He then reported that last week's vocational visit to AVAN, in collaboration with the Rotary Club of Pakenham, had been very successful. The visit was followed by a meal at the Cardinia Club in Pakenham.
AVAN is a family-owned business, which manufactures recreational vehicles and employs approximately 400 people.
Geoff also advised that Rob Wingrave had been successful in obtaining a City of Casey grant for $1,000 to facilitate the purchase of several two-way radios. These can then be used at the 'Carols by Candlelight' and 'Australia Day' events.
Rob has also applied for a Victorian Government grant for $2,000 for equipment, so he has been busy behind the scenes and we await the outcome.
Di Double reminded everyone that we will not be meeting at Holm Park next week, as the Club's Christmas party will be held at Jason's Restaurant in Upper Beaconsfield on Wednesday 12 December.
Attendees should arrive at 6:30 pm for 7:00 pm. It has been confirmed that the "Man in Red", Santa, will be paying us a visit.
Di also advised that a social event is planned for Sunday 3 February at a winery in Moorooduc, so please take note of the date. A barbeque lunch and wine tasting will be provided for $25 per person.
Rotary Oceania Medical Aid for Children (ROMAC) finances medical aid and operations in Australian hospitals for children up to the age of 15, from the SE Asia Pacific region.
Clare Ganderton reported that a 3-year old girl from Dili, underwent surgery on Monday to remove a large tumour from her kidney. She is hosted by the Rotary Club of Mt Eliza.
She had already received some chemotherapy in Dili to reduce the size of the tumour before arriving in Australia, so that the surgery could take place.
She is making a fabulous recovery, but will require some rehabilitation and radiotherapy in Dili after the operation to complete the treatment.
Bob Lay AM reported that he, PE Isobel Caulfield and Gaetano Fina will be attending a "farewell" briefing in Mornington on Saturday, for outgoing international exchange students, including our own Tara Wilkinson.
The students will be presented with their international blazers at the briefing.
Tara and her mother Denise will join us at the Kraan barbeque on Wednesday 9 January 2019, where she will be presented with a travel case from the Club, before departing to her chosen host country, the United States of America.
PE Isobel Caulfield advised that we have been fortunate to get an excellent speaker as our Ambassador for Australia Day.
She is Sue Stanley, who was an Olympian and a four times World Champion in aerobics. She is also one of Australia's most respected motivational and lifestyle speakers.
Isobel also confirmed that the "big item vendors" from previous Australia Day events, have confirmed their participation in the 2019 event.
Diana Gomez-Fullaway detailed arrangements for the Carols by Candlelight event at the Edwin Flack Reserve off Manuka Road in Berwick, on Saturday 15 December.
Using a PowerPoint presentation, Diana provided information on the following:
No parking will be allowed on Manuka Road, so when the Berwick College carpark is full, traffic will be directed to Howell Drive.
Rotarians will be able to park around the oval perimeter.
We have now complied with all the paperwork required by the City of Casey.
Letters have been delivered to residents within a 1 km radius of the venue, advising of traffic congestion and fireworks. Thanks to Viv and Jim Armstrong.
Gates will open at 5:15 pm and collection points will be placed outside the fences, to facilitate collection of a $2 fee from adults.
The Mayor, Amanda Stapleton, has been invited to address the audience at the beginning of the programme.
Total Events Solutions will clean and maintain the toilets, but some supervision will be assigned.
Extra rubbish bins have been ordered and all bins will have bin liners provided by Total Events Solutions.
Marquees for the Kids Corner, Rotary Information and Sales, as well as Beaconsfield District Community Bank will be on the oval.
Candles and glow-sticks will be available for purchase.
Vendors have been identified and allocated positions, including the barbeque being operated by the Rotary Club of Narre Warren.
No smoking or dogs will be permitted at the event.
The stage should be in place by mid-day to allow decoration to be completed, before sound checks begin at 4:30 pm
We have a different PA company this year, dedicated to providing better quality sound coverage than last year.
We propose to have a Facebook Selfie competition with prizes for the best ones, during the event.
Team Leaders and Team Members were identified and a summary is provided later in this bulletin.
Arrangements for pick-up of the materials required were discussed and responsibilities allocated.
Diana then answered a range of questions from the floor.
Lucinda Da Silva, who is one of the young entertainers for the Carols by Candlelight event, gave a stirring performance of the Christmas Classic "Oh Holy Night".
Lucinda has performed at a Rotary conference in Tasmania and was a Finalist on ‘Take the Mike” program.
She received rousing applause from the appreciative audience.
PP Adrian Funston (Funno) reminds everyone of the annual Berwick Cemetery Clean-up, which is to be conducted on Wednesday 16 January 2019.
Participants should aim to be there at 5:30 pm to undertake the usual painting, clearing up and watering duties.
The work will be followed by the traditional barbeque at approximately 8:00 pm.
We look forward to seeing you there.
News Snippets
Duties for Carols by candlelight
Visit to AVAN in Pakenham
About 30 members of both Pakenham & Berwick Rotary, their partners and some children were lucky to have a guided tour around the AVAN Caravans factory in Webster Way, Pakenham on the evening of Friday 30 November.
AVAN is the second biggest manufacturer in the industry (behind Jayco) and put out approximately 2000 caravans a year. They have a workforce of approximately 400 people – all in Pakenham.
The visitors were issued with high visibility vests and split into two groups. The groups then visited the various production lines for motor homes, caravans and campers etc, and were shown how quick & easy it is to erect the A-Van Cruiser (a whole 15 seconds).
All of the production is done in the factory right down to the upholstery. A lot of the materials are sourced overseas with state-of-the-art technology employed in the assembly process.
