No assigned responsibilities as we are at The Briars
Meeting Responsibilities 4 February
Cashier
Vincent, Rhonda
Assistant Cashier
Webb, Karina
Furniture
Juraschek, Hardy
Fellowship
Manchester, Ray
Chairman
Miller, Rowan
Meeting Responsibilities 11 February
Cashier
Rew, David
Assistant Cashier
Coulthard, Caryl
Furniture
Cracknell, Robert
Fellowship
Falkiner, Hanne
3 Minute Speaker
Acton, Tim
Chair
Voss, Sue
President's Message
Ross Schweitzer
The thoughts of President Ross.
‘The Fires’ as they have come to known, have rearranged some of our priorities, not cancelled them. Indeed, we are asked as a Club to take up additional tasks, often in conjunction with other Clubs in our Cluster and District.
Apart from our own EGRFA (East Gippsland Rotary Fire Aid) initiatives, our Club is one in our Cluster to help plan a Bigger than Ben - Hur Dinner during April. Peter Rawlings, RCMM will play the rôle of BEN and Janne Speirs IPDG will be Hur 😂.
Because of their skill and expertise with such
Events, Carolyn Such and Linda Morris have each magnanimously volunteered to provide RCME planning support and liaison.
We are fortunate to have been invited to participate in the St James the Less car boot sale on Saturday February 29.Apart from our BBQ trailer and the freezer, we must as a Club determine what other assistance we can provide the Parish. John Paterson and John Welsh will know.
And now a word for George - Ann’s sanity: The Word is Perspicacity: keenness of mental perception and understanding; discernment; penetration.
In this context, meaning to understand that the rosters, all the rosters, are controlled by George - Ann, and published in the Bulletin.
We have striven toward this goal for a long long long long time. An integrated, all events roster, controlled by one dedicated person and published in one place.
So kindly now do not complain and ask for reminders / say why wasn’t I told / we’ve never done it that way before.... (last resort of the complainer).
Please do not complain about what’s wrong and then look for someone else to blame.
I da Prez wake up each morning and thank God for George - Ann. 🧸🏴☠️
From 36 to 0.36 °C Chloe Holmes with her family last Saturday, leaving Melbourne for 🇫🇮 Finland. Wedo hope that Chloe took the travel advice to change into something warmer during her stopover in Doha.
District Governor Elect Mark Humphries
Hello everyone,
Linda & I made it to Rotary International Assembly. We left a cold -11 in Spencerport New York State and arrived in San Diego to blue skies and 19. What a huge change. International Assembly is a place where over 1200 Rotarians gather to train, learn and develop new skills can be found. It a busy place, the networking opportunities is endless. We have caught up with friends from across the globe, Iceland, England, USA, India, Norway. Rotary gives us the opportunity to make friends across the globe, we all have one thing in common, Rotary.
Rotary International President Elect Holger Knaak launch his 2020-2021 theme, Rotary Open Opportunities.
Rotary Opens Opportunities, asks Rotarians to create opportunities that strengthen their leadership, help put service ideas into action, and improve the lives of those in need.
Rotary Opens Opportunities is a theme that relates to us all. Every day we are given opportunities, we just have to take them and move them forward. We have opportunities to make our club more diverse, Rotary Opens these opportunities for us. Do we represent our community? What Opportunity are you going to be given today? Will you speak to a young person who is interested in volunteering for a cause? Will you meet a businessperson who want to give back? Will you interact with a person of another faith who want to know more?
Be open to opportunities and as RIPE Holger Knaak says “create opportunities that strengthen their leadership, help put service ideas into action, and improve the lives of those in need.”
It is with a heavy heart that I advise members of the passing early this morning of Rotarian Sander Vandeth.
Over a long period Sander, who joined our Club on 17 February 2009, with the classification of Mechanical Engineering, proved himself to be an outstanding Rotarian.
Sander was introduced to our Club by Frank Flowers. Previously Sander had been a Rotarian elsewhere.
During his working life Sander held key engineering roles in both Australia and Canada.
During his time at Mt Eliza Sander, a very willing worker, undertook many projects and held a number of offices in the organisation including President in 2013/14.
Sander was a worthy recipient when he was awarded a Paul Harris Fellowship on 15 May 2017 and was a proud Rotarian of the Year not long after joining our Club.
