 On Saturday, 5 th August we lost Bruce, a long-term member of the Rotary Club of Berwick and staunch community supporter. Bruce began his volunteer life at age 18, spending 10 years of membership in Rotaract in Dandenong. His volunteerism continued when he transitioned to Apex. Bruce and his wife, Robyn, along with their two small children, moved to Berwick. Bruce became a member of the Rotary Club of Berwick in September 2000, introduced by Tim Moore. Always a contributor, he was an active member, willing to assume leadership roles, never shy of bringing new ideas to the table. In summary his formal roles of responsibility were: 20023 – 2004 Youth Director 2008 – 2009 Membership Director 2009-2010 & 2010-2011 Club Treasurer 2011-2012 Public Relations Director 2013-2014 Club President Further, Bruce was instrumental in the achievement of the District Membership Development Award for the Club with most new members in District in 2013-2014 and in 2014 he contributed to the running of the District Conference hosted by the Rotary Club of Berwick on behalf of then District Governor, Tim In 2016 he performed the role of manager of the Berwick Farmers and Craft Market. Bruce headed up the organisational team for the Berwick College Presentation Balls and was instrumental in the construction of the Rotunda at the Berwick Cemetery. He was generous with sponsorship through his business, Cruise and Travel Berwick, sponsoring the 2013 Charity Business Dinner, the 2014 District Conference, and the 2014 District Model United Nations Assembly (MUNA) In testament to his service and commitment to Rotary, the Club recognised him with multiple Paul Harris Fellow recognitions, of which he was very proud. In support of The Rotary Foundation, Bruce donated strongly, exemplifying support of Rotary’s charity of choice. For every $1000 US of donation, Bruce earned further Paul Harris Fellow credits. Bruce involved himself in our activities. Many fun times were shared in the camaraderie of hosting Australia Day celebrations, Carols by Candelight, helping out at barbeques and cemetery clean ups, being good spirited in our crazy heyday of dress up dinners, dress up themes for conference attendance, and all things fun. In latter times, Bruce joined the Rotary Fellowship of Recreational Vehicles, carvanning with Rotary friends. Bruce retained his membership until 30 June this year. He was courageous and determined in the face of his illness, challenging the odds for nine years. Rest in peace Bruce. The funeral service for PP Bruce Shaw will be on Monday, 14 August, at 2 pm at the Tobin Brothers chapel in Berwick. |
Well it’s been a pretty big day today. I helped some of our crew, Jen Marshall, Russell Fellows & Trevor Watson pack up some of the harvested playground equipment. The first part was to load 5 dismantled playgrounds from fellow Mt Martha Rotarian, Wayne Jenkins’ home into 2 caged tandem trailers, take them to a nearby shipping container and pack them carefully into the container. The container is bound for Bougainville, Papua New Guinea. finally laden with in excess of 13 complete playgrounds.
