It is with great sadness that we inform members of the passing of Yvonne Christie, wife of our Honorary Life Member Len Christie.

Yvonne's funeral service will be held at St James The Less Church, Mt Eliza, at 2.00 pm later today, Thursday January 9, 2020.

Merrilyn Hamilton-Smith has advised that Dale Robinson, wife of late Rotarian Richard Robinson, will be moving to Baxter Village in March and Dale has asked that members of the Club be informed of her move.

We wish Dale all  the very best as she relocates and moves on to the next stage of life's wonderful journey.

A wonderful time was had by all in attendance at our first meeting for 2020 - the annual New Year's Breakfast held at Rotary Park on Tuesday 7 January.

In spite of a little drizzle during the morning Rotarians and Friends were able to enjoy fellowship and look ahead to many of our activities  planned for the new calendar year.

Special thanks go to Linda Morris for all of her organisation, ably assisted by her husband David, George-Ann Sullivan, Neil Heron & Rowan Miller (BBQ Trailer) Mike Weber, President Ross and Carl Voss (all three on the BBQ) and President elect Sue Voss on the fruit & drinks table. Thanks also to those who stayed on to help with the clean up.

As noted by President Ross in last week's Bulletin, a quick informal survey suggests that the Bulletin is not read by all members.

Please make an effort to read - it contains key Rotary information, details of forthcoming events and articles to stimulate interest.

Who knows what you may find if you read the Bulletin right through?

Our Fund-raising Director Carolyn Such and her committee are organising what promises to be another great event on the Rotary Club of Mt Eliza Calendar for 2020.

On Valentine's Day, Friday 14 February we will be holding a huge AUCTION DINNER.

The venue will be 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.

Over the almost 120 year history of Rotary many famous world leaders and notable persons have belonged to the World's greatest service organisation.

Winston Churchill was a member of the Rotary Club of London, England.

British Prime Minister and leader during the majority of World War II, Churchill identified eight aspects of great leadership. 

These eight elements of great leaders were:

As Rotarians we have an opportunity to bring these eight elements of leadership to everything that we think, say and do.

Wine in various forms has been produced for thousands of years with some studies identifying wine production in places such as Sicily, Armenia, Egypt and China between 5000 and 7000 BC.

Pinot Noir is an ancient grape variety that has been cultivated in Burgundy, France, since at least the 1st Century AD.

Monks used Pinot, named after the pinecone shape of grape bunches, as a sacramental wine and it gained church approval as a result.

While it is now produced around the globe, Burgundy is the home of Pinot Noir. Within the Burgundy region there is a 50 kilometre long by 3 km wide stretch of land know as the Cote d'Or (slope of gold).

This slither of land has ideal chalky, well-drained soil, good sunlight with above average temperatures and gentle slopes and the top wine made here is generally considered the best in the world.

Winemakers regard Pinot as challenging to work with. Pinot plants can be genetically unstable and one plant can produce grapes of different sizes, shape and even flavour.

Pinot also seems to be susceptible to every known vine disease, mould, fungus and other pests.

When fully ripe, the Pinot Noir berry is a very light purple colour and it requires careful handling to make the most of this light colour.

Different winemakers make a large variety of Pinots ranging from big gutsy reds (often mistaken for Cabernets) through to beautiful elegant wines of wonderful complexity.

Once made this amazing wine goes through a range of changes as it matures. While a young wine shows simple fruity characteristics, including cherry, plum, raspberry and strawberry, more complex flavours emerge as the wine ages, revealing chocolate, earthiness, smoke and truffles.

These days Australian and New Zealand Pinots are recognised as being world class, especially wines from Tasmania and the Mornington Peninsula.

Pinot noir grapes are also used in the production of sparkling wine, especially Champagne. 

  

Thank you to everyone who worked on the Bunnings BBQ on Friday, 27 December.

The day was very busy and your efforts are greatly appreciated.

You may have seen the email from George-Ann passing on information from Bernie Edwards. The gross takings for the day totalled $1687.

Bernie estimates that this will result in a net to the Club of approximately $1310. An outstanding effort!

A young Commerce graduate from Melbourne University applied for his first job with an accounting firm.

Reaching the end of the interview, the Human Resources Officer asked the young man about his salary expectations.

"Well", he replied, "I was in the top five graduates in my course and your company will be lucky to get me. I read recently that the CEO is on a salary package of $4.8 million. As I am just starting out 10% of that will be fine - that's $480,000 a year plus benefits!"

The interviewer thought for a while and then said, "Well, what would you say to a package of six weeks annual leave, full medical and dental coverage, a 25% contribution to your superannuation and a company car, leased every two years; say a Mercedes SL sports cabriolet?"

The young man sat up with eyes shining and said, "Wow! A top of the range Mercedes convertible. Are you kidding?"

The HR Officer replied, "Yes, but you started it."