President’s Report

30 May  2018


Last week – WestConnex

We had another very interesting presentation last week – this time from Terry Chapman, Project Director of WestConnex. What a massive undertaking, and an engineering marvel. I tried to set the scene a little with my story of WestConnex compulsory acquisition at Homebush before Terry’s presentation. I’m not sure he has a sense of humour like mine? He didn’t react to my introduction, and didn’t crack a smile the whole night – but was very informative and interesting none-the-less! He has a VERY BIG JOB. I guess he needs to be serious a lot!

Last week also – New Member

The highlight of the evening was of course the induction of our newest, and youngest member – JP Baladi. JP was thrilled to finally be inducted. I look forward to the contributions he will undoubtedly make to this club, and to Rotary.

Welcome once again, JP! I hope you enjoy your time in Rotary.

Club Changeover

Don’t forget, please block out the evening of Saturday, 7 July 2018 in your diaries for our Changeover Dinner. Planning is well underway. This year we will be using Humanitix as the online booking system to register for the dinner. Humanitix will donate 100% of all profits (30% of the booking fee) from this event to Australian Rotary Health. I think it’s a better option than the full commercial players (e.g. TryBooking, who keep all the profits), and certainly better than collecting cash on the night! Formal invitations will follow shortly.

Out and about

I’ve been hitting the town in the last week!

Saturday night – Rotary Club of Sydney Cove 30th Birthday Bash
I was invited to join the Rotary Club of Sydney Cove on the John Cadman II for a Vivid Harbour Cruise, for their 30th Birthday celebration on Saturday evening. Christine and I attended, and had a great time with some of the clubs that I’ll be looking after next year in my AG role (Sydney Cove, Sydney, and Darling Harbour. Nobody from Kings Cross club was there; maybe they were busy that night). BTW… The John Cadman II (or similar vessel) is the regular meeting spot for Sydney Cove Club every Monday morning! Not a bad location and facility, I must say.

Sunday Morning – Red Shield Appeal
It was great to see a number of Strathfield Rotarians at Strathfield Town Hall on Sunday morning, to help out with the annual Red Shield Appeal, once again coordinated by our very own PP Peter Smith. I hope I don’t miss anyone that was there, but I remember seeing: Roy Ellis, Peter VdS, PP Raymond, Secretary Rod, Chris H, and PP Roger. I also saw Patricia Giammarco, but no Paolo? Thanks for helping out once again, and thanks PP Peter Smith for coordinating.

Monday evening – Rotary Club of Burwood meeting
On Monday evening I popped into the Burwood Club meeting, mainly to support regular Strathfield club visitor, Fred Walker. Fred had his son-in-law – James Kemp – as the guest speaker on the evening. Many of you will remember James, as he visited our club with Fred and Sharyn Walker, when their daughter – Elizabeth Kemp – was our guest speaker, talking about speech pathology.

Next week – State of Origin

We’ll have a short fellowship social meeting next week, as it is State of Origin 1 later that evening, and many of you will want to get home (or other venue) to watch the game. So, no excuses that you’re going to the game – it’s at the MCG! Come along to or meeting for a meal. Make it a date night, and bring your partner! Maybe stay on at the club afterwards, and watch the game from here if you like? Kick-off will be around 8:20pm. We will finish our meeting by 7:50pm so you can all go home in time for the game starting.

This week

This week we welcome Di North, DGN to our club, to discuss Interplast, and her involvement with this great organisation. Please make her feel very welcome. We’re expecting a number of guests from our neighbouring Western Harbour Clubs here tonight for this too, so be sure to make them feel welcome as well. Thanks.

The highlight for tonight will be the induction of another new member: Thaya Ponniah – a special occasion for both Thaya and our club. Please show him our support as we formally welcome him to our club. Thaya has quite a Rotary history from his time in Sri Lanka. It will be very interesting for all of us to hear this tonight.


Rick