THE PRESIDENT'S REPORT
The past twelve months have been a very satisfying and rewarding year for both myself and Mary and I believe that Presidency of the Rotary Club of Aspley is an experience that should be enjoyed by every member of our Club at some time in their Rotary career.
I have been fortunate in that the Board members and their Committees, have seen fit to offer me their total support and I feel that the whole Club has benefited from their dedication. We can all be pleased with what has been achieved by our Club this year.
At my induction I said that I would like everyone in the Club to enjoy their year and I am sure that the hard work of the Board and their Committees has ensured that everyone has had every opportunity to do so.
The Clubs activities and achievements are discussed in the individual Committee reports which follow and there is no need to detract from their impact by attempting to summarise them here. I would simply like to thank the Committee Chairmen and their members for all their hard work over the year and for the support which has been consistently given to me by everyone.
During the year Mary and I have had the
opportunity to attend a number of Rotary Club Charters and Project launches.
Among these the Charter night of the Rotary Club of Bardon stands out with
nearly half the Charter Members being female. Also notable was the launch of
the People Helping People project with speakers and sponsors from Anglican,
Lutheran, Uniting and
We have been fortunate to have had Doug Biggs as District Governor for this year. Doug is clearly a committed Rotarian and both he and his wife Dawn have brought a joy and enthusiasm to all the Rotary functions they have attended. Doug always managed to make his vision for the District clear and offered encouragement to Clubs and individual Rotarians alike as often as he could. Doug has been a very successful District Governor.
The District Conference this year was an enjoyable event and was well attended by the Club. The organising Clubs worked very hard and were rewarded with a very large turnout and a Conference acknowledged as one of the most successful of recent years.
Two other District functions, the "Review and Renew" day and the District Assembly, were equally successful with a full complement from our Club. All members can be proud of the fact that the Rotary Club of Aspley received a Presidential Citation for Balanced Achievement at the District Assembly. This is awarded specifically for Club achievement and a number of Clubs who nominated for the award were unsuccessful.
Our Christmas Carol Service this year was a little different in that the usual Choir was replaced by a trio consisting of the Rev. Michael Veary, Dean Winter (son of Tony Winter) and your President. This novelty act was much appreciated by the audience and as a result we were able to send $83 and three large cartons of donated festive foodstuffs to the Western Families Drought Appeal.
During the year we have gained five new members and it is very pleasing to know that the activities and fellowship of our Club continues to attract talented members of our community with the high qualities required of Rotarians.
In an effort to ensure that the community becomes increasingly aware of what Rotary is and does we have donated a twelve month subscription to Rotary Down Under to Zillmere Library and placed a Four Way Test on their noticeboard.
Would you please ensure that you introduce yourself to and make welcome our new Rotarians and their Partners:
Bruce and Lynda MacKenzie
Allan and Julie Deacon
Wayne and Wendy Stanton
Trevor and Robin Styles
Tom Beverley-Smith
Unfortunately we have received resignations from two of our members this year. John Hamilton who has given thirty one years service to Rotary and Les Kennedy who has been battling poor health for some time. We are sorry to see them leave us, we thank them for all their hard work in the past and we hope that John and Jocelyn and Les and Helen may visit our Club functions in the future.
Sadly this year also saw the death of one of our best loved Charter Members Allan Nutt. Allan was a tireless worker for this Club and I will always remember him with affection for the excellent job he did as Chairman at my Changeover. Allan will be greatly missed..
Our Rotaractors have been very active this year and it has been a pleasure to be involved with their Club. They deserve our support and I hope that it is continued in coming years. Our joint activities and their visits to our Club have been most enjoyable and I would like to thank Anne-Marie Badcock for her efforts as Club President and I offer Tony Pender and his wife Libby our best wishes for the coming year as President and District Representative respectively.
Interact too continues to prosper under our Clubs leadership and has also been actively involved in the community this year.
Cupid has also been active in the Club over the past twelve months with John and Narelle Cupitt recently returned from their honeymoon and Tony and Libby Pender (two of our Rotaractors) also very recently married. I would like to thank Darryl and Lissa Iseppi for hosting John and Narelle and many of our Club members at their home to celebrate their engagement.
The unsung heroes of the Club have also given sterling service throughout the year. Secretary Iain who never needed to be reminded of anything and removed the weight of administration and Treasurer John, whose books always balanced and who was never perturbed. Thank you.
In summary I feel that the efforts of the Club over the past year have been well spent -we have achieved a great deal and enjoyed ourselves in the process. My thanks to you all, especially my wife, Mary, whose support and encouragement has always been so willingly given, sometimes without the thanks it deserved.
I am very pleased to welcome Tony Chant to the Presidency of our Club and I know that you will join me in wishing he and Leone a successful year. I believe that Tony and his Board will ensure that the Club continues to prosper in the coming twelve months and I offer them our best wishes and assure him of the Clubs continued support.
Graham
Jolliffe President