Meeting 12 October

Tuesday 12 October

Guests & Apologies
Sally brought along Peter Veenstra as the guest speaker for the night. Peter is involved in Central West Rugby Union and also Lyndon House.
Roland was welcomed from a Rotary club of Darlington in England. He is in Bathurst visiting family, and has been to the club before.
Apology from President Pete.

Meeting Minutes
Heads & Tails was won by Greg Stanley, who then kindly passed on his bottle of red to the guest speaker for the evening, Peter Veenstra.

Anthony reminded fellows about our club helping out the Rotary Club of Oberon at the Mayfield Garden weekends. He handed around a timetable for people to place their names on. So if you missed out on putting your name down, hopefully you can let Anthony know this week. The details are as follows;
Sat 23 & Sun 24 October - from 9am - 12pm, and 12pm - 3pm
Sat 30 & Sun 31 October - from 9am - 12pm, and 12pm - 3pm
8 people are needed for each shift, please talk to Anthony for more information.

Chris & Sally gave an update on the Gala Dinner which was to be held on 6 November at The Carrington. Unfortunately I received a message from Chris during the week saying that the dinner had to be cancelled. Chris & Sally should be able to explain some more about this at the meeting this week, but this is a great concept so the club should work hard to make it happen another time.

Rob gave a quick update on the 'shadehouse' project at MacKillop College. He is waiting on hearing from the groundsman as to when the area will be ready, and then construction may be able to begin around mid November.

The raffle was then drawn, with the lucky winner Frank.

It was then time to hear from our guest speaker, Peter Veenstra.

Peter explained quite a bit about himself and the large amount of community engagement work which he has be involved with. He is a school teacher, and spent 37 years in this profession, whilst also a member of a number of community organisations in Engadine where he started teaching. He then moved to Orange and was given a position at Kinross Walaroi. He got involved in rugby when teaching at the school, and has since spent 23 years as a rugby administrator. Including secretary of Emu's Rugby Club and Chairman of Central West Rugby Union (CWRU), along with the junior side of CWRU.

Total there are 9 zones in Country Rugby Union, with the CWRU the second largest zone. There are 27 clubs, with the Blowes Menswear Cup the main senior competition followed by the Australian National Field Days Competition. There are also 15 junior clubs, with around 3,000 pleayers registered with CWRU. The main goal of his position and the board is to 'facilitate the playing of rugby by whoever wants to play'.

Peter also enlightened us with his other passion and interest which is his position as Chairman of the Lyndon Therapeutic Community. This is a drug and alcohol rehabilitation unit which commenced in Canowindra, and has since moved to Orange on the Bloomfield site.

Patients/clients are refered by majostrates or can approach the centre directly and be assesed, with the average stay for clients being 125 days. The total income for the centre for the last financial year was $4.23 million, which all came from government grants. The biggest problem with this money is the aquittal process which surrounds each grant received.

One final thing which Peter explained is his involvement with an Australian Drug Foundation prigram called 'GoodSports Program'. Basically it works to education sportspeople about the responsible consumption of alcohol, both players and spectators. It has been very successful in Victoria and he is working very hard with CWRU to try and educate the players in this type of behaviour. Some clubs are working very hard to create a family friendly atmosphere at their games, encouraging families to come along and provide activities for them to participate in, rather than drinking after a game.

Peter finished with a very confusing poem about Rugby Union. Personally I think Rugby Union is a very confusing game at the best of times, and I think this poem may have confused me even more! (Hence I didn't type it out!) Think I will stick with Rugby League which makes much more sense to me!

From the Collar:
Last week I was missing from ourmeeting. As president, I had been given an invite to attend on behalf of theclub an evening with the vice - chancellor at Charles Sturt University. The occasion beingthe opening of the extension of the Grange. As these invites are not a commonpractice the opportunity was certainly appreciated. The evening was aninsight into the workings of the hub of this great organisation. Thecommunication available is unparralled to that of 30 years ago where onlytelephone; telex and tell-a-woman were available. The export dollars that theCSU brings, not only to our community but to that of other regional centres isextroardinary and should be recognised by the community at large. Thesignificant achievements and future regional development in education willcontinue with the great leadership shown.

