Tony Long opened our Club Assembly Meeting on 6th February with the Loyal Toast, the Four Way test, and Rotary Grace.
We also welcomed prospective member Jerri Van Wyk and celebrated various members milestones, including birthdays and significant Rotary anniversaries.
An international toast was made by Peter Hovey, to the Rotary Club of Montreal, highlighting their unique meeting schedule and their focus on the theme, “The Magic of Rotary”. They meet in person and “virtually” each month.
Tony Long shared insights during the vocational moment, discussing his extensive experience in events management, local government and property management, and expressed his eagerness to contribute to Rotary initiatives.
January got a belated mention!
The pre-dinner part of meeting concluded with a video presentation that showcased Rotary’s global impact and the potential for small ideas to create substantial change.
David Wallis then continued with updates on recent membership changes, including the loss of five members but the addition of new enthusiastic ones. Key positions such as Community Service Director and Secretary are currently vacant, highlighting the need for recruitment efforts, especially for the Youth Protection Officer due to Christine’s departure and Club Secretary, which is essential as a Club for us to keep operating.
Upcoming events were announced, including Clean Up Australia Day and Trivia Night.
Not forgetting David Johnston, who David Wallis recognised as Rotarian of the Month for his efficient IT contributions to our weekly meetings, brilliant job.
The meeting also covered plans for the Youth Exchange Program and ongoing community service projects, including funding for the Rice for Cambodia initiative. Additionally, discussions on starting a new Rotary Club in Aura and improving member profiles on Club Runner for better engagement took place.
Each Committee then gave a summary of their proposed and upcoming activities or events:
Youth Service Committee (Bruce Radford)
* Youth Exchange Program: Inbound student expected later in the year
* Rotary Youth Training required for youth protection
* National Youth Science Forum students to speak at next meeting
* Umoja Orphanage project ongoing
* Rice for Cambodia project approved for $1000 funding
RYDA Program and Club Activities (Geoff Leddy)
* RYDA program for road safety education continuing with 14 schools participating, targeting Year 10 students
Community Service Committee
An Update on the upcoming ROMAC Trivia Night was given by Suzanne Lee-Archer.
Club Service (Evelyn McCorkell)
Focus is getting the structure in place for Broadway in the Hangar as there are some major changes this year, such as no Naming Rights Sponsor and no inhouse Caterer.
It’s all coming together for 23rd August! All of our Committee are willing to play an active part!
Membership Committee
Will Waterford also reminded us about Clean-Up Australia Day.
Peter Harding and Will Waterford also outlined the idea/plan of setting up a Rotary stall at Aura markets to seek new members with the potential to establish a new Rotary Club in that area.
International Service (Greig Lee-Archer)
* Philippines project continuing next week with a painting of classroom built last year
* KIVA micro-lending project ongoing – Marion Schultz
* Christmas boxes project continuing
* Containers for Change still providing some funding, thanks for collecting our bottles every week Marion Schultz!
Vocational Committee (Patrick King)
* Organising Vocational visit as fundraiser for Les’ CEO sleepout
* Would like to re-introduce Pride of Workmanship Awards but needs someone to assist with organizing it – ideas in the pipeline.
Tony Long collected some fines from all those members not wearing a Club badge and David Millar took a phone call while the meeting was in progress!
Who knew the answer to this Question – When will Australia meet Net Zero???
And Graham Bowden had his first car accident (no one was hurt!)
As usual there were some very happy raffle ticket winners too.
REMINDER:
Next week’s meeting we will hear from the National Youth Science Forum guests.
The following week Richard Harding will be talking rural medicine – Are we there yet?
VITAL INFORMATION WITH VALENTINE’S DAY APPROACHING………..
Valentine's Day is a time to celebrate romance and love and kissy-face fealty. But the origins of this festival of candy and cupids are actually dark, bloody — and a bit muddled.
Though no one has pinpointed the exact origin of the holiday, one place to start is ancient Rome.
From Feb. 13 to 15, the Romans celebrated the feast of Lupercalia. The men sacrificed a goat and a dog, then whipped women with the hides of the animals they had just slain (Really?).
The Roman romantics "were drunk. They were naked," Noel Lenski, now a religious studies professor at Yale University, told NPR in 2011. Young women would line up for the men to hit them, Lenski said. They believed this would make them fertile!
The brutal fete included a matchmaking lottery in which young men drew the names of women from a jar. The couple would then be, um, coupled up for the duration of the festival — or longer, if the match was right:)
The ancient Romans may also be responsible for the name of our modern day of love. Emperor Claudius II executed two men — both named Valentine — on Feb. 14 in different years in the third century. Their martyrdom was honored by the Catholic Church with the celebration of St. Valentine's Day.
As the holiday spread, it evolved William Shakespeare helped romanticize Valentine's Day in his work, and it gained popularity throughout Britain and the rest of Europe.
Later, Pope Gelasius I muddled things in the fifth century by combining St. Valentine's Day with Lupercalia to expel the pagan rituals. But the festival was more of a theatrical interpretation of what it had once been. Lenski added, "It was a little more of a drunken revel, but the Christians put clothes back on it. That didn't stop it from being a day of fertility and love".
