Very good news to announce next Wednesday but you have to be at the meeting to hear what it is !!!!
Franz has sent out an email to members re hosting Rotarians from Pennsylvania from Monday 11th March to Friday 15th March (morning). We need hosts for four nights, for two couples and one individual. Please contact Paul Seymour or Franz directly.
The DG, via the DG secretary, has sent out an email regarding a survey for membership, providing an opportunity for all members to respond and comment on all aspects of your membership in Rotary and your club in particular. It will be distributed directly to members.
Thought for the day: The difference between ordinary and extraordinary is that little extra. Jimmy Johnson, American Football Coach.
This Wednesday7th February, the "youngsters" will have the floor: Youth Service director Ashleigh Symes and Treasurer Charles Thomasson, will present, not on their Rotary portfolio, but on their vocational expertise. Both are stock market gurus at Wilsons Advisory and will present 'The State of the Market'. Charles' presentation has become something of a regular event. However, this time, in addition Ashleigh will also briefly present on the subject of Public Relations in Rotary [and if ever there was an organisation in need to improve that, our club certainly does! Ed.]
On Wednesday 13th March 2024, our club will host the Rotary Friendship Exchange Team from Pennsylvania. We will be joined by members of the Rotary Club of Mermaid Beach, who are joint hosts of our visitors.
Here is an opportunity to meet some interesting people! Join us at the Surfers Paradise Surf Life Saving Club, from 07:00 am. The "formal" part of the meeting starts at the usual time, 07:30 am and concludes at 08:30. The team will then proceed to our wheelchair shed (approx 1 hour), then drive up to Mt Tamborine. Depending on the weather, we'll visit to the National Park and/or the Tamborine Mountain Regional Botanic Gardens. All members and friends are welcome to join.
There are various other events relating to the RFE team - please refer to the Events Section for more details
In “the good ol’ days” the monthly theme for February used to be ‘World Understanding’. So, why did the powers in charge change the name? Well, ask me… From where I sit, “understanding” is the very rock on which conflict resolution is based. It is a condition of peace. Without understanding, there can at best be a cease-fire, but not genuine peace.
Rotary is, always has been and hopefully will continue to be non-aligned to any particular religion. [No, Henrietta, this is not the forum to discuss the role of religion in war over the centuries and millenia...] Equially, political boundaries also are just about off-limits - note our District boundaries and, on a greater scale, our Zone 8, which encompasses not just Australia and New Zealand, but also includes PNG and the vast bulk of South Pacific Islands, all the way out to French Polynesia and up to Kiribati.
But what can we as individual Rotarians do to promote peace and resolve conflict? Let me start by putting it the other way: if conflict is resolved, peace is a logical consequence. It’s unlikely we can personally influence the course of events in Ukraine, the Middle East, Ecuador or South Sudan. But "peace" is not just relating to major international conflict. Conflict can happen within a country, within a state or community, or even within a family. So, perhaps we can keep an open mind rather than being pig-headed, we can communicate rather than argue with a fixed, inflexible point of view. That doesn’t mean we have to agree with everything the other party comes up with, but we can genuinely try to empathise. As former US President Barack Obama is quoted: “Learning to stand in somebody else’s shoes, to see it through their eyes, that is how peace begins. And it’s up to you to make it happen.”
OK, so Coles advertised Hot Cross Buns on Boxing Day, 3 months before Easter. So what's to stop us advertising Rotary Christmas Cakes a month after Christmas? They don't go off ("best before" date is May 2025!) And they ARE delectable - 50% fruit, not too sweet, moist... And Mario Fairlie has them for sale - both those packaged in a cake tin (so it stays moist if you don't want to eat it all at once) as well as packaged in a carton. Contact Mario directly - stocks are limited.
Duty Roster - note: subject to change - please check every week. Note: Fellowship duty also is expected to be at the Project Shed on the Saturday following the meeting
Last Wednesday, we had a board meeting. For those of you who have never been on a board, be that a major company or a club: the board is where people do all the thinking for the club. The image on the left depicts a Rotary board meeting of approximately 2 or 3000 years ago. The dress standards have deteriorated substantially since then...
Ever notice that the people who tell you to calm down are quite likely the ones who get you mad in the first place?
“Do you think it will truly come to battle between them? If they should come to some accord—” “They won’t,” Tyrion said. “They are too different and yet too much alike, and neither could ever stomach the other.” George R.R. Martin, A Clash of Kings
This Wednesday7th February, the "youngsters" will have the floor: Youth Service director Ashleigh Symes and Treasurer Charles Thomasson, will present, not on their Rotary portfolio, but on their vocational expertise. Both are stock market gurus at Wilsons Advisory and will present 'The State of the Market'. Charles' presentation has become something of a regular event. However, this time, in addition Ashleigh will also briefly present on the subject of Public Relations in Rotary
In “the good ol’ days” the monthly theme for February used to be ‘World Understanding’. So, why did the powers in charge change the name? Well, ask me… From where I sit, “understanding” is the very rock on which conflict resolution is based. It is a condition of peace. Without understanding, there can at best be a cease-fire, but not genuine peace.