Mailbag:
1. President Ray Klinginsmith wishes to recognize some unsung heroes at NewOrleans (names to be submitted) Rotarians who have sponsored 100 or more newmembers for their clubs or Rotarians who have been actively involved in theorganization of 10 or more new Rotary clubs.
With our rural demographs this is a great way to destroy abrand.

2. DISTRICT 9700 VOCATIONAL EXCELLENCE AWARDS
Nomination Guidelines
· Nominationswillbe accepted from Rotary Clubs in District 9700.
· Nominees may be Rotarians but where a Rotarian and anon-Rotarian are ranked equal by the selection panel, priority will begiven to the non-Rotarian.
· A nominee must be either an Australian citizenor a permanent resident of Australia.
· Nominees should preferably reside or carry out theirvocation within the boundaries of District 9700
· It needs to be shown that a nominee has a commitmentto high ethical standards and a record of outstanding directachievement in their chosen vocation which has been to the advancement of thatvocation and the nation.
· Excellence in Community Service does not come underthe conditions of this Award. The Vocational
Excellence must be evident in the direct activity and /or contribution by theindividual or individuals
nominated andnot merely occur within an organisation managed by the individual.
· The Committee, may at its discretion, determine notto make an award in a year if it feels that the standard of the nomineeswould lower the prestige of the Award.

Confidentiality
It is imperative that nominees are NOT informed of their nomination until theAwards Committee has considered all nominations and has invited the successfulcandidates to accept the Award.
It is intended that the identity of the Awardees willbe revealed at the Awards Presentation Ceremony at the District Conference.

Presentation
The awardee will receive a medallion with the designbearing a symbolic hand reaching for the Star of Excellence. A framed Citation Certificateis also presented to the awardees.

Nominating club arranges for theirnominee to attend the District Conference.
All costs in connection with the medallion andcitation certificate will be paid from District funds. Any cost of attendanceat the District Conference of the successful nominee and video production shallbe met by the nominating Club or the nominee.

1. 3.PR Seminars
Sat Oct30 Cowra Bowling Club
Brougham St (follow Darbys Falls Rd)
Start Time: 10am

Who should attend?
All PR Chairpersons and PR Committeemembers.
All Presidents and President'sElect.
All incoming PR Chairpersons
Anyone who might be at allinterested in Rotary Public Relations.

4. Police Awards.

The Rotary Clubs of NSW Inaugural NSWPolice Officer of the Year Awards are now really firing.

All nominations are now in, all 118of them. The panel are now diligently ploughing through them to initially cutit down to 3 finalists for each category then a winner for each category andfinally the overall NSW Police Officer of the Year. This will not be an easytask but I hope to be able to send you details of the finalists next week.

The level of excellence isoutstanding and a tribute to all our serving officers over all categories andthat includes the civilians with the VIPs and the community awards.

I have attached a spreadsheet withall nominations broken down by category and then by LAC. Where I know they area local Rotary award winner I have indicated with an R.

The Police Executive are reallyspreading the word and it is catching on, all 80 LAC’s in NSW have submitted a nomination (some of course who are existing Rotary awardwinners) which is unheard of.

They are encouraging all those whohave been nominated to get along to the night.

It would be a show of great supportto the force if Rotary clubs consider paying the function cost for their localnominee and their partner.

Tables are filling up fast with Policeoutnumbering Rotarians 3x1 at present. I ask you to get on line and startmaking your booking before it is too late. http://www.sydneyrotary.com/

I would also ask your help onceagain for some prizes or Silent auction items, my list is filling up but Iwould love to get some prizes from around the State and not just from Sydney.

Some wine, cosmetics, vouchers,TV’s DVD’s Bags, etc All help appreciated and donators will beacknowledged on the evening.

PS Remember we also have a greatRotary luncheon cruise organised for the Sunday you can book this at same timeyou book your Function tickets.

Please remember this is an eventrecognising not just the great work of the NSW Police but also off Rotaryand its commitment to the community all over NSW