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Last week
We had a great turnout last week for our DG Visit Club Meeting
(about 36 in total, I think), held jointly with the Rotary Club of
Breakfast Point (with a couple of Rotary Burwood members in
attendance too!).
For many of us it was the first chance to meet new DG Stephen
Britten and his wife, Jane. I believe we all experienced how
down-to-earth and approachable Stephen is, and with Jane actively
involved in Rotary projects too, I’m sure we’ll see a lot of
positive outcomes in this Rotary year.
I’d like to thank all members present at last week’s meeting for
being gracious and welcoming hosts – to both Stephen and Jane – as
well as our Breakfast Point and Burwood friends.
Proposed changes to our weekly meetings
I’m re-posting here an email I recently sent to all Club members
about proposed changes to meeting times…
“Those of you at our Club Meeting this week will have heard
me announce a Board decision to make a change to our regular
Wednesday evening start time from 6:15pm for 6:30pm, to 6:30pm
for 7:00pm. The rationale being that the slightly later start
time is more attractive to working professionals, allowing them
to more easily get to our meetings on time from City offices,
etc. I also said our latest finish time will be 8:30pm (maybe
that’s still too late. Let me know).
Now, on reflection I realise I really should have given you all
(and especially those of you not able to be at the meeting) the
chance to challenge and discuss and debate this decision, prior
to implementation. So, I’m doing this now.
Our proposed start date for this later meeting start time is 2
August 2017 – in two meetings’ time. Let’s take the time
between now and then for feedback and debate, as needed. If
it’s deemed to be a real issue for the majority of the
membership, then we’ll have to review the decision as a Board.
Maybe we can chat about it during the President’s Report section
at our next meeting?
As I also alluded to in this meeting, the Board will be
considering and recommending further Club meeting changes at our
August Board meeting (Tuesday 15 August 2017 at The Crossways
Hotel – 6:30pm for 7:00pm – all welcome!). Before enacting on
these, we will consult with you.
Thanks for your continued support. I’m looking forward to a
great, productive and enjoyable year, where can all feel proud
to be a part of this fabulous club!
I should have listened to my own advice… ‘hasten slowly’…”
Let’s chat about this during the President’s Report section tonight.
Club Board Meetings
Club Board Meetings have been set to occur on the 3rd Tuesday
evening of each month (not December), at The Crossways Hotel in
Enfield, from 6:30pm for 7:00pm. We plan to run each meeting for no
more than two hours. I mention this to you all again, as you’re all
very welcome to come and join us. We have a private space set
aside, and there is room for maybe up to 10 visitors. The hotel is
a great family pub, nicely renovated with a friendly atmosphere, and
the staff have been very accommodating. Before the meeting (6:30pm
to 7:00pm) is set aside for fellowship, and after the meeting it
seems there is more fellowship to be had, judging from last week!
Not sure what time some Board Members made it home? Come along;
we’d love to see you there.
Club Collaboration
I’ve recently had an approach from Burwood Club to see if we can
collaborate on a couple of initiatives. They have some good ideas.
It’s early days yet, and when these start to take shape, I’ll talk
more about them. I guess I should float these by the Board at some
stage too! Better do that soon.
Australian Rotary Health
There is a strong Australian Rotary Health
(ARH) theme going on in the Club at the moment!
As you all now know, ARH is one of our named service benefactors for
this year, and our one (currently) announced activity in support of
ARH is Rick’s Run for Rotary
that I have publicised recently, where I’ll be running the 7
Sunshine Coast Marathon in Maroochydore on 20th August 2017, with
all my fundraising efforts going to ARH.
Secondly, I’d like us all to offer our congratulations to PDG
Stephen Humphreys who has just taken on the role of
District 9675 Representative for
Australian Rotary Health in 2017/2018. Stephen is currently seeking
enthusiastic volunteers to join the District ARH Committee. If
you’re interested, make contact. Stephen’s email address is
sjhumphreys14@bigpond.com and his mobile is 0412 993 561.
Lastly, tonight’s guest speaker is Terry
Davies, Corporate Manager at ARH. We look forward to
hearing directly from Terry about all the good works of ARH, and why
I feel this is a great organisation to support directly this year.
Whilst I was doing a bit of background research on Terry, it seems
we may have both gone to the same junior high, and high school’s.
We’ll find out tonight!
Rick
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