It's been very busy since the changeover from Past President Howard to myself to now. In that time we've had a number of terrific speakers present at the club including a lady by the name of Cindy Solonec who came and spoke of Debesa, a book she authored on the history of her life in the north of Western Australia with her parents. Cindy had a Spanish father (who only came here for a holiday but never went back) and first nations mother and Cindy had strict religious catholic upbringing as a child.
She spoke of her father as a builder being in demand and building structures which are still standing to this day such as a number of churches. Cindy talked of her time as a boarder in Geraldton but that it was not as exciting as the north where she preferred the area of Fitzroy with its beautiful landscape and wonderful gorge, not to mention it being a bit warmer. Unfortunately Cindy did not have enough copies of her book to sell.
I have also had the pleasure of having a number of thumbnail speakers at the meeting and it was really interesting to hear the history of our own Rotarians. I would hope that each Rotarian will provide a thumbnail to the club as newer members will not know some of the background of the older members and naturally we want to hear the background of our newer members. We have had some terrific presentations thus far.
I am hoping that in my year as President that we can build on fellowship (the foundation Rotary was built on) as well as reduce the number of meetings we become involved in.
I have reduced committees to try and reduce the time lost in meetings and hopefully will have a social committee which consists of a member from each service committee rather than require one person to come up with ideas for social events.
Projects of course are important and there are a number of large projects underway and some completed.
The Art Show in conjunction with the Rotary Club of Applecross has been a tremendous success, so much so that some paintings were sold more than once!
This event was run at record pace for collecting and placing the art on the set up at the beginning to the following Sunday where the collection and take down of stands was also completed in record time.
Congratulations to James, Tash and the team of Rotarians who made this event work and importantly congratulations to the artists who entered their art and displayed to the community their special skills.
Also huge congratulations to Ian Williams for obtaining a large grant for the tree planting program. Ian with others recently went to Mt Clere to plant trees and will be doing a large tree planting exercise at Point Walter in the near future with the aid of the grant funds. Once a date for planting is known, grab your wellington boots (or sneakers) and enjoy the time out rejuvenating the environment. It is all part of the Queens Jubilee program.
We all know the meals at the Yacht Club have not been as they were in the past but I am reliably informed that a new chef has been engaged and hopefully will be on board by mid-July.
A recent board meeting was held and based on the income from last year it is fair to say that we cannot spend beyond our programmed budgets. As a result there will be some reduction to Committee funding.
Comedy for a Cause is a joint Rotary program in our zone which should be a lot of fun and provide an ability for the Rotary Clubs of Applecross, Attadale, Booragoon and Melville to bring a bit of light entertainment to the community. The event is to be held over two (2) nights being 19th & 20th August, 2022. Bookings will be opening soon so do try and make this one a special night on your calendar.
Congratulations to the teams and committee’s in Past President Howard’s year. They were joint winners with Attadale Rotary Club in the District Governor’s Challenge for 2021 – 2022 in achieving a number of milestones throughout the Rotary year.
I know a number of members have been and are away enjoying the ability to travel again. Whether you are caravanning, training or flying please keep safe and we look forward to seeing you back at meetings.
We have had three members this year who have elected to step back from Rotary to explore other achievements being their personal matters or otherwise. I would like to wish them well and have them know that they are always welcome back as either visitors or to re-join as members. My thanks go to Colin Delane, Michael Schwikkard and Jayden Bracken for the time they have committed to Rotary and to the community.
In the meantime I look forward to your company be that at Rotary meetings, fellowship events or just for a coffee somewhere.
