President Report - October 2015

The first three months of the new Rotary year 2015/16 have passed quickly but, despite the typical winter weather, plenty has been happening around the Club.

 

On Sunday 27 September 10 members of the Rotary Club of Port Fairy turned out to give the Skene’s Road entrance to the town a spring clean.  The team was ably coordinated Rotarian Reg Beattie.

Special attention was given to the young trees planted along the roadside.  Weeds were removed and tree guards reinstated where required.  Twenty trees that had died or were badly damaged were replaced.  Moyne Shire Council’s Environment Officer, Richard Hodgens, supplied the new plants and oversaw the replanting.

 

Other clean up activities included trimming areas of long grass and picking up the rubbish that had accumulated along the roadsides.

Locals and visitors will no doubt notice the improvement to this part of the approach to the town thanks to members’ efforts.

 

During August and September the Spring Raffle has been a major focus of our fund raising activities.  The prize of a barrow load of hardware and garden supplies has attracted attention in Sackville Street on the days that Club members have set up to sell tickets.  The raffle will be drawn following the last day of ticket sales that is on 9 October.   Adrian Crosier has worked hard to obtain selling days from the Moyne Shire Council and at organizing rosters.

Fund raising effort now turns to the annual Car Raffle with tickets selling on multiple days over the next four months at various locations around the town.

 

Thanks to the ongoing efforts of Kevin Mathews the Rotary Club of Port Fairy has been privileged to have a number of outstanding guest speakers over the last three months including:

 

The Head Coach of the Philadelphia 76ers, Brett Brown, was the guest speaker at the Rotary Club of Port Fairy’s dinner meeting on 10 August 2015.  The 76ers are one of 30 teams in the US National Basketball Association that is the premier men’s basketball league in the world.

Brett was in Port Fairy on holidays and to catch up with his wife’s family, who reside in the district.  He spoke about the similarities between his own hometown in Maine and Port Fairy, particularly the beaches, the fishing and the small town atmosphere.

He gave Rotarians insights into the high-pressure world of the NBA where player salaries are five to ten times those of AFL players.

 

Journalist and war correspondent Chris Adams was the guest speaker at the Rotary Club of Port Fairy’s dinner meeting on 14 September 2015.  Chris spent over 45 years in the media including a number of tours of duty in war zones.  He explained how his lifetime of involvement in the media was driven by a great curiosity about how the other half lives and thinks.

Chris spoke about his experiences covering the involvement of Australian troops in the civil war in Somalia in the early 1990’s.  In 1993 Australian troops took part in the UN military mission, Operation Restore Hope, led by the United States to try to help the starving country by protecting food shipments from the warlords. 

In 1991 Chris also covered the first Gulf war.  This war was sparked by the invasion of Kuwait by Iraq in 1990.  Australia was part of the forces led by the US whose ground assault in February 1991 was a decisive victory for the Coalition, and drove the Iraqi military from Kuwait and advanced into Iraqi territory.  Chris reported the war from Tel Aviv that was subject to daily attack by Scud missiles from Saddam Hussein’s Iraq.

 

Guest speaker at the meeting on 24 August 2015 was Sharon Homberg from South West Healthcare.  Sharon spoke about prostate health and disease.

Sharon explained that prostate cancer is the most common cancer diagnosed in Australia and the third most common cause of cancer death. It is more common in older men, with 85% of cases diagnosed in men over 65 years of age. Family history increases the chances of developing the disease.

Sharon presented the facts and figures about the diagnosis, treatment and prognosis related to prostate cancer.  A very important part of Sharon’s work is to provide support to the men diagnosed with prostate cancer, and their families.

 

Rotarians Adrian Crosier (on 7 September 2015) and Jude Dawson (on 28 September 2015) addressed the Club and outlined aspects of their respective careers and life experiences.

 

The Rotary Club of Port Fairy delivered Meals on Wheels around the town during the week 21 September to 25 September 2015.  MoWs coordinator Bernie Waixel organized drivers and rosters.

 

The Club has initiated a number of club development activities in recent months, including:

 

In August the Rotary Club of Port Fairy was successful in obtaining a Grant under the District 9780's Club Strengthening Grant program.  The grant will be put towards the purchase and installation of an overhead projector and screen for use during Club meetings.  The Club is in the process of securing matching funds for this project.

 

Rotarians John Clue and Jim Delaney are currently undertaking the Rotary Leadership Institute (RLI) course.  The Institute was established to assist in improving the Rotary knowledge and leadership skills of the current and future leaders of clubs and districts.

RLI is a facilitated learning process following the principles of adult learning.  A structured curriculum is followed, and participants are required to be fully involved in discussion, research, presenting and a range of learning activities. 

The Institute offers a training program in three full-day sessions that are held at different venues around the district.

The Rotary Club of Port Fairy has initiated a review of its communications needs and means.  A small group lead by Rotarian Jim Delaney has been established to examine and make recommendations on improving our communications in the short term, and to develop a longer-term strategy for the development of communications goals and processes.  The review will cover both internal and external communications.

 

Work is underway to organize two forthcoming events for the Club. The Rotary Club of Port Fairy will host a Film Night at the Port Fairy's Reardon Theatre in Bank Street as part of its annual fundraising effort.  The movie, Force of Destiny, will be screened on Friday 2nd October at 7.30pm.  

 

The Rotary Club of Port Fairy will again conduct an Open Gardens Day fundraising event on Sunday 1st November 2015.  This year there will be four Port Fairy gardens on display with the funds raised going to the Moyne Health Services.

 

Rotarians Margaret Whitehead, Hester Woodrup and Maureen Beattie have been to the fore in organizing these events.