Dear Members and Friends,
The District Conference has come and gone and certainly not without some items worth noting.
Firstly, the conference experience started with the combined club dinner at the Red Emperor Restaurant on Friday night. We were represented by 10 members and partners attending joined by 4 from the Southbank Rotary Club. From our club of course there was Judy and I and we were accompanied by Susan and Larry Robb, Andrew and Amanda Georgiou, Sainab and Khalid Sheikh, Cheryl Dorgan, and Kammy Leung. Southbank had Wendy, Sally, Stuart, and Steven. The venue was good, the food (and drink) was good and we all had a good time chatting away. It really was exciting for everyone to see Sainab and Khalid as they had only arrived back in Melbourne 3 hours earlier and they both looked very well.
The next day was on to conference!! Judy and I picked up Kammy in Docklands on the way to Essendon Fields and proceeded to wander around looking at all the different programs on display and having a chat with others in the district. Again, our club was well represented with Judy and me, Susan and Larry, Sainab and Khalid Kammy, Ted and Andrew. 9 for a club of our size is really excellent. The gourmet lunch really was gourmet. Unfortunately for Sainab and Khalid, it was still Ramadan and so they couldn’t partake. I did my best to eat their share.
Hopefully, a few that couldn’t make it still did get to see part or all of the virtual conference as it was really well done too. A few of us joined the DG in Indian Bollywood dancing. At least Kammy looked a bit like she knew what she was doing.
Then at the end, they announced all the District Awards and there really were quite a lot of very good winners in many categories. Naturally, our club was very happy to be one of the winners with our MUNA program in the Youth Category.
The rest of the day worked out well from my point of view as well. We dropped Kammy back at Docklands and as we St.Kilda was playing at Marvel we parked in her building and walked over and watched what has been a rare good win for this year.
Also, on the weekend, I got an email that all was finalized about the Peace Poles and that they are now on their way with an inscription about peace in English, French, Mandarin, and Japanese.
On Tuesday, I received an email from Susan Robb who has been regularly providing small contributions of goods for Ozanam House every month to both help the residents there have activities and also know that there are people that care about them. Well, when she went in she was presented with an art piece that one of the residents had specially made for our club. You do these little things and don't really expect any special thanks for it but have a look at the painting that was done.
Louise from Ozanam House also brought up the possibility of an art show being held with some sponsorship/art prize from the club for later in the year. She said that when Oz House has done art shows in the past they have been used by the North Melbourne Library. One of their clients has just entered a competition and won the best new artist prize (lovely aboriginal work).
So what's coming up in the district?
22nd May 2021 - District Assembly- 9.30-11.30 and will be virtual.
12th-17th June - International Convention - also Virtual
27th June 2021 - District Changeover - Hyatt Place 12-00-2.00pm
Coming up in our club starts tomorrow:
06th May 2021 - Club Meeting at the Mercure Hotel at 6.45 pm. Susie Cole Speaking about RIMERN which stands for Rotary Inner Melbourne Emergency Relief Network.
As I mentioned last week most Rotarians in District 9800 know about the great work that Western Emergency Relief Network does in supplying donated furniture and household goods to families located in the west who are in need. Many also know that the Eastern Emergency Relief Network does the same out in Mitcham for people in need in the east.
Our commitment is to contribute $1,000.00/year for 3 years and provide 2 members of the Committee of Management. Our reps will be Susan Robb and Judy Page.
I urge as many members as possible to attend this meeting both to show support for this program and also welcome Kammy again who is shortly to join our club and also Josie Ince who will be attending her first meeting and has expressed interest to join.
The following meeting will be on 20th May 2021 also at the Mercure Hotel
At this meeting, we have a double feature!!
1. Induction of Kammy Leung as a new member
2. To mark my 25 year Anniversary of my Rotary membership I will speak about my time in Rotary over that period. (Hopefully, that will be of interest)
President's Message
