President’s Report
25 October
2017
Last Week’s Speaker
We had another thought-provoking and inspirational story told by our
guest speaker last week – Dennis van Someren – from Shine for Kids,
an organisation that supports children, young people and families
with relatives in the criminal justice system. Dennis told of the
struggles that children with family members in jail face, having
experienced this himself as a teenager when his own father went to
jail for a white collar crime. Read the full report in the Guest
Speaker Write-up later in this Bulletin.
Four New Members Inducted!
The highlight for me last week was formally inducting four new
Members to our Club (well, three brand new Members and one returning
Member). Please make them all very welcome when you see them in our
Club and at our functions – Rotarians, Mathew Elias, Farrukh Mirza,
John Tsaprounis and Bill Carney. Committee delegations for our new
Members are as follows:
-
Mathew Elias, Club Service
-
Farrukh Mirza, International
Service
-
John
Tsaprounis, Community Service
-
Bill Carney, Vocational
Service
A hearty welcome to each of
you! We look forward to your contributions to our Club and its
programs.
Happy Diwali!
On the evening of our meeting last week, it was also the eve of the
Hindu Festival of Lights – Diwali. Some of you may have noticed
some Diwali decorations with a lit candle at the back of our room
last week, in honour of this festival. It was prepared and setup by
Rotarians Anu and Umesh Kamkolkar. And so, to all our Hindu friends
and colleagues… on this auspicious festival of lights, may the glow
of joy, prosperity and happiness illuminate your days in the year
ahead. Happy Diwali and Happy New Year!
Upcoming Events
There’s quite a program of important events coming up in the next
week or two, that I would like us all to participate in if we are
able. Commitment Sheets for all of these will be circulated
tonight.
1. Muscle Car Masters
– 28-29 October 2017. This is always a great day and a half for
petrol-heads and non-petrol heads, alike. I’m a non-petrol head
(I ride a 125cc Vespa scooter), and I truly enjoyed my
experience there last year. If you haven’t been before, don’t
miss out. Sign-up tonight! We also make good money for little
effort out of this one!
2. Graffiti Removal Day – 29 October 2017.
Unfortunately, clashing with the Muscle Car Masters this year,
this is one of our signature Community Service activities. I’m
sure we can spread the load between the two events (we have 38
Members in the Club now!). PP Peter Smith – our Graffiti
removal champion – usually also recruits some young Interactors
and Rotaractors for this, so with a little luck, we should be
fine. Be sure to sign up for either this or the Muscle Car
Masters this weekend.
3. Speech Craft – Transfer Meeting to Burwood Club – 30
October 2017. Fred Walker from the Rotary Club of Burwood will
be with us tonight to tell us a little of what will be happening
on that night. It will truly be a spectacle of speech
excellence, moderated by some of the best Toastmasters in
Sydney, from the St Leonards club.. It’s a Transfer Meeting
from 1 November 2017, and a Partner’s Night too. It will really
be a great evening as we hear 16 talented students from local
schools try out their speaking skills on us.
4. Western Harbour Group – Festival of Cultures – 3
November 2017. This is a special joint Western Harbour Group (WHG)
of Rotary Clubs cultural celebration evening. Coordinated in
our Club by Rotarian Prabhat Sinha, we will be putting on an
Indian Dance Troupe performance. Each of the other clubs will
put on some short performance too. It will be a lot of fun.
Just $30.00 for a fabulous Function Centre quality dinner, with
(I’m sure) very entertaining performances from the WHG Clubs.
Come along!
This Week’s Speaker
Tonight we’ll be hearing from Ben Newsome, founder of Fizzics
Education. Fizzics is one of Australia's leading science outreach
providers of interactive science workshops and shows since 2004.
They now deliver science programs to about 300,000 children each
year via incursion and video conference across 400 schools and
public spaces throughout Australia and around the world. This will
be a great story to hear. I hope you can make it.
Rick
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