invite Rotarians, partners, friends and guests to the Changeover for the
Rotary Club of Melville
Date: Monday 1st July, 2024
Time: 6.30 for 7.00pm
Venue: South of Perth Yacht Club
Cost: $75.00
Dress: Smart Casual to Semi Formal
RSVP by Monday 10th June, 2024 with numbers and any dietary needs to Marilyn Barton at Marilyn.Barton@iinet.net.au
Payment: Direct to the Rotary Club of Melville CBA Admin Account, noting your name and the word ‘Changeover” on the deposit. The Account number is 610210209353.
Within the blink of an eye, our endless Indian summer became winter and at last we could stop having to water our gardens. And so, with what seems like a blink of an eye, I’ve rounded the last marker as we sail towards our changeover night on 1 July 24. As with the preceding 10 months, the eleventh month of bringing hope and doing good in our communities has also been busy and very productive. In no special order here are some highlights:
If there was an award for the most District Assemblies attended, Melville Rotary would win hands down. We had attendees at the Bunbury, Northam and Metro District Assemblies. From what I’ve heard and seen, these activities were useful. Apart from the fabulous Pies and Pasties at the Bakers Hill bakery, Leigh Smith was able to talk to Corrigin Rotary club about them using our Online Art Market to sell the work of their local artists. Further, the knowledge gained from these assemblies will be helpful for Marilyn Barton as she leads our club in creating the Magic of Rotary. PDG’s Marilyn and David Barton who attended the International Conference in Singapore. Player of this series is PDG David Barton whose undergoing some very important training for his role as a our Community Leader that will guide our community of Rotary clubs through the Regionalisation trial. Be prepared to seize opportunities at all levels, my revolution is just a gentle prelude.
Marilyn Barton and I had a great meeting with the Mayor, CEO and the Director Community Development of the City of Melville. The city has given us some useful web link s and expressed interest in assisting our club in providing means to for us to highlight what we can do in our community and what they can do for us. To hear our markets referred to as a local tourist attraction reflects well on all of those who’ve served on the rosters over 41 years. Courtesy of the City of Melville, we’ve now got the means to estimate the dollar value of our impact on the community. It is up to us to provide the content and not be ashamed of asking the city for assistance. They are only too willing to assist. As ratepayers it’s our resource and potentially a multiplier for us as are all elected members in our community. A recent example of this was our meeting with Kim Giddens MLA – she turned up and spent some time with our Tee Shirt desk at Cruising Butterflies and has provided us with a link to Lotterywest for grants and indicated that she’ll be happy to support any Melville Rotary application for a Lotterywest grant to assist Sailability.
Cruising Butterflies was without doubt the jewel in our May achievements!. PDG David Barton worked with South of Perth Yacht Club (SoPYC) and Applecross Rotary to resurrect this event that lapsed due to COVID. And did those butterflies fly high. The Melville Rotary teams on the reception and tee-shirt desks registered children and carers who once they’d met the boat owners, set sail for about 90 mins of cruising around Melville Water on a blustery but fine day. I was on the SoPYC start boat Coffee Point and the smile on the young man who had a drive of the boat while talking with his Dad on Facetime will remain with me for a long time as will the collective smiles and goodwill created by the event. A wonderful band and barbecue (cooked by Applecross Rotary) capped the morning’s activity. Thank you to our volunteers – you really did good and made an impact that brought hope. Melville Rotary’s in-kind contribution for volunteers was $1090 and Applecross Rotary’s in kind was $807.
During May I had the pleasure of inducting a new member – David Jamieson – into our club. Welcome David and I urge you all to get to know David who has been assigned to Community and Environmental Service. We also welcomed Michael Sassella, General Manager, SoPYC as an honorary member.
In the community and environment space, it’s great to know that at last we can stop watering the trees at Blackwall Reach Reserve. This project has done good in the community and certainly has had an impact. Thank you to all those who turned up to water and to lead the various volunteers under the professional supervision of Bruce Ivers. As I look back collectively over the impact of the project, I think of 65 people at our 27 March Meeting, 300 – 500 trees, engagement with local schools, engagement with local environmental groups as well as the local elected representatives. The presentations by the Santa Maria College students were a credit to their school and themselves. Their research results were derived from some great basic research methods and the student presentation contributed to the knowledge base of all our visitors.
Bruce Ivers also presented to the club some lessons learnt from the tree planting. He was also presented with a Certificate of Appreciation from the Club. The club’s in-kind contribution in terms of hours watering (394) was $15,906.
What a month for Paul Harris Fellowship awards – outside of a changeover, May 2024 must have been a record for the number of them presented to members of the community. Congratulations to the following newest Paul Harris Fellows:
John Rooke (1 May 24) – South of Perth Yacht Club for services to the yacht club as a race officer who for eighteen years has overseen keelboat races providing mental health benefits to participants, and his work as a WA Museum Guide leading tours of HMA Ship Ovens.
Mark Popham (1 May 24) – South of Perth Yacht Club for services to Sailability and as a SOPYC committee member and volunteer at large. His PHF was accompanied by a $2000 donation to Sailability by Melville Rotary.
