Good evening fellows and guests.
Well what a wonderful night we had
last week, I have had a lot of positive feedback from many people who were
in attendance on the evening. In particular the people for whom the
evening was aimed at all appreciated the awards. I was impressed with the
Hon. John Watkins M.P. and enjoyed his company. His comments and
anecdotes were relevant and complimentary to all serving officers of the
Police Service.
In conversation with John Watkins he
was genuinely pleased to be there and appreciated what the Rotary Club of
Strathfield had done by introducing the awards to recognize officers in
Burwood and Flemington Commands. He was also aware and acknowledged other
projects that Rotary had undertaken and implemented.
The concept of the Police Awards was
first discussed during PP Stephen Taylor’s year, President Elect Keith
Byrn began the planning and made initial inquiries. The project was then
picked up by Vocational Service Director, Brian Johnson assisted by
Grahame True. I thank Brian & Grahame for the huge effort they put in to
make the night a success for the club. I also thank Janet Johnson and
Penny True because I believe they were in there and also responsible for
setting up and decorating the room.
I’m sorry to spoil the positive
comments above with the following negative comment but to be advised on
Thursday, that 10 members who had committed to attend the Police award
evening hadn’t attended, you could say I was a “little bit” wound up and
that’s putting it politely. It is very disappointing when some of us work
hard to do something in the club while a few seem to think its OK just to
turn up as they please and don’t even bother to apologize.
District Governor Warwick also
offered his congratulations on a successful night, and told me that
following on from a concept first introduced in Australia, Rotary
International had now issued a request to Rotary districts worldwide to
introduce Police Officer awards into there respective Rotary programs.
Don’t forget August is membership
month and the District Membership committee has given us a challenge to
introduce new members. Please consider opportunities to invite visitors
to our meetings who could be potential members.