|
From the President’s desk
20 March 2019
Hi all
Mourn with our fellow Rotarians in
New Zealand
On Friday afternoon, I travelled back from Hobart, flashing on the
television screens was the unfolding story of the shooting in
Christchurch and then I’m reading it on the phone. I have spent a
wonderful week with my family in that City many years ago. New
Zealand, it is us- we are the same, relatives. The innocence of
worshipping and prayers should not end this way. The response of
Rotary is to firstly to mourn with our fellow Rotarians in New
Zealand. Going forward, we must promote Rotary’s strength of
welcoming of all mankind regardless of their faiths. We are meeting
and working together, for the benefit of the local and international
community.
9675 District Conference Speakers
On Saturday, back home, I headed off to the 9675 District
Conference, at Bankstown Sports Club what memorable speakers! The
one that left me with a lot to consider was Louisa Hope, a survivor
of the Lindt Café siege, in December 2014. Louisa, having coffee
with her mum, off to see the Solicitor upstairs from the café, the
doors of life opening and closing, the decision to go to the Lindt
café, the appointment time, all of which meant another decision
made, she would not be in the café. Survival has changed her life, a
strategical decision formed while , laying on a stretcher in Phillip
Street, her thoughts were, “I have survived, where is Mum?!”. To the
future, it was now “one life and one moment”. Three months in
hospital, recovering from shrapnel wounds to the foot and abdomen,
Louisa developed a close relationship with the nursing staff, as
they helped her through the physical and mental challenges of the
siege. I would say it was instinctive, although I did not hear
Louisa say that, a legacy of a career at the big end of town,
becoming aware of the nursing needs, the Louisa Hope Fund for Nurses
was created both at the Prince of Wales Hospital and the Nepean
Hospital, as her mum lives out there. Please read the material on
the web, it is inspiring, just as it was at the conference.
Louisa, not a small women, telling us, I was always watching my
weight. One of the first medical conversations was along the lines,
you’re lucky, the abdomen shrapnel, some of it is still there, but
your stomach fat stopped it going through to your abdomen, - could
have been bad. The struggle with waistline, there was a purpose not
to have succeeded.
There were other great speakers, but Louisa was to me the most
memorable. Arie is to give us a full report at our Wednesday
meeting.
Statistics
From RI President’s Personal Representative, PDG John Prendergast,
we learnt that the number of Rotary Clubs and MacDonald Restaurants
were similar worldwide at the same number: 36,000. The similarity if
any, should not be considered. Statistics that’s all!
A changing society
The conversation with other Clubs are, they are not same, our Club’s
weekly dinner meeting and speaker, is the 1905 Chicago original. A
new Club forming at Gregory Hills (near Camden) is not intending to
be a dinner meeting. Personally, I like Rotary over dinner. Possibly
change will occur for we are in a changing society.
Re-districting
Re-districting was not on the agenda at the conference, it was part
of the conversation. The views are mixed. I had flash backs to past
conferences, like the one in the 1980s at Gosford Leagues Club, with
the flag bearing exchange students, the Conference Dinner booked
out, no room at 500 plus and Strathfield taking over a restaurant at
Bateau Bay because there was no room for all of us. This conference
on the weekend, was not the same, in style or numbers. The District
now has more Clubs. My preference is for the new style.
Aging Rotary
As the Police Rock and Roll Band, played, Dream Lover, with the
accompanying muffled sing along, I looked across the dance floor, I
may have glimpsed aging Rotary, maybe not, the light was bad, it was
blue, I’m asking Arie, Rick, Julian and Thya, did they see it!
Charles |