Everyone was impressed by the craftsmanship involved in the manufacturing process. They saw such things as CNC routing of all the jigsaw pieces that make up a caravan and its cabinetry, appliance warehouse, parts warehouse and were shown where they make their own chassis, manufacture the upholstery and do their own paintwork etc.
The groups were also shown inside some beautiful caravans & motor homes, which most wanted to take home! Currently, their best seller is a 5.5m full van, as vanners appear to be downsizing, although larger vans are still a big part of their sales.
Everyone was amazed and inspired at the size of the operation and the simple assembly process for such complex components.
The visit was followed by a very enjoyable meal at the Cardinia Club in Racecourse Road in Pakenham.
Berwick & District Benevolent Society Christmas Collection
David Collyer, Mark Caulfield and Laury Gordyn picked up a collection of goods from Haileybury College on Monday and delivered it to Casey North Community Information and Support Services (CNCISS) in Narre Warren.
Susan Magee, Executive Officer, at CNCISS was delighted to receive the goods, as they need to send out hundreds of food hampers to needy families in the area and they had nothing in store at the time.
On Thursday, David, Laury and Mark will pick up collections from three schools, namely Kambyra College, St Margarets School and Hillcrest College. Hillcrest being a new addition this year.
Additional collections will be made next week and passed on to CNCISS to distribute to the needy families at Christmas.
December is "Disease Prevention and Treatment Month"
Rotary's top priority is the eradication of polio, but Rotarians take on far greater responsibilities to fight disease.
They set up health camps and training facilities in undeveloped countries and in communities struggling with HIV/AIDS and malaria.
They also design and build the infrastructure for doctors, nurses, governments, and partners to reach the one in six people in the world who can't afford to pay for health care.
Disease prevention and treatment takes on many forms, from supporting studies, to helping immunize people, to improving drinking water and the sanitation infrastructure.
One billion people suffer from neglected tropical disease such as dengue fever and leprosy each year.
The world relies on Rotary to tackle these global challenges, and to set an example for others to follow.
2019 Multi-District Conference
Registrations for the first ever Victorian Multi-District Conference are going well.
There are now over 1,000 Rotarians going and that has to be an opportunity to network, inspire and connect!
There will be a list of informative speakers, some excellent entertainment and a Rotary Showcase to knock your socks off. There will also be a Peace Summit on Friday and a concurrent Youth Forum on Saturday for 18-30 year olds.
The conference will be held at the Melbourne Convention Centre from 15-17 February 2019.
Neil Stitt of the Organising Committee advises that we will be having 2 rides for the 'Ride To Conference' next year.
We will be having a short ceremonial ride into the multi-district conference on the Saturday morning, 16 February. There, we will meet up with riders from other districts, to enter the conference.
We will also be having our usual week long ride, which this year will be from Monday 25th March (meeting up on the Sunday night) and finishing on Friday 29th March at lunchtime-based out of Bairnsdale. Past riders from recent years will have already been sent information from our ride committee.
Anyone who would like to ride with us or join our support crew in March, is welcome. and please contact our Registration Secretary, Jenny Rice, at jenny@ultrasigns.com.au . We ride up to 100 km a day for the week with plenty of breaks and great fellowship, both on and off the bike.
Past riders and support crew are most welcome to join us in February in the short ride to enter the conference, when we will all be wearing a special polo shirt to mark the occasion of raising a grand total of $1,000,000 over the duration of the ride, since it started in 2002, A fantastic effort by a lot of people over the years.
The shirt will be great and will cost $45.00 . Because of the timelines needed to get the shirt made for the conference in Mid-February, we need riders to register.
For past riders and support crew who would like to join us for the ceremonial ride into the conference, we need you to register before the 14 December, 2018 and pay $45.00, to enable the shirt to be made and ready for the conference.
For the ride in March, riders and support crew will receive the special shirt as part of their ride registration, as they usually do. Again please complete the registration form and submit by 14th December, 2018.
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President Geoff welcomed everyone present..jpg)
Cheryl Zuhlsdorff advised that the Christmas cakes and puddings ordered by members were now available for pick up..jpg)
Di Double reminded everyone that we will not be meeting at Holm Park next week, as the Club's Christmas party will be held at Jason's Restaurant in Upper Beaconsfield on Wednesday 12 December..jpg)
Clare Ganderton reported that a 3-year old girl from Dili, underwent surgery on Monday to remove a large tumour from her kidney. She is hosted by the Rotary Club of Mt Eliza..jpg)
Bob Lay AM reported that he, PE Isobel Caulfield and Gaetano Fina will be attending a "farewell" briefing in Mornington on Saturday, for outgoing international exchange students, including our own Tara Wilkinson.
PE Isobel Caulfield advised that we have been fortunate to get an excellent speaker as our Ambassador for Australia Day..jpg)
Diana Gomez-Fullaway detailed arrangements for the Carols by Candlelight event at the Edwin Flack Reserve off Manuka Road in Berwick, on Saturday 15 December.
Lucinda Da Silva, who is one of the young entertainers for the Carols by Candlelight event, gave a stirring performance of the Christmas Classic "Oh Holy Night"..jpg)
PP Adrian Funston (Funno) reminds everyone of the annual Berwick Cemetery Clean-up, which is to be conducted on Wednesday 16 January 2019..jpg)
David Collyer, Mark Caulfield and Laury Gordyn picked up a collection of goods from Haileybury College on Monday and delivered it to Casey North Community Information and Support Services (CNCISS) in Narre Warren.
Rotary's top priority is the eradication of polio, but Rotarians take on far greater responsibilities to fight disease.
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