to be slipping, probably as a consequence of many Fellows coming straight from work. For this reason, we are not imposing a dress standard but Fellows are asked to simply consider if their dress is appropriate for Rotary. If we are forced to impose a dress standard, it will probably involve pink shirts (joking).

Every year we discuss membership. The best suggestion this year, coming from Karl M, was to approach the Bathurst Professional Women’s club that has recently disbanded.

We also had discussion around the clubs publicity. As usual, we all know we need to get in the local newspaper more, but nobody seems prepared to write the story, take a photo and give it to the newspaper. Somebody who regularly attends needs to be put in charge of this. Since I’m the Public Relations director, I guess that’s my job so I plan to lead by example.

Pres Pete raised the idea of pull up banners for anytime the club is out in the community or is taking a photo and has launched a club competition to design one. “… and now the challenge is on for the design of the club pull up banner/s. We will soon find out who the real ‘alcos’ are in the club with a bottle of wine & bottle of port on offer.”

We also raised the idea of having another inter-club challenge. The general consensus was that sporting events seemed to work best since everybody could participate. We could also involve Oberon and Blayney clubs.

Pres Pete also raised the duck race. “One idea of raising much needed funds was the expansion of the duck race. You should all have a copy of this by now; so should this be a goer we can certainly ‘tickle up’ what has been suggested. Please give this some thought please fellows. We need to start making progress with it very soon.”

Finally, “A donation was made by PP Adam to the Western Region Academy of Sport which was gratefully accepted by our own Dr. Eric Drinkwater on their behalf.” Photo attached.

News / Updates (from Pete):
We have our new DG Neal Fogarty, coming to visit on 31st August. Could you all please make a note now?

This year there will be 2 X GSE teams leaving our district: one to the Philippines and the other to the USA. Although the teams do not leave till March, 2011; the selection for this event is in mid- to late-August. Should there be anybody you believe interested in this then please pass on.

The Annual District Conference is in Orange 1st – 3rd April; 2011. Just thought you needed to know.

Meeting of June 29, 2010 - Changeover

July dates to note
Adam has a birthday on the 11th
Greg's wife Sharon has a irthday on the 14th

This week's blog was written by Pres Pete

From the collar ……
Thanks for coming & showing your support last Tuesday night. It was definitely encouraging and certainly well deserved !

As PP Adam & I were standing there smiling & being applauded (was that for seeing the end of Adam or the start of myself ….. I guess we'll never know) Adam presented me the collar; then it hit ….. what next. By golly gosh, I certainly fumbled & stumbled my way from there. I hope that it wasn’t too obvious, as it only took about 15 seconds to almost destroy the club charter (it can only improve from here).

In our club, one must earn their Paul Harris Fellow - they are not for sale. So congratulations are in order to David Weekes on his PHF – well deserved, David.

Congratulations also to Bob Pardey. I know that Bob was not keen on the idea of toasting R.I. For the last 4 years Bob has performed this duty and certainly felt that others should step-up and rightly so; but when you are that good at it Bob, take the credit. You hit the mark spot on as always and was rightly acknowledged by DG representative PDG Ian Tooke who said that it was the best that he had ever heard and I will second that.

Whilst we are still on the good on you theme - congatulations to Daniell Ballinger for "Club Member of the Year" and Anthony Johnston for the "Stirrers Award"; both well deserved.

Speaking of PDG Ian; he suggested that should there be 100% attendance at our meetings then I should shout a round of Port. Being a Port drinker – I’m in. I love my Port fellows, so please show up.

This year's Rotary theme is Building Communities Bridging Continents. I guess that with the 3 builders in the club, that we are off to a great start. With Adam, Karl & Rob on board we could possibly manage to build a rope bridge (like the boy scouts) across the Macquarie River; not only would we keep it local but it may satisfy R.I. ….. only joking !

News / Updates
This year there will be 2 X GSE teams leaving our district. One to the Phillipines and the other to the USA. Although the teams do not leave till March, 2011; the selection for this event is in mid to late August. Should there be anybody you believe interested in this then please pass on.


Thought for the week
If each individual letter was worth 20% then the word trust would equal 100% - right? Did you know that the word trust is corroded with 80% being full of rust. Never trust again; belief being the better word.

Joke of the week
Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.

This week's meeting (July 6, 2010)
“open season” with the club assembly. The club has changed direction over the last say 2 years & improvements for the better can only be achieved through contributions of everyones’ thoughts. Without taking away from those years (the foundation has been set to build on), I am looking at 2 main areas that I think need promoting.
1. Working smarter not harder.
2. Professionalism within the club.
Now is the time to voice your concerns, ideas or opinions. The Bathurst Rotary Club is not mine nor yours; it is our club.

In the weeks to come...
Do we have anybody to make the schedule for the next six months?