13 February Vol58 Issue 31 (Feb 13, 2019)

13 February 2019

Volume 58 Issue 31

Next Meeting Responsibilities

Chair: PP Peter Batterham

Fellowship: David Grant

PP Laury Gordyn

Attendance: Di Double

Di Scheepers

CLUB MEETINGS

The Rotary Club of Berwick normally meets

on Wednesday evening at

Holm Park Reserve

(Beaconsfield Football Club)

Emerald-Beaconsfield Road

Beaconsfield

6.30 for a 7.00pm start

Bookings and Apologies

Please email your apology

or book in your guest to

attendance@rotaryberwick.org

All bookings and apologies

To submitted by 10.00 am on

Tuesday prior to the meeting.

RYLA

Holm Park Reserve

Feb 20, 2019
6:30 PM – 8:30 PM

No Meeting in lieu of Golf day on 1 March

Feb 27, 2019
6:30 PM – 8:30 PM

Golf Day

Mar 01, 2019
9:00 AM – 9:30 PM

President

Geoff Double

Treasurer

Gary Castricum

President Elect

Isobel Caulfield

Secretary

David Button

International Service Director

Di Double

Youth and New Ideas

Gaetano Fina

Rotary Foundation Chair

Di Double

Vice President

Gerald Treasure

Membership Chair

Jim Wilson

Public Image Chair

Ricardo Balancy

Club Administration Chair

Isobel Caulfield

Avenues of Service Chair

Bob Lay AM

Fundraising Chair

Gus Dominguez

Club Protection Officer

Graham Johnstone

Member Birthdays

Sam McCurdy

February 11

Adwin Town

February 16

Adrian Froggatt

February 25

David Button

February 25

Spouse Birthdays

Anne Taylor

February 12

Pat Edwards

February 16

Jane Grant

February 26

Susan Batterham

February 28

Anniversaries

Diana Gomez-Fullaway

David Fullaway

February 5

Berwick & District Benevolent Society Inc.

Since 2015, the Rotary Club of Berwick has had responsibility for management of the Berwick & District Society Inc.

The current Office Bearers are:

President: David Collyer

Treasurer: Peter Batterham

Secretary: Sam McCurdy

President's Welcome

President Geoff began the meeting by reminding everyone that the Multi-District Conference is running in Melbourne over this weekend.

A component of the conference requires the Club to vote on a resolution that DGEN Mark Humphries, be approved as District Governor Elect (DGE) for 2019-2020. This resolution received unanimous approval from the members.

Geoff also read an email from PP Lynn and PDG Ian Pickering thanking the Club for making them welcome at last week's meeting, particularly those members with whom they shared a table.

The City of Casey has advised that recent work on the Rotary clock at Lyall Road, has indicated that the master clock needs to be replaced.

The clock was first erected in its original position in 1999 and the move to the current position in 2011 may have led to the recent problems. They suggest the master clock be replaced at a cost of $2,050 and wish to know if the Club wants them to pay for the replacement.

This suggestion was unanimously supported by members.

Rotary Cricket and Golf Report

PP Jim Armstrong reported on the International Fellowship of Cricket Loving Rotarians (IFCR) Festival held at Caulfield from 20-25 January.

Fourteen international teams participated in the Festival competition.

Pakistan and Sri Lanka were to be involved, but were unable to participate because of visa problems.

The Festival began with a "Welcome dinner" held at the MCG on Sunday 20 January before the competition started on Monday. Matches were held on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday with Wednesday being a rest day.

On Tuesday, Australia played India and the good news in this case was that Australia won.

Jim went on to advise that the Charity Golf Day will be held on Friday 1 March at Beaconhills-Cardinia Golf Links. He needs all raffle books to be returned by Wednesday 20 February, preferably with all tickets sold.

There will be 20 teams participating, which is more than last year and the financial situation is looking good, as we have a new silver sponsor in Mercedes-Benz Berwick.

In fact, this year's event looks like it wll be the most successful Charity Golf Day event that we have organised.

P Geoff advised that there will be no meeting at Holm Park Reserve on Wednesday 27 February, as the meeting will be shifted to the Golf Day event dinner.

Art Screen Business

PP Laury Gordyn reported that two deliveries of art creens had taken place today.

These involved two teams and a total of nine Rotary volunteers.

