Graeme Bowden opened the meeting with a toast to the King and the people of Australia, Grace, and the Rotary Four-Way Test.
The club welcomed partners Jan Capps, Robyn Hills and Sharon Seymour and also guests Janet and Vern Brown, Ted Faa, Tim Rogers (Cycling Without Age), and Deb and Steve Thompson.
Birthdays and Anniversaries
The club celebrated Brian Mason's 90th Birthday.
Rotary Anniversaries: Peter Hovey and Will Waterford
International Toast
Win Fowles to the Rotary Club of Jerusalem, Israel, which is part of District 2490.
The club is 97 years. It was chartered on March 11, 1929, with 21 members.
It is the only English-speaking club in Israel. For context, there are approximately 60 Rotary clubs and 1,400 Rotarians throughout the country.
The club was originally sponsored by the Rotary Club of Cairo, Egypt. Its current president is David Lilanth.
They meet on Wednesdays at 1:00 p.m. at the YMCA on King David Street (not the famous King David Hotel). They have met at the YMCA for about 64 of their 97 years.
The club's membership is diverse, consisting of Jewish, Arab (or Palestinian), and international members. Their primary focus is on peace and youth initiatives, which includes awarding 50 to 60 scholarships every year to students in the medical and science fields.
Win also shared a personal anecdote about visiting the Rotary Club of West Jerusalem in 1999 with his wife, Sandy. He recalled the hospitality of Rotarians in the region, noting that even at clubs where the primary language was Hebrew, members would switch to English to accommodate visitors. He specifically mentioned a meeting where members spoke German to a visiting Lutheran pastor and then conducted the rest of the meeting in English so that the pastor, the local members, and the Australian visitors could all participate.
Directors Reports
Community Service (Suzanne): Progress is being made on the You Turn project, with quotes currently being sourced from Bobcat and turf providers.
International (Ross): Teacher accommodation is being built at the school in the Philippines; the project is progressing rapidly.
Youth (Bruce): The club is active in three main programs: RYDA (road safety education for year 10s), the National Youth Science Forum, and hosting Terka, our exchange student from the Czech Republic.
Trivia Night (Clive): The recent trivia night was a success, generating an estimated profit of $8,100.00.
On behalf of our Club, Suzanne also presented a donation of $2000 to Tim Rogers from Cycling Without Age, proceeds from one of our Sausage Sizzles.
Members Reports
Community: Steve and Deb Thompson were thanked by Mark Paton for donating 18 bottles of wine for the trivia night.
Welfare (Marion): Best wishes were sent to Dan Thomasson on his engagement.
Rotary University Scholarships Fund (RUSCCF): Members were informed of vacancies on the committee (Chair, Secretary, and Club Reps), with nominations closing on March 28th.
If you'd like to know about this annual "event" - Caloundra Pacific (CALPAC) is also welcoming Hayley Mill, Fundraising Coordinator Sunshine Coast as guest speaker at the Club’s meeting on the 14th May 2026. Her topic will be “One night v Everynight - Service above Self” - other Rotary Clubs have been invited to send a representative to attend this meeting.
Leadership Change: Greig Lee-Archer announced that Tex Pipke will take over from him as Area Governor on July 1st.
Guest Speaker
Ray Capps introduced our guest speaker, Karen Faa, an experienced celebrant, trainer, and mentor with over 30 years of experience. Her address, titled "Four Weddings and a Funeral," explored the evolving role of celebrants in Australia and the deep community connections formed through marking life’s major milestones.
Professional Background and Industry Insights
- Karen was appointed as a celebrant by the Attorney General in 1994 after a four-year wait for a vacancy in her electorate. At the time, her fee was $125, and celebrants were primarily viewed as a community service.
- She noted that celebrancy began in Australia in 1973 with the appointment of Lois Darcy to provide an alternative to church or registry weddings. Today, celebrants perform approximately 80% of weddings in Australia.
- There are currently about 10,000 registered celebrants in Australia, performing roughly 90,000 weddings annually. Karen herself has performed nearly 1,500 weddings.
The Realities of the Role
Karen shared a poem describing the less-glamorous side of the profession, noting that a celebrant must act as a stage manager, director, and audible crowd-controller. She described working in extreme conditions, such as:
- Dealing with 42-degree heat, wind, rain, and "green ants".
- Managing "bridezillas," missing rings, and fainting bridesmaids.
- Keeping up with modern requirements like SEO analytics, social media, and ChatGPT.
Karen highlighted the unique and sometimes unusual requests she has received over her career:
- Underwater Baptism: She performed a baptism in Currimundi Lake, wandering into the water fully clothed to baptize a baby as requested by the family.
- Funeral for a Friendless Man: She conducted a service for a man with no friends, focusing her address on his 10-year-old son. Following the service, she climbed Mount Coolum in her "glad rags" to help the boy scatter his father's ashes, which resulted in a humorous moment when a gust of wind blew the ashes back onto her.
- 60th Anniversary Celebration: She acted as the MC for a high-profile black-tie 60th wedding anniversary at Hotel W, which included congratulatory letters from the Queen and the Prime Minister.
Community Impact and Responsibility
Ongoing Relationships: While she initially thought weddings would be one-off events, Karen found that being a "family celebrant" involves marking multiple milestones for the same families over decades.
Pre-Marriage Education: During the Q&A, she noted that while celebrants do not require the same classes as churches, they are obliged to suggest pre-marriage education courses to help couples navigate potential "rocky periods".
Members Moment - Win Fowles says..... As an aside, one of the reasons (not the only one) I joined Rotary was because both my younger brother John and wife Sandy had polio as juveniles, fortunately mild in both cases but with lifelong effects.
“I don’t think contemporary Australians can comprehend the fear that ran through our community at the thought of polio,”
Rotary Worldwide has always been known for its efforts to help eradicate polio worldwide -
We should not view polio in Australia as being done and dusted forever. “Polio is not eradicated. It is controlled. You must continue with immunisation.”
- Donate Here
Riki Tiki was won by Win Fowles.
Sergeants Session The Sergeant (Graeme) conducted a literary-themed fines session, testing members' knowledge of various authors and books. Topics ranged from the second Prime Minister’s role in writing the Constitution to identifying the main character in Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials.
Raffle Results The winning raffle tickets holders were: Greig, Win & Robyn.
Next Meeting The next meeting is scheduled for March 26th, with the program Hospital PJs.
