President's Message   

As we begin the new Rotary Year, we have so much to look forward to that will be exciting and challenging, unique and perhaps unprecedented but as committed and dedicated Rotarians we will determine to succeed against the oaths.

Given that our theme this year is “Serve to change lives” is consistent with the values and aspirations of all Rotarians. I would like to focus and challenge our Club on that one word Serve to change lives.  My most important goal this year is to attract, retain and engage new and existing members in and to our Club. We need to change lives and try new ways of engaging and increasing our membership.  Without a focus on increasing membership, we will not be able to do our most important work which is service to our North Melbourne community.

Rotary is a service organization and part of the engagement and attraction of new members is to have a compelling service initiative that stimulates people to get involved.  This year, we will be pursuing a multi-year service strategy which will help us better connect and improve the North Melbourne community we serve.

Last week on Saturday 10 July 2021 4 members of our club and one friend attended District Changeover lunch at Essendon Field (Sainab, Neville, Kammy, Mahad, and Nasteha. It was a wonderful ceremony at the District Changeover Philip Archer handed over the reins of District Governor to Dale Hoy. Rotarians, family and friends were there to thank Philip for the outstanding year he and his team have had and welcome in Dale and his team.

Lastly, we need to promote what we do.  Not only what we do locally but what Rotary does as an international organization.  Rotary can change the world as we have shown with our efforts around Fight diseases such as Polio eradication, clean water, sanitation, and hygiene, save mothers & children, support education, promote peace and grow local economies who would not want to be part of an organization that can have that kind of impact both locally and internationally?

I am honored to be serving as your President and looking forward to an exciting year of transformation, growth and Connections.

I have attended several Rotary Clubs changeovers including the Rotary Club of North Brighton which my beautiful sister Kate president where a changeover to President ……. And Rotary Club of Glen Eira changeover where president Lili changeover to President Roberto that is where I met the member of Parliament David Southwick, and I want to congratulate my darling friend Lili Teichmin her receiving Paul Haris fellow award.

Upcoming Meeting 

12th August 2021 - In Person Meeting  - 6.45pm

OTHER CLUB NEWS

We have another article going into the local paper and it should be on the streets tomorrow. I'll bring some to the meeting if I can get my hands on them.

It was clear that members enjoyed last week's meeting with speaker, Lindsey Leigh Hobson. She was very engaging and related very well to us all with her presentation.

TOKYO OLYMPICS UPDATE

It's only 9 days to the Olympics now. Over the last year members have been provided with a few updates from some aspiring athletes that have been performing well, in particular, has been Male middle-distance runner from Tasmania, Stewart McSweyn and a local Melbourne young lady in Jemima Montag who is competing in the 20km walk.

Well, in the last 2 weeks Stewart McSweyn has smashed the Australian mile record and set the fastest time in the world in seven years, at the Oslo Diamond League in a time of 3.48.37 and then 1 week later smashed the Australian 1500m record with a time of 3.29.51. This is definitely some of the best performances in the world this year and makes him one of the favorites in the 1,500m. Stewart is also competing in the 5,000m and the 10,000m.

Jemima spoke at our club last December and developed a great rapport with members. As a life member of the same Athletic Club that Jemima competes for, being the Maccabi Athletic Club I suggested to the President that the club consider a group viewing of the event and I can report it is now all organized with printed tickets. The club had to first get approval from Channel 7 and the International Olympic Committee. Direct contact was made with the Vice President of the International Olympic Committee, John Coates, and received a very quick approval.

So the event is on at 5.30pm on Friday 6th August and will be shown at a 200 person capacity cinema at the Elsternwick Classic. There is no charge for the event but the club will be happy to accept a donation. The 20km event should take a bit over 90 minutes and as Jemima is the current Commonwealth Games Gold medallist and ranked 12 in the world noting that 5 of the top 9 are from China. Jemima is only 23 years old which is young for a walker and is improving every event. If any member would like to attend please contact Neville Page ASAP to ensure you get a seat.

Last year we developed a good relationship with Alok Beswala from the Rotary Club of Mumbai Western Elite in India and he organized for 2 teams to participate in the international virtual MUNA we ran in December.

Alok has just contacted me to ask our members to participate in a Walkathon they are running.

His message to me is:

Hi Neville, this year again we are doing this project Walkathon, if you want we can put your club name also as co-partner. If your club members participate, we even have partner who will give us money rupee 1 for every 100 step. The money collected will be used for Pediatric surgeries. Please see if your club is interested and then we will make you also co-partner. Let me know , Tks Alok

I know our members got into walking last year for polio so hopefully, there will be a few that would like to have another go for a good cause.

 

Joke of the Week

I decided to make my password "incorrect" because if I type it in wrong, my computer will remind me, "Your password is incorrect."