The first involved 18 large screens delivered to the Victorian Art Society in Albert Street, East Melbourne and the second involving 8 - 2m screens delivered to the Lord Somers Camp and Power House Art Exhibition at Albert Park lake.

Both deliveries took place very efficiently and Laury thanked all those who had assisted.

He advised that there will be three more deliveries and pick-ups before Changeover.

Herb Thomas Memorial Trust

PP Gary Evans reported on changes taking place relating to the Herb Thomas Memorial Trust.

The Trust began in July 1979 and is another Rotary initiative supporting students who are pursuing careers in literature and/or the media.

The Herb Thomas Trust is supported by the Rotary Clubs of Berwick, Pakenham, Narre Warren, and Endeavour Hills in conjunction with the Cardinia Shire and City of Casey.

The Trustees met on Tuesday night and for a variety of reasons have decided to wind up the Trust. These include:

changes to taxation arrangements;
in-kind donations from Chisholm Institute have ceased, because the relevant courses have been moved to the city;
Monash University, Berwick has been sold to Federation University, thereby removing the source of Trust beneficiaries;
The City of Casey have shown no interest in continuing to support the Trust .

It has been decided that the remaining Trust funds of $59,000 will be donated to the Casey-Cardinia Foundation, which aims to support the social, community and physical development of the community. Herb Thomas's family have been informed and approve of the proposal.

Gary has been associated with the Herb Thomas Memorial Trust for a long time and it is with deep regret that he announces its' closure.

PP Laury Gordyn formally thanked Gary for all the work that he has done over the years with the Trust.

Jokers Wild 13-2-19

After Di Scheepers win last week, the Jackpot sat at $250.

Laury Gordyn had this week's winning ticket, but on drawing from the new full deck, he only obtained the Ace of Clubs.

Make sure you purchase your tickets before next week's meeting begins and please have the correct money.

Rotary Youth Leadership Award (RYLA)

Next week's Guest Speaker will be Dana Ezzat, who attended the Rotary Youth Leadership Award (RYLA) this year.

Dana is twenty-one years old and is currently studying psychology at Deakin University. She is Egyptian and moved to Australia 3 years ago.

Dana is currently the secretary of Casey-Cardinia Rotaract Club and is very passionate about volunteering and helping out in the community.

She believes that participating in RYLA has really helped her to develop her personality.

DGE Adrian Froggatt's visit to the USA

DGE Adrian began his presentation on the General Assembly held in San Diego from 13-19 January, by introducing a video of the Assembly's Festival night's entertainment.

This involved the Australian contingent performing to the song "We are one, but we are many". It provided a snapshot of Australia's history from convict beginnings to current day events and was accompanied by many chants of "Aussie, Aussie Aussie, Oi Oi Oi."

Adrian's wife, Wendy, was the Creative Director for the performance and Adrian was the Stage Manager.

San Diego proved to be a very interesting city. It is a major naval base and there were state-of-the art warships anchored there, as well as a very interesting naval museum in the USS Midway. Adrian was surprised to find that the seagulls there are about twice the size of those here in Australia.

He reported that there were in excess of 500 District Governor Elects (DGEs), including 5 DGEs from Victoria and some Rotaractors, at the General Assembly over the 5-day program. They were accompanied by their partners, who also experienced training for their role.

The venue was the Grand Hyatt hotel in San Diego, which proved to be an excellent choice for the event. The Assembly began with dinner on Sunday 13 January attended by over 1000 guests. Each country represented at the Assembly put on a colourful performance for the Cultural night.

The program consisted of many interesting speakers, general sessions on a variety of topics followed by separate small break-out sessions for DGEs and their partners. All languages were catered for, with a team of interpreters enabling each participant to follow the proceedings.

Although all the speakers were stimulating, the stand-outs from Adrian's perspective were Henrietta Fore, Executive Director of UNICEF, who spoke very highly of the work that Rotary does, and Anne Lee Hussy, a survivor of Polio. Adrian's wife Wendy stated that Anne Lee Hussy's presentation actually brought her to tears and emphasised how important it is to continue the fight against Polio.

Overall, the General Assembly was a terrific experience and provided an excellent opportunity for the DGEs and their partners to network.

Following the Assembly, Adrian and Wendy visited Las Vegas, the Grand Canyon, Williams and Los Angeles. They were particularly impressed by the Grand Canyon.