In this our 50th year as a Rotary Club (the RC Mt Eliza was established in 1971) I would like to invite every member to contribute to a REMEMBER WHEN column in the Bulletin.
You may want to talk about when you joined, a memorable guest speaker, a District Governor's visit, a special fund-raising project, a community event, a very funny fine levied by the Sergeant of the day, various forms of Club fellowship and any other aspect of our Club over the last 50 years.
Thanks to International Director Maurie Selth who volunteered to Jim, as Bulletin Editor, to do the first column this week. Maurie also suggested that each member be put on a roster to put forward their favourite memories (See Maurie's story & roster below).
Please keep Tuesday 15 September free for our Club Visioning evening with Rotarian Phil Dressing.
As part of my preparation for that evening, I recently read with interest the latest Rotary Zone 8 Public Image Newsletter.
Among the many interesting articles in that publication, there was a call for clubs to have an effective public relations plan.
Such a plan will:
• Enhance the club’s public image;
• Gain support and resources for projects;
• Build links with other community organisations;
• Attract qualified members;
• Recognise Rotary members for their contribution to the community; and
• Correct misconceptions about the club and Rotary.
While we are restricted in what we can do as a Club, due to COVID-19, now is also an ideal time to look at our club branding and make appropriate changes to ensure that we comply with Rotary International’s standard.
By the way, some people prefer the former Rotary brand. However, regardless of whether or not you ‘like’ the compliant Rotary logo which has now been in use for seven years, the decision to change to the logo was made by the Rotary International Board.
As Rotarians it is our responsibility to abide by that decision and to make sure that we comply.
In the early weeks of the new Rotary Year, we should ensure that we display the compliant logo and other relevant RI materials.
For example, the 2020/21 International themes for Rotary is Rotary Opens Opportunities.
I am pleased that our Club seems to be up to date with the use of this theme, which has been on our Bulletin since the first issue of the new Rotary Year.
To finish, a quick reminder about Meals from Toorak (please see the story elsewhere in this Bulletin).
Until next time
Yours in Rotary
Sue
District Governor Mark Humphries and Past President Linda Humphries
This week, I thought that I would like to share with you a story that was printed in the first edition of "Knock Knock".
The following story was written by Rotarian Lynne Smythe
Even in stage 3 lockdown, Rotary can still play its part in the community. Before COVID-19 befell us, I was involved in a quilting group - Ladies of the Swamp - working out of Estelle Cadd’s Craft Quarters in Koo Wee Rup.
Every Friday we would come together and create quilts for charity (totally funded by ourselves).
This year we earmarked the East Gippsland Bushfire Relief as the recipients of our labours BUT who, how and where to deliver? Enter Rotary In Action - with District Secretary Jane Moore’s email calling for warm goodies for the E.G Bushfire Committee to distribute - here was the answer. A few phone calls later and it was all systems GO!
On Sunday May 3, after picking up knitted items President Lyn had sourced, Jennifer North (co-pilot) and I hit the road for Traralgon. Dressed in Pakenham Rotary pink - or is it fuchsia? - we met Janne Spiers to hand over a car load of quilts, knits and warm items to help those in the bushfire affected areas who desperately need them.
Thanks Lynne. A great story and part of the fabric of what makes Rotary and, in particular the Rotarians and Clubs of District 9820, so great!
At we are now in the second month of the new Rotary Year and everyone has to deal with the current COVID-19 restrictions, it is timely to think of our Club's Bulletin Sponsors and thank them.
Thank you:
* Ritchies IGA
* Blue Croc
* Mt Eliza Community Bank, Bendigo Bank
* Michaelona Flavours
Of course, thank you is a nice thing to say, however you are asked to ensure that you, your families and friends use the services of our sponsors, as and when appropriate.
Relationship with sponsors is a two way thing and hopefully is a long-term relationship. Your support will contribute to that being the case!
My Good Wife informs me that ’70 per cent of Victorians think our Premier is doing a good job’.
The Stockholm Syndrome is derived from a botched bank robbery in Stockholm in August 1973. Four hostages were held in a vault for six days and an incongruous bond developed between captive and captor. This psychological connection develops over the course of days, weeks months or even Years of captivity and abuse.
The captives after whom this syndrome was named refused to testify against their captors and even raised money for their [the captors’] defence. Patty Hearst likewise, 'kidnapped' by the Symbionese Liberation Army and upon arrest listed her occupation as 'urban guerilla' has ... wait for it... segued into a minor millionairess? celebrity. Only in America.
Victims begin to believe that the objectives of each group share the same goals and values. To clarify my view; that anyone would testify or give money to our captor beggars belief. Now this is not political, because the alleged figure of seventy per cent means that the Premier has cross – party support. The mind boggles.
The only other people I can recall who exceeded this figure were Idi Amin and Robert Mugabe.
But I digress.
