Welcome Rotarians to 2014 and our new Rotary year.  

Before we move onto future projects it is with pride we can reflect on our summer efforts.  It was good see member support at the New Year’s Eve events - the Retro Running race on New Years' Eve (both heats and finals) and for the members who worked on the barbecue at the Moyneyana Festival NYE Parade in the heat and giving up time before attending their own end of year social events.  Also to the many ticket sellers for the Wilma Preston Painting Raffle held over the four markets during January - a big thank you.

 

The other successful event was the showing of the film "The Broken Shore" at the Reardon Theatre and good attendance figures were very pleasing.  Overall, our club has done very well financially and a large sum of money was raised in a few weeks.  We will be presenting a cheque to Vicki Jellie for the Peter’s Project fund on February 17th when she attends our dinner meeting to give an update on plans for Peter’s Project. In addition, we are currently seeking a speaker to attend our Club from Interplast and we can present them with a cheque from the proceeds of the Open Garden Day.

The Port Fairy Folk Festival is drawing near and all hands on deck are required for manning the gates, and helping with the barbecue on the Friday.  A small committee has been formed to organise the logistics of the barbecue. On Sunday 2nd March a working bee has been planned, starting at 9am, to clean up the Golf Club (Woodbine) Road area prior to the festival.

In the next few weeks Rotary in and around the district have events happening to which the Port Fairy Club can contribute.  The Warrnambool Daybreak Rotary Club are holding a movie night on Thursday 27th February and on March 6th a repeat of the very successful Peace Concert will be held at the Lighthouse Theatre.

Rotarians from District 9520 will visit Warrnambool for their annual conference between March 20th and 23rd bringing a large contingent of Rotarians to our district.  Our club will be involved selling Rotary Down Under merchandise at the stall at the Lighthouse Theatre during the weekend and we will soon be seeking volunteers to help in this activity.

The Club wishes President-Elect, John Clue, an enjoyable time at the PETS weekend at Ballarat starting on February 15th.  I am sure he will find it a beneficial experience.  A reminder to members that the Club is still seeking a Rotarian to accept the role of secretary in 2014/15 year so please give it some thought.

We are sorry to lose Diana Bracegirdle as a member, but wish her all the best for the future.  We shall still see her around the club at various times.  We are always seeking new members so don't hesitate to ask someone you feel may enjoy Rotary and what it has to offer.

Cheers…. Hester Woodrup