Chairman Sam McCurdy managed the free flowing networking meeting that was full of information provided by the following speakers. Secretary - PEN David Button David reminded everyone that two Annual General Meetings (AGMs) will be held at the next meeting. One will be for the Rotary Club of Berwick and the other for the Berwick & District Benevolent Society Inc. Agendas for both AGMs will be distributed during the coming week. Bob Lay AM Bob reported that new marquees have been obtained through Council grants and are now available for use. They have the Rotary ID emblazoned on them. He also requested members to seek more sponsorships for the Charity Golf Day to be held on Friday 1 March. The club will be providing the BBQ at the Royal Flying Doctor Service Golf Day, on Friday 23 November. Volunteers are needed to operate the BBQ, so anyone who can assist, should contact Bob. PP David Collyer David Cutler has resigned as Secretary for the Berwick & District Beneovolent Society, so a volunteer is needed to take on the role. Committee member, Clare Ganderton has tentatively agreed to become Secretary, thereby creating a vacant committee position. Betty Tudge has agreed to fill that position. These nominations will be put forward at next week's AGM, for approval. The Society is now entering a busy period engaging in the collection of food items and gifts for those in need over Christmas. Two extra schools have volunteered to participate and of course, collection cages will also be placed at several shopping centres. Haileybury College has requested that they begin their collection as early as next week. Di Double Di reminded the Club members that the Christmas Party will be held at Jason's Restaurant in Upper Beaconsfield, on Wednesday 12 December. The cost will be $65 per person and bookings must be confirmed with Di, by Wednesday, 21 November. Partners and friends are most welcome. Full details are in the notice provided at the back of this bulletin. PE Isobel Caulfield One of the stars of our "Where are they now" series outlined their travels. Isobel stated that she and PP Mark have been travelling for 4.5 months. The initial stage involved travelling approimately 1,800 km over sand dunes and corrugations to WA, where they met up with other Rotarians in Broome. For the second stage, they left Perth on 11 September for Europe, to undertake their 2nd Camino De Santiago walk. This time from a different direction. They travelled through Portugal and Spain to their final destination experiencing many beautiful sights and meeting international 'Camino' friends. Despite water-damaged passports, Isobel arrived back in Berwick on Saturday 3 November and Mark, who had to drive their car back from Perth, arrived on Tuesday 6 November. New York appears to be the popular destination for their next travel adventure Sharmaine Squire Sharmaine, who is the District 9820 representative for the Youth Exchange Program, outlined some of the difficulties encountered in setting up this year's international student exchange program. A lot of good work has been done at District level, particularly by DGE Adrian Froggatt and at Club level by Bob Lay, Clare Ganderton and Gaetano Fina, to ensure that the exchange program continued. PP John Rosenthal John explained that the Club can recognise those who represent the values of Rotary and contribute significantly to the community, by presenting them with Paul Harris Fellowships (PHFs). Recipients may be Rotarians, or members of the wider community. Some PHFs have already been presented in this Rotary year, but he invited nominations from the Club members, for other worthy recipients. A PHF nomination form is available on the Club web site and when completed, it should be forwarded to the Secretary. Cheryl Zuhlsdorff Cheryl thanked those who had brought glass jars for her Oz Harvest collection. She reminded the members that she is taking orders for Christmas Cakes and puddings. You can order for yourselves and also for the Benevolent Society. Those for the Benevolent Society will go directly to the CNISS, as part of the normal Christmas giving. Some of the money raised by the sales, will go to the Club and some to Foundation. Stephen Mitchell Our guest Stephen Mitchell was invited to introduce himself to the Club. Stephen, who lives in Narre Warren North, advised that he is General Manager of a duct cleaning company, as well as being Managing Director of his own company. He has been interested in joining Rotary for some time and came along tonight to check it out. |