Fellow Rotarians,

What a pleasant evening we had last week upstairs in the dining room at the Tudor hotel.  Everyone who attended seemed to have a most enjoyable evening, the quality of the meal was excellent and although we ran a bit later than usual the chatter around the table indicated the quality of the fellowship which we all enjoyed. Add to that the excellent guest speaker in Sister Gemma Burke and an all round excellent evening was enjoyed by all. Thank you to everyone who took the opportunity of coming. I am sure the evening that we had will add to the discussion next week at the Club assembly. Thanks again to Shirley and Hal Burke for their exemplary organisation of the evening – it is done quietly behind the scenes but adds to making these evenings so pleasant and enjoyable.

The meeting this week is a Club assembly to be followed by a Board meeting at which I trust the Board will be able to make a reasoned decision about our venue for meetings in the 2011-12 year. When we are making our deliberations we will need to look at cost of meals, storage of Club paraphernalia, the need to apologise or other at the meeting and the additional load this will bring onto the secretary, the quality of the food and the ambience and atmosphere of the venue. I am looking forward to a healthy discussion around all these issues involved with any venue which is chosen. This will also be the opportunity for the Club directors to make their reports to the Club on the year and I ask particularly that all Club directors have their reports to me during this week in electronic form so they can be organised into the Annual report of the Club to be presented at the Changeover the following week.

All the cleaning up after the Booksale has finished with the Clubs refrigerator being moved out to my shed at Forest Road. The final sweep out took place last Thursday afternoon sand again I thank Paul Cole for his great organisation throughout the Booksale (it always seems that the cleanup afterwards is the hardest part) and to the members who have so willingly offered of their time to ensure the continuing success of the Booksale each year.

 Bill Warburton has taken the lead with the landscaping of Hilltop Lodge at the Tamworth Regional Referral Hospital and I trust that we will hear from Steve Beaton, this week, that the final plans have been signed off so that we can call tenders and ensure the work is done in a timely fashion. Thanks Bill for the great work you are doing with the committee on this project.  

I had the opportunity of speaking with Margaret Dengate during last week and she has indicated that they are looking at placing Frank into care. Please think of Frank in your prayers and also take the opportunity to contact some of our other older members and ensure they get to the next few meetings to participate as they have for so many years in the activities and fellowship of the Club. It was good that Sandy McGillivray, together with Hazel and Donna were able to join us at the meeting last week and they have assured me that they will also be coming to the Club’s changeover.

Again I would remind all Board members to have their reports available to me by the assembly meeting next week and preferably in electronic form so we can get the Bulletin ready with the annual report in time for the Changeover the following week. Once more I really ask each member of the Club to plan for changeover night and to make a commitment that they will be there for the fun and the fellowship? We have a number of significant recognitions to make to Club and other members and I would like as many of our team as practicable to take the time and opportunity and join with us on Tuesday 28th June 2011. Get the date into your diaries now and plan for a great night with our partners.

Ken

From the floor:

As a meeting venue, I thought the Tudor was minimally satisfactory. The meeting room was sort of private, and the bar had a fair selection of wines available by the bottle. The feature of the night that I remember best was that my meal was served cold (meaning the food was not hot), and I'm not sure if I was special in this regard.

The Book Sale is almost completed for 2011. On Thursday Ken, Paul Cole, John O'Connor and I did the final tidying at the Longyard site. That job was mostly painless - John had his leaf blower and blew all the stuff we had intended to sweep into a corner where we picked it up, surrounded by a dense brown fog (the dust that did not settle easily). It took a little more than 30 minutes. The very last job will be to remove the container back to Kensells at Taminda. I imagine Paul Cole already has that sorted.

Bruce McCorkell

District News

NYSF

By now you at your club should have received the forms for NYSF 2012.

Could you please make sure that the attachments to the email you received are passed on to your youth director to assist him/her to understand the process for your club to nominate a student for NYSF 2012?

If you or your Club need any further information you can contact John Walton by email (wendyjohn@bigpond.com ) or phone 6558 8272 anytime.

NYSF is a wonderful opportunity for young people interested in science, engineering and mathematics to join a likeminded group of young people to have a life changing experience.

Looking forward to you and your clubs support of this great Rotary sponsored program.

Check out the new Rotary song by Mike Brady:

www.rotarydownunder.au/RDU/home-page-videos/rotaryis.asp

From my email this week:

After being married for thirty years a wife asked her husband to describe her.

He looked at her slowly...then said, "You're A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H .... I, J, K."

She asked, "What does that mean?"

He said, "Adorable, Beautiful, Cute, Delightful, Elegant, Foxy, Gorgeous,Hot.

She smiled happily and said "Oh, that's so lovely ..... What about I, J, K?"

He said, "I'm Just Kidding!"

His eye is still swollen but it will get better............. ;-)

 

TIMELINES

International Convention Sydney 2014
The Host Organising Committee (HOC) is seeking expressions of interest from Rotarians who would like to play a role in the organisation and conduct of the various activities which are the responsibility of the HOC.  Ken Hall has the details of the skills being sought.

MAKE-UPS

Please remember to forward all make-ups to the club secretary Shirley Burke.