Bert Giancristefano (19 May 24) – South of Perth Yacht Club for his services to Cruising Butterflies. This was a legacy PHF from Lynne Newton’s year as President.
Glenn Ridgwell - Fremantle Legacy for his services to the dependants of service personnel who have lost their loved ones on service activities and his work as a WA Museum Guide leading tours of HMA Ship Ovens.
May also saw the arrival of our donation of 5 sewing machines to the Broome Circle who in turn have provided them to a Broome First Nation’s organisation that is teaching first nations people to sew much needed clothes for the local community. Having the same machines means that it is easier to teach the recipients and as a result more can be trained. This is the first initiative under a programme that will see Melville Rotary partner with the Broome community to ensure that a Rotary presence and link is maintained in Broome. This is part of our club’s growth strategy and contact has been established with schools in Broome with a view to looking at providing opportunity for the various youth leadership development offerings. Broome Circle is operated and supported by the Shire of Broome. Once this connection is firmly established, we will reach out to local businesses for support so that the Broome community also takes some ownership of the various initiatives knowing there is backing in our club to help.
Finally, who could forget listening to Leilani Wheeler speak to us on 27 May 24 on her experiences in Seoul as a Now Colombo Plan student. We’re in good hands as there is no doubt she will be a leader in whatever vocation she chooses. It was great to see so many prospective members and members in attendance. Even better was the proud grandparent moments from PP Graham Wheeler and his lovely wife Bev. Our other May meeting was our club forum – thanks for your contributions and input and as usual to SGT Wallington to keep a productive forum moving. Yes Greg, we’ll all remember to wear our T-shirts and be proud to do so!
If May doesn’t convince you that we bring hope and do good, well the good news is that there are some final opportunities to do good before Rotary Magic appears and I disappear. So, what have we to look forward to:
The Art Show – please we need volunteers for the roster. Club T shirts are obligatory, and this is a fund raiser with Applecross Rotary, and we need to do our share. You’ll also get to play with our groovy new banking technology soon to arrive at meetings so we can tap and go through the Happy and Sad Dollars.
Our June speakers will be from ShelterBox and our National Science Youth Forum attendee Maia Ravenscroft.
Hell, I’ve probably managed to omit something from this epistle – courtesy of you - our members. I can only hope that you’ve taken some satisfaction out of your Rotary membership this yea; knowing that your contributions all count! I thank you for continuing to do good and bring hope.
Will you help, please? We’re riding to support cancer research. 200 Km will be a long trek. I really hope that our ride and your donation make a difference. Last year this ride raised $8.8 million dollars for research.
Cruising Butterflies was without doubt the jewel in our May achievements!. PDG David Barton worked with South of Perth Yacht Club (SoPYC) and Applecross Rotary to resurrect this event that lapsed due to COVID. And did those butterflies fly high. The Melville Rotary teams on the reception and tee-shirt desks registered children and carers who once they’d met the boat owners, set sail for about 90 mins of cruising around Melville Water on a blustery but fine day. I was on the SoPYC start boat Coffee Point and the smile on the young man who had a drive of the boat while talking with his Dad on Facetime will remain with me for a long time as will the collective smiles and goodwill created by the event. A wonderful band and barbecue (cooked by Applecross Rotary) capped the morning’s activity. Thank you to our volunteers – you really did good and made an impact that brought hope. Melville Rotary’s in-kind contribution for volunteers was $1090 and Applecross Rotary’s in kind was $807. 
The presentations by the Santa Maria College students were a credit to their school and themselves. Their research results were derived from some great basic research methods and the student presentation contributed to the knowledge base of all our visitors. 
Glenn Ridgwell - Fremantle Legacy for his services to the dependants of service personnel who have lost their loved ones on service activities and his work as a WA Museum Guide leading tours of HMA Ship Ovens.
May also saw the arrival of our donation of 5 sewing machines to the Broome Circle who in turn have provided them to a Broome First Nation’s organisation that is teaching first nations people to sew much needed clothes for the local community. Having the same machines means that it is easier to teach the recipients and as a result more can be trained. This is the first initiative under a programme that will see Melville Rotary partner with the Broome community to ensure that a Rotary presence and link is maintained in Broome. This is part of our club’s growth strategy and contact has been established with schools in Broome with a view to looking at providing opportunity for the various youth leadership development offerings. Broome Circle is operated and supported by the Shire of Broome. Once this connection is firmly established, we will reach out to local businesses for support so that the Broome community also takes some ownership of the various initiatives knowing there is backing in our club to help. 
Finally, who could forget listening to Leilani Wheeler speak to us on 27 May 24 on her experiences in Seoul as a Now Colombo Plan student. We’re in good hands as there is no doubt she will be a leader in whatever vocation she chooses. It was great to see so many prospective members and members in attendance. Even better was the proud grandparent moments from PP Graham Wheeler and his lovely wife Bev. Our other May meeting was our club forum – thanks for your contributions and input and as usual to SGT Wallington to keep a productive forum moving. Yes Greg, we’ll all remember to wear our T-shirts and be proud to do so! 
