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James was invited to become a Rotarian by Big Don Gordon, sadly no longer with us, of the Rotary Club of Mornington early in 1971. Don turned up at our office one day, all prepared to do his membership sales pitch - and was somewhat nonplussed when James said immediately "Yes Don, I would be delighted". How was he to know that a former boss had told us all about Rotary and James had been a guest at the Rotary Club of Hawthorn. Don's easiest sale ever, I would think. I attended the combined Charter Night of the Club and Seaford Rotary with James on 15 June 1971 at the Prince Mark Hotel in Dandenong . It was crowded and noisy with 44 plus new Rotarians the DG and lots of guests. Before this big event, there had been a few informal gatherings for the prospective members and their families, notably a picnic at the Somers beach house of Bill and Joyce Parsons which was well attended, including lots of sub teenage children as several potential Members had young children. (At that time James and I had only a 2 year old). The members ranged in age from 25 years up . Mount Eliza was definitely to be a "young" Rotary Club, which resulted in lots of social activity. The initial club meetings were at the Penguin Restaurant, since replaced by Norwood House, but soon the Club had had a variety of venues, the Long Island Country Club, the Long Island restaurant, (part of the Frankston BP service station) , the Chameleon Restaurant, back to the Penguin , which was burnt down and the rescued dinner badges somewhat singed, then the John Hancock Music Hall in Mount Eliza all in the first 4 or so years. Then we moved to the George Vowell Centre for several years before coming to Cobblestone Manor (and its reincarnations) - before finally coming to the wonderful destination of Toorak College, to which hopefully we will soon return.
The Club always encouraged the wives to be part of the Club as much as possible and several Ladies Nights were held each year however Rotary was rather more formal in those years. When Charter President Wal Cubbin was asked for advice on what the ladies should wear to a Ladies Night, Wal said " definitely informal Karina - you know, long skirt would be fine"....!
Wives also took part in many of the working bees and the age of the members ensured that these were very much hands on such as tree planting and various construction events. Socially we were busy and progressive dinners were popular. For several years Easter at Wilsons Prom. became the venue for camping and caravanning with lots of kids from teenagers down, walking to Sealers Cove or other beaches and/or long lunches during the day, and partying in the evenings. Later we camped at Porepunkah and at Walkerville. I think the camping was eventually superseded by Harry Goodrich's houseboat weekends, which were very much male only . There were some spectacular pool parties over the years - Ron and Julie Ford, Reg and Elaine Smith, Barry and Marj Hansen, others, but never to be forgotten was the party at John Don's - which those who were there will well recollect and that probably is about all that should be said. The Club chartered a Rotaract Club with PE Neil Heron as Charter President in 1976 and several lively combined meetings took place. (Ever tried passing an apple along a line of people, no hands?) District Conferences were usually well attended and Albury was a favoured venue. A couple stand out and not for good reasons. One I recollect had about 1200 attendees and the Club was seated for the formal Saturday dinner at the last couple of tables, and as the evening wore on and the head table was eating desert before Mount Eliza had had its entree, a member went out for fish and chips to keep us fed ... can't now remember if we ever got fed or not. Also in those days the organising club also allocated the accommodation and at another conference we were in a motel called the Spotted Dog opposite Albury Station. It was spotted all right; dirty, run down, different coloured and patterned carpets even in the same room. It was demolished shortly after ... ( It is always said that what you remember most about conference is the food and the accommodation.) Wal Cubbin was nominated for District Governor in 1977 and the Club organised his District Conference, (taking the above into account). The venue was again Albury but dinner was well organised and the final meal, Sunday lunch, was a really good barbeque held in the Botanic Gardens and the cooking was done by the Rotaract Club. Great menu too, chicken, prawns as well as steak and chops and salads. No complaints about the accommodation either. DG Wal and PDG John Emerton lit 75 candles on the Rotary 75th Anniversary cake - which was a great spectacle- especially when they couldn't be extinguished - in the canvas marquee. (Incidently there was a so called Ladies Program at Conference at least until 1996, and we had a separate Ladies lunch on the Saturday, which became confusing with the introduction of women Rotarians) Fund raising was very hands on: initially I remember the framing of the Objects and 4 way tests sold to other clubs for presentation to new members. As the club than had several members in the construction industry it was thought that building a house for sale would be a great fund raiser and land was bought in Winona Road. With Members in Real Estate, Law, Architecture, Building, Plumbing, Electrical, and building materials, what could possibly go wrong? Well, some Members will remember that it certainly did. The time of construction proved to be a major problem, coupled with a real slump in the economy. Members took to underwriting the costs and after many delays it was sold, albeit at a loss. It was, in fact, a very nice house (of course) - well worthy of the Mount Eliza address and the good name of our Club. James was President during that rather desperate time and with 3 young kids to look after we had support from the Club for baby sitting duties when we attended the chartering of new clubs and other formal occasions during the year. Board meetings were held at our home and tradition held that a supper was to be supplied by the President's lady. I once served some pickled pine mushrooms (the yellow ones! Very 'sus' at that time unless you knew about them from European friends). The doctor and the pharmacist (Barry Hansen)declared them delicious, but the bank manager never spoke to me again. At that time we lived in a house down a long and steep unmade drive, and on one occasion one brave committee member decided he was ok to reverse up about 300 metres to the Highway. Great excitement as he was extracted from the gully. The Club had lots of families with similar aged kids who acted as hosts to International students and we ourselves hosted Laurie Clark from Olympia Washington State, USA and Hiroyuki Hasebe from Japan. Although our kids were much younger than the students we did enjoy being host parents. Eventually in the 1980's James left Mount Eliza when he was asked to be DG Perc Hosking's special representative for the formation of a new Rotary Club in Somerville and he became a charter member there. Some years later John Dunn invited me to join Mount Eliza as an Active Rotarian in my own right, and here I am, enjoying all that this great club offers, and with 50 years of Rotary memories. How Rotary has changed over those years! (And Graham will be the only person who can wish to "adjust" some of these recollections, and, of course, along with John Gilbert, ) Karina Thanks so much Karina for great memories and a different perspective! (Ed)
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