The ‘real stories’ the facts about the impact of snatching defeat from the Jaws of Victory can be measured by a refusal to admit and deal with promises. We were told that localised outbreaks would be managed individually; ‘much like one handles a scrub fire’. The covering up of the escape [actually the doors were wide open] of the pandemic into the Our Community matches the Russian denial of the Chernobyl disaster and indeed the failings of China itself by imprisoning their ‘whistle blower’ doctor until he died.
Now we find the very State Premiers who blamed the Federal Government for the summer fires turned back the ADF and then unilaterally closed their borders. Power corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutely. [Baron Acton 1834 – 1902]
Then we come to blame shifting; from the States to US; some of whom then attack our Police Officers for no reason.
Blame shifting; it is for another Column.
A person jumps off a tall building. People hear him crying out 'so far, so good'.
INTERNATIONAL DIRECTOR MAURIE SELTH - "MY EARLY YEARS IN THE ROTARY CLUB OF MT ELIZA"
May I say that I am pleased to be the first member of the Club to contribute to the celebration of the 50th Year of the Rotary Club of Mt Eliza in this Bulletin.
I joined our Club in 1982, being nominated by Murray McNally and inducted by PDG john Dunn.
I was so proud to be asked to join Rotary, and considered it a great honour. At that stage I was 39 years old, had a young family with three children and ran a busy dental practice in Southland Shopping Centre, Cheltenham.
The benefits and fun that I had in those early years of my Rotary membership were immense.
One thing that has stuck in my mind was from a comment made to me by PP. Bill Parsons was “you never say no in Rotary”.
For a club to survive and be successful, how true his comment was.
You only get out of Rotary as much as you are prepared to put in. The values and aspirations of those Rotarians, who were members in those early years, have been the foundations of the success and enjoyment that I have experienced being a member of the Rotary Club of Mt. Eliza.
I was President of our Club in 1988-89, with Alan Gamble as my secretary. My presidential project for the year was the financing, and building of a kitchen in the Seaford respite house of the Association for the Disabled, run by PP. Stan Spencer.
I was awarded a Paul Harris Fellowship in 1996 by PP. Brian Ingram.
The culmination of my years in Rotary was being Team Leader of the Rotary Foundation Group Study Exchange Team to Scotland North, Rotary District 1010 in 2004.
Besides all the social welfare activities of our Club in those years, there were many fun times we had together. Each Easter for a number of years, the Club holidayed together on the shores of Lake Eildon at Howqua Terraces Resort. We would water ski by day and sit around the camp fire by night at a BBQ and unfortunately drink too much port.
Harry Goodrich was a member in those days, and each year he would invite us all up to Eildon to stay on his houseboat, ski behind his jetboat and play cards. Who can forget the local doctors, Allen Eagle and Bill George, occasionally tipping water on us all from the top deck!
Christmas was also a great family time in our Club. We would have our usual tennis afternoon on the courts of Peninsula School followed by the arrival of Father Christmas (AKA Carl Seales) in his T-model Ford with a sack of presents for our children.
I could go on about the great times I have had, the many friendships I have made, as well as helping the community in Mt. Eliza and elsewhere. I have had a fantastic time being a member of the Rotary Club of Mt. Eliza.
Thank you Maurie for this great first column! (Ed.)
Roster for future contributions:
Members of the Club are asked to write a contribution about their time in Rotary. Large or small, years ago or more recently - all contributions are most welcome.
A roster for August/ September has been prepared and your assistance is appreciated. While there are two names for each week, this is an individual exercise. You do not have to consult with each other.
While I have put names down against dates, please don't hesitate to send in stories at an earlier time. Stories received may be used later in the year. I have also contacted a number of Honorary Members asking if they would like to make a contribution. Thank you (Ed.)
Our three minute speaker this week was Treasurer, Rotarian Chris Angerer. The text of Chris' speech follows:
Hakluyt Society
I am a travel addict.
The type of travel that allows you to immerse yourself into different countries, cultures, landscapes and flora and fauna.
Soaking up history and environment in other societies allows us to broaden our horizons and permits us to see our world and problems from an enlarged perspective.
A number of years ago I joined the Hakluyt Society.
Richard Hakluyt was an advisor to Queen Elizabeth I, and a friend of Francis Drake and Walter Raleigh. He frequented the docks in London to collect and publish the records and experiences of adventurers and explorers. He published a comprehensive almanac of exploration at the end of the 16th century.
The Hakluyt Society was formed in 1846 in London and has as its object the advancement of knowledge and education in relation to understanding of world history.
It publishes the diaries, logs and experiences of voyages and travels of people throughout the centuries and the globe. The HS is a registered Charity.
Dr Martin Woods, curator of maps at the Australian Library in Canberra is its Australian President.
Examples of the stories published include:
* Joao Rodrigues', a Jesuit monk, account of 16th Century Japan. Joao was a confidant of the first shoguns and spend 50 years in Japan and China from 1577 to 1626.
* The account of the travels and embassy of four Japanese youths of nobility to Europe and the Vatican in 1580, including their audiences and visits to King Phillip II, the Medici family, the Pope and Venice’s city fathers.
