Welcome to the first Melville Rotary Bulletin for 2023 – 2024.
Our first meeting was a Club Forum and I’ll admit to being a tad nervous as it was also my first meeting as President, and we had a lot to cover. It was great to see a well-attended meeting, made better by Greg Walkington’s ever efficient set up and organisation and the presence of sandwiches courtesy of Peter Smith. So, what was achieved? A great deal.
First up the 2023 – 2024 Club Plan was presented to set the scene for the year. A copy of the plan ist on our website under Larest Club News for reference by members during the year. My intent is that this our guiding document to focus our efforts on meeting membership needs and to keep doing good in our communities. The plan is one of the outcomes from the member survey conducted in April. Thank you for your feedback and the input by a lot of people by way of comments received in my conversations with you. We are a great club that will give hope to people and will continue to do good in our community. But like all organisations, our people need a bit of TLC from time-to-time, including incremental changes in the way we do things to make sure that happens.
If a plan wasn’t enough Treasure David Porter presented a budget. After a series of questions, the Club adopted it, and it will be ratified by the Board at our 25 July 2023 Meeting. We are in good financial shape, but we still need to be prudent and considered in our financial management. The good news is our Annual Membership Fee of $340 did not increase and for the first time we’ve included technology support costs as an explicit cost. Incidentally that initiative along with some very hard to read report was the first tick in the achievement of the 2023 – 2024 Club Plan.
Finally – we had a discussion and achieved a resolution on Club meeting times. Most present made well considered points. Everyone realised the significance of the issue, particularly in respect of membership retention vs. membership attraction. By a two to one majority the club settled on lunchtime meetings on the second and fourth Mondays of each month. In this discussion, the need to have social meetings in the evening to cater for members who can’t make lunchtime meetings and to attract prospective members who face challenges with lunchtime meetings, is also considered important. But as being one of three lunchtime clubs outside of the CBD, this in its own way could also be attractive.
Our next meeting was Monday 24 July 2023 at 1230 and we had the Wandering Watertons do a quick but so informative travelogue around Australia. Thank you. And we were able to do heads and tails, not to mention our Happy and Sad dollars. The big news was the induction of Dale Cole into our club. Dale is going to be assigned to Community & Environment. Dale I hope you get as much satisfaction from our club as we’ve all experienced. Our 25 July 23 Board meeting was hosted by David Porter and Margaret Waterton kept us down to under 2 hours. Emphasis was given to how to implement the club plan. We were pleased to renew our Honarary members, and we discussed the appointment of 2 more in recognition for their value to our community. Our budget was ratified as was the meeting time decision.
Left: Dale Cole with Phil Draper and Greg Walkington Congratulating Dale on joining Melville Rotary
Now that my nerves have been calmed, I’ve also been able to see in action a vigorous Club Service team chaired by Marilyn Barton. At their first meeting they canvassed several items in our plan. Similarly, the Membership and Publicity Team (spearheaded by David Porter in tandem with James Morris) got into gear with an event with Melville Cockburn Chamber of Commerce & Industry and the City of Melville on 26 July 2023. That was a very good event and the three of us made some useful contacts to follow up. In the background, James and Janice have also been working away on our website and other technologies such as our e-mail and data storage accounts. Vocational Services in the form of Marilyn Kench and Greg Walkington have several matters in hand to increase our profile and presence. I’m sure that the Youth and Community teams won’t be too far behind, although International wrote the first cheque for a donation to an Indonesian well digging project supported via Mandurah Districts Rotary.
If you’ve not seen the slide show from the District 9423 inauguration, please have a look. Ignore the portly fellow with braces and I thank members Marilyn and David Barton, James and Tracey Ann and Janice Pounder for their support on the evening. Thanks to other club members that attended the evening. I know that our club will be active at District level. That reflects the calibre and standing of our members.
On a not so positive note, we’ve had 5 members decide not to renew their memberships. However, we wish these people well and thank them for their service and contributions. This will require me to have a look at our committee allocations and structure. That too was briefly canvassed at the Board meeting. What is pleasing is that a lot of hard work put in over the last twelve months in the Jennifer Jones initiative is starting to bear fruit; particularly with reinvigorated Club and Membership committees.
In summary, a lot has happened, but we’ve started our revolution with a silent r, all of you are enthused to make sure we keep doing good in our community and so bring hope. Look out for each other.
Thank you and please stay safe and well.
Cheerio and go kindly, Phillip.
Government House Ballroom
On Saturday 1st July, the brand new District 9423 came into being, incorporating both districts 9455 and 9465. The beginning of this whole of WA district was heralded by a launch of the future of Rotary in WA at the fabulous Government House on Saturday 1st July, 2023.
The function was attended by the Lieutenant Governor, Chief Justice Peter Quinlan, representing the Governor of WA, and Mrs Quinlan, as well as representatives from the Government, local councils, the past Rotary International Director, Jessie Harman, from Victoria, and three hundred Rotarians, including seven members of the Rotary Club of Melville.
District Governor Ineke Oliver was inducted into her role as Governor of the new district by PRID Jessie Harman, and her new district 9423 Board was introduced to all those present.
Marilyn Barton