Over the last couple of years Sander has faced medical challenges with courage and strength of character. Notwithstanding this fact, Sander continued supporting our Fun Run and facilitated our Club Rosters until very recently.
On behalf of the Club please join with me in expressing our condolences to Sander's wife Jane and his family.
Funeral details will be circulated as they become available.
The CEO of the Mornington Peninsula Shire, John Baker,was guest speaker at our Club meeting this week on Tuesday 21 January at Toorak College.
John, who has previously held key public sector positions in the UK together with senior roles at KPMG and Ernst & Young joined the Council just over a year ago in December 2018.
Together with his family John moved to Australia from England five years ago. On this Australia Day weekend he will become an Australian citizen.
In a most interesting keynote address John spoke about the Values of Council, especially integrity, and key strategic and tactical matters facing the Mornington Peninsula.
These issues included:
Ensuring that the Peninsula is able to cope with both an increasing population and an exponential rise in annual visitor numbers.
The need to improve our system of public transport, especially by increasing the use of buses. John noted in passing that government is prepared to spend over $120 million on fixing road bottlenecks at Rosebud however isn't inclined to spend $20 million on bus transport which would lead to a significant improvement.
Dealing with an increasing number of road accident fatalities, leading to Council obtaining State Government approval to reduce many Peninsula local road speed limits to 80 km per hour.
Providing employment opportunities, especially for young people who wanted to remain on the Peninsula.
Balancing the need for green wedges with opportunities for industries to develop, especially around the Western side of the Peninsula including at Hastings.
Working out ways of having jet skis interact safely with beach goers and boating enthusiasts.
The difficulty of working within a rates framework limiting increases to around 2% pa.
Following his speech of approximately 30 minutes John then answered a variety of questions from members.
In thanking John and presenting him with a RC Mt Eliza glass, President Ross thanked John for a most interesting address.
The Frankston Wine & Food Society was established at the beginning of 2013.
The purpose of the Society is to provide a forum for wine and food lovers on the Mornington Peninsula to come together four times each year for three lunches and one dinner reflecting the flavours of the four Seasons.
Each event features a guest wine-maker with a respected chef to ensure a high quality, tasty and informative experience.
From time to time the Society also offers members the opportunity to purchase wine at discounted prices, "Old Bottle" and "Fortified Wine" wine dinners and attendance at a Christmas Party together with the gift of a bottle of good wine.
Members receive a $20 discount on the price of tickets for the four Seasonal functions.
Your Editor has just been elected as President of the Frankston Wine & Food Society and would welcome anyone who might be interested in joining.
The first Seasonal lunch for this year will be held at Barn & Co, Balnarring, on Monday 2 March.
A wealthy billionaire living in Darwin decided to have a party and invite all of his friends, family and neighbours.
He also invited Barry who was the local swimming pool cleaner who had turned up that morning to make sure that the pool was perfect for the event.
The party was held in the back yard of of his mansion. Everyone was having a great time eating, drinking and dancing.
Champagne flowed and the oysters, lobster and prawns were first class.
Then, at the height of the party, the billionaire said, "I have an eighteen metre monster crocodile in my pool and I will give a million dollars to anyone who'll join him."
The words were barely out of his mouth when there was a loud splash.
Everyone turned to the pool and saw Barry fighting madly with the croc. He jabbed its eyes with his thumbs, threw punches, head butted it, tried biting its tail and he flipped through the air like some type of martial arts expert.
There was splashing and water churning everywhere and both Barry and the crocodile were raising hell.
Finally the croc tried to turn over and grab Barry with its huge jaws. Quickly he turned the other way, jumped onto its back and leapt out of the pool.
A weary Barry collapsed by the side of the pool and everybody stared at him in disbelief.
The billionaire said, "Wow, that was fabulous Barry. I owe you a million dollars then."
"No, thanks. I don't want it", said Barry, "I'm happy with my lot in life."
The billionaire said, "Come on I insist that I give you something. How about a new Porsche, a Rolex watch or some shares in my company."
Again, Barry said, "No."
Confused the rich man said, "Well then Barry what do you want?"
Barry replied, "I want the mongrel who pushed me in!"
George-Ann has sent out an email thanking everyone who assisted with the Bunnings BBQ on Friday, 17 January.