* Robert Schaumbergcks' travels on foot and by canoe through the rainforest, savannahs and along the great rivers of Guiana in the 1830s and 40s. (His brother Richard became the curator of the Royal Botanical Gardens in Adelaide).
* John Narborough’s log of his surveying of Patagonia and the Magellan Strait in the 1670s.
* Semen Deznev, a Russian soldier sailing from the North Siberian coast into the Pacific, discovering what later became known as the Bering Strait in 1648.
* Pedro Paes history of 16th Century Ethiopia
* Midshipman Poynter’s diary of the discovery of the South Shetland Islands in 1820
* Alessandro Malaspina’s logs and diaries of the surveying and mapping of the whole American west coast up to Alaska’s Prince William Sound. In his travels he also spend time in the fledgling colony of NSW around 1790 and was a guest of the governour.
* Irish and British settlement of the Amazon between 1555 and 1646
These and so many more providing wonderful insights into the exploration of our world.
Our guest speaker at this week's Zoom meeting on Tuesday, 11 August was Dr Joy Lyneham.
Joy has been a critical care nurse for over forty years.
She has extensive experience working both in Australia and overseas.
Dr Lyneham started Academic life in 1985 while continuing on with clinical care practice.
Joy has taught at four different universities in three states, NSW, Victoria and Tasmania.
During her time as an academic, Joy has been mainly focused on ethics and acute care.
Joy was awarded her Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) degree in 2003 undertaking research that examined intuitive practice in emergency nursing and violence in practice.
Since completing her PhD, joy has spend time doing further research into "disaster nursing".
In 2006, Dr Lyneham was invited to the University of Tasmania’s Conservatorium of Music to extrapolate the notion of intuition in music.
However, during her time at the Conservatorium she found something even more interesting - the notion of ‘Authentic being in the Performer space’.
This concept has been described by participants as a ‘Moment of Perfection’.
As part of her research when working with the Conservatorium Joy interviews ten musicians and last night she shared their experiences with us.
From an early age musicians learn complex auditory and motor skills which they practice extensively for the rest of their lives.
Musicians interviewed told Joy that when they are playing, "reality is suspended", there is a kind of "out of body experience" and they feel no "constructs or constraints". they just do!
The descriptions from the musicians spoke of "essence", "authentic self", "brilliant meditating" and "rich harmonics". "The music "was shaping their performances and they just surrended".
Listening to Joy the Editor felt a tinge of regret that he had quickly given up on the piano lessons that his mother had arranged when he was eight years old!
In the 1880s in Tombstone, Arizona, a three-legged dog walked into a saloon.
He looked around, walked up to the bar, looked the barman in the eye and said, "I'm looking for the man who shot my paw!"
Two eskimos in Alaska were out fishing in their two person kayak. It was particularly cold and one of them decided to light a fire.
Unfortunately, as soon as the fire got underway, a hole was burned in the boat and it sank.
This proves, beyond any doubt, that you can't have your kayak and heat it too.
A newspaper in country Victoria decided to run a competition to find out which reader could suggest the best pun.
While many people submitted entries the local priest, who fancied himself as an orator, was very keen to win.
So the priest sat down and wrote out ten different puns that he submitted to the newspaper.
Unfortunately no pun in ten did!
In Dubai a new fun park had been constructed with the most amazing slide - over 2500 metres long with chutes, a series of "S" bends, up and down mini-rises and a 200 metre 50 degree drop at the finish.
The most amazing thing of all was the reward system that had been prepared for the people who dared to try it out.
The attendant in charge told each participant, "What ever you call out during the ride will be your reward when you reach the bottom."
An Englishman, an Irishman and a Scotsman decided to try the slide.
The attendant again reminded them of their reward at the bottom.
The Scot went first and all the way down he screamed, "Money, money, money!"
Lo and behold, when he landed there was a pile of bank notes.
The Englishman went next. He had learned from the Scotsman and he too called out, "Money, money, money!"
At the bottom there was his reward of bank notes.
The Irishman couldn't wait. He jumped on to the slide and sailed off at great speed.
Having the time of his life, he shouted out, "Weeeeee!"
Members are respectively reminded that the next $20 payment was due on 1 August with monies going towards the year-end hampers organised by Trish Stamp.
The payment should be made into the Club General Account - BSB 633 000 Account number 152 498 093.
More positive feedback has been received from some of the Rotarians who ordered week 2 Meals from Toorak.
Last Friday 13 meals were order by Rotarians and these were home delivered by Toorak yesterday.
These main meals are packaged in foil trays ready to reheat in the oven. This means that they can be eaten when you wish and not necessarily on the day of delivery.
The menu for week 3 (delivered on Tuesday 18 August) is:
Pork steak with mushroom sauce and baked risotto
Ciabatta roll
Homemade rocky road
The cost of each meal is $15 and your can pay cash when delivered (preferred) or pay by credit card over the telephone.
It is requested that anyone who wishes to order the coming week's meal, delivered on Tuesday 18 August, email Jim Young by 11.30 am this Friday, 14 August. (James.young03@bigpond.com)
Kindly indicate the number of meals required and confirm your address for delivery.
