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President’s Report
24
January 2018
Welcome Back!
Welcome back to all Club Members, and Happy New Year, 2018!
I hope you were all able to have a wonderful and relaxing time with
family and friends over this summer holiday period, and are now
fully recharged and raring to go. There is lots of good work still
to be done before Changeover in June.
Well… we’re halfway through my term as President, and so your pain
will end in a just few short months . We have a bumper program for
the remainder of this Rotary Year. Hang on to your hats; it’s gonna
get hectic. I hope you enjoy the ride and are able to participate in
some of the wonderful events and activities we have coming up.
Christmas Party – 2017
What a fun night (well, I enjoyed it!). It was great see so many of
you in attendance, as well as IPP Steve and his wife Denise, who
joined us for this festive end-of-year function I did promise it
would be a little different to prior parties, and I think our Party
Games (How do you FEEL about your Partner?, and The Spaghetti
Express) brought new experiences for all those involved. Thanks to
all for coming along, and especially PP Grahame and his team, who
put on a marvellous event. It looks like we collected a large sack
of gifts for a needy women’s refuge too; well done.
Breathe Movie
Some of you may recall seeing the movie – Breathe – promoted through
some of the Rotary media. It’s a biographical drama of Robin
Cavendish, who was given only three months to live after being
paralysed from the neck down by polio at age 28. Not letting the
disease beat him, he becomes a pioneering advocate for the disabled
and with his devoted wife, Diana Blacker, travels the world with the
hopes of transforming the lives of others like him. Sim Vaccari
arranged for the Vosila’s and the Vaccari’s to go and see this
moving in the period between Christmas and New Year, partly as there
was meant to be a Rotary end-polio now ‘trailer’ played before the
movie. Well, the trailer never played, but the movie was great
anyway – a real tear-jerker in the end. I wonder if any of you saw
it?
Croquet Evening Last Week
As is tradition, our first gathering back as a Club this year was at
our annual Croquet Evening at Strathfield Croquet Club (SCC), hosted
by the wonderful Yvonne Webster (Captain) and several other Club
members. Yvonne and the SCC were wonderful hosts (it was my first
time; I’m sure they’re wonderful every year). The croquet was great
fun, although I must say I found our game to be particularly
spiteful and nasty! The opposition team (the Hamilton-Kane’s and the
Vaccari’s, combined) seemed to gang up and tried to knock my or
Christine’s ball out of the park at every opportunity. It was very
disconcerting . The dinner afterwards was wonderful and made up for
this Type A competitive behaviour, and again the SCC team were very
hospitable and generous to us all.
Club Assembly This Week
This week we have a Club Assembly. It will be a good opportunity for
us to reflect on our work and achievements of the past 6 months, and
look to our plans for the next 6 months. The Directors and Committee
Chairs will lead discussions in their respective portfolios. This
will be a very good meeting for all Club members to come along to,
to hear the updates and ask any questions of your Board.
eBikes Next Week
Next week, my good friend – John Treloar – will join our Club as our
first guest speaker of the year. John is an IT industry veteran and
entrepreneur, and this week he will be talking to us about one of
his passions – electric bikes as viable alternative transport for
cities. John is an excellent speaker, and again this is a meeting
not to be missed – whether you’re interested in cycling, electric
bikes or urban transport, it promises to be a great session.
Hope to see many of you back this week!
Rick
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