Bernie Edwards has advised George-Ann that the gross takings for the day totalled $1051.15. After deducting expenses of $253.55 for food and supplies (thanks to Rob Cracknell) the net result will be approximately $800.
The word chocolate has its origins in the Aztec (Nahuati) language.
Chocolate, derived from the cacao tree, has been consumed in liquid, paste and solid form, as well as a flavouring in other foods, for thousands of years.
The majority of Mesoamerican peoples, especially Aztecs and Mayans, made chocolate beverages dating back to almost 2000 BC.
The seeds of the cacao tree have an intensely bitter taste and they are fermented to commence the process of making chocolate. Following fermentation the beans are dried, cleaned and roasted.
After the removal of shells, the remaining material is ground into a cocoa mass (chocolate in a rough form).
The cocoa mass is liquified by heating and when cooled processed into two components: cocoa solids and cocoa butter.
Much of the chocolate produced today is sweet in nature being composed of cocoa solids, cocoa butter, vegetable oils and sugar.
Milk chocolate is a sweet product that has milk powder or in some cases condensed milk added to it.
White chocolate contains cocoa butter, sugar and milk without any cocoa solids.
Dark chocolate contains cacao picture, sugar and fat.
Unsweetened chocolate is pure chocolate made without other additives.
While Columbus took cacoa beans to Spain, chocolate didn't become popular until Spanish monks introduced it as a drink to the Spanish Court after the Aztecs had been conquered by Spain.
Throughout Europe in the 17th and 18th Centuries chocolate became more and more popular as various forms of the product emerged.
Today chocolates manufactured in Belgium from imported ingredients are recognised as being amongst the finest in the world.
Early manufactures who experimented with various forms of this delicious treat included Henri Nestle, Daniel Peter and Rudolph Lindt.
In the mid to late 19th Century a number of mass produced chocolate companies were formed including Rowntrees, Cadbury and Hershey in the United States.
Australia's favourite chocolate bar is the Cherry Ripe originally created by MacRobertson's in 1924.
Cadbury, which commenced operation as Cadbury-Fry Pascall in Claremont Tasmania in 1922, now manufactures the Cherry Ripe.
Here is a secret message. Every member of the RC Mt Eliza who emails President Ross before midnight on Monday 27th January will go into a draw to win a box of chocolates. Send the message - Secret Message Chocolate. The draw will take place at our meeting on Tuesday 4 February.
Today there is an enormous number of different chocolate based products and chocolate is truly one of the favourites of all food.
As advertised in last week's Bulletin, our Fund-raising Director Carolyn Such and her committee have organised another great event on the Rotary Club of Mt Eliza Calendar for 2020; our great Auction Dinner
HOWEVER THE DATE HAS CHANGED TO TUESDAY 18 FEBRUARY WITH A 6.00 PM FOR 6.30 PM START. We will not be at Toorak College.
Rather the venue is Le Hoang Vietnamese Restaurant.
The entire restaurant has been booked out for Rotary members, family and friends on that night.
This will be a combination fund-raiser and fellowship social evening.
Rotarians are encouraged to organise a table of family and friends. All members are asked to make an effort to be in attendance.
A number of items will be auctioned on the night - this will be a chance to obtain some real bargains.
Tim Acton has agreed to be the auctioneer.
As an outstanding raconteur, great auctioneer and all round good fellow Tim will ensure that it is a fun evening.
The cost of the evening is $27 per head and it is BYO drinks.
Anyone who would like to donate an item for the auction is asked to see Carolyn.
Reminding all Rotarians and Friends that our Club's wonderful dog show, Bark In The Park, is to be held on Sunday 29 March 2020.
If you haven't done so already please diarise this date now as we will need as many hands on deck as possible to ensure that we build upon the great successes of previous Bark In The Park events.
Australia Day and the Mt Eliza Farmer's Market will be celebrated at the Mount Eliza Village Green from 9.00 am until 1.00 pm on Sunday January 26 2020.
The Mornington Peninsula Shire is the major sponsor of this event. In addition, David Morris MP, Ritchie's IGA, the Bendigo Bank and Rotary are all proud sponsors.
A free community BBQ will be run by Rotary from 9.00 am until 11.30 am.
This will be a great family day and there will be live entertainment throughout the morning including music, an animal farm, balloon artist, face painting and reptile encounters.
An official Australia Day Ceremony will be held at 10.00 am.
