In short I would like to thank Seaworld for a great changeover venue and function. To the new board welcome as I am sure we will have an enjoyable and successful year ahead. A reminder to all board members our first new Directors meeting at 6pm on the 8th July, Peter Morgan will issuing details
Thinking ahead August is Membership and Extensions Month. As stated earlier I would like to dedicate one meeting in August to a bring a friend / associate whom you believe may a potential member or has shown interest in Rotary.
I think it essential that we look to increasing our membership diversity, whether by age, gender or profession whilst also developing skilled and informed Rotarians within our ranks to assist new as well as potential members whilst also remembering our core values as Rotarians and above all make it enjoyable.
On a lighter note the early scorecard is Resignations 0 New Members 0 . Like all clubs I think the main thrust is always to improve your defence of existing members whilst improving your attack and thus scoring more members.
RYDA (Rotary Youth Driver Awareness) started up for the year on the Gold Coast with our club hosting the Australian Industrial Trade College from Robina. Isabelle Franich our past YEP student, George Keily our Honorary member & Past President, Geoff Croad & Darrell Brown manned the day. During the event, Isabelle was offered a job as a presenter, a paid position. Well done! Because the school has taken part in the event for the last three years & through circumstances, couldn’t be joined by another school to make up numbers, our Gold Coast RYDA subsidised the school to the tune of $455 - money well spent on the first day of a revised program. The next event with All Saints & another group from the Australian Trade College will be held on the 16th June. Because there will be 270 students, two venues - Runaway Bay Sports Complex & Southport Community Centre will need to be utilised with the Rotary Clubs of Gold Coast & Mermaid Beach manning the days.
It must have been quite painful for our dear Sergeant Andy last Wednesday when it evolved that time simply had run out to have a Sergeant's session. All that preparation. Can't help the feeling that this week Andy will have a few doubles up his sleeve...
Doug Lipp was at the door, Ian Mayberrywas Chairman and Andy Bell was Sergeant.
We had apologies from Peter Morgan, Graeme Isaacson, Tony Bird and Conrad Martens.
Our freshly baked President Paul Seymour welcomed all members (there were no guests). The aim of the meeting was to outline the aims of each major avenue. Paul emphasized that he intends to focus strongly on Membership Development as well as organizing some social events, so we get to know each other as well our partners better. And Paul would like to have a meeting every 6 weeks at a different venue, so as to avoid getting into a rut.
Youth Service Director Chris Thurtell advised that, whilst this year we won't have an outgoing Youth Exchange Student (we currently have two - Felicity and Gabrielle - overseas), there will be an incoming student from Italy hosted. We will concentrate more on the local programs such as RYLA (Rotary Youth Leadership Award), RYPEN (Rotary Youth Program for Enrichment) and RYTS (Rotary Youth Training Seminar). And of course our "Pet Program" RYDA (Rotary Youth Driver Awareness). Perhaps we can even find another candidate for the National Youth Science Forum a la Maria Ciubuc-Batcu? Or perhaps a program our club has never participated in yet (but lots of other clubs int he district do): the ConocoPhilips Science Experience? Tania Laird will be Chris' assistant, in particular concentrating as a "girl guide" to our incoming YE student from Italy.
And Chris also reported on Laura Burtscher's departure from our shores to return to Austria. In one word: "tragic"...
John Franich will be in charge of "services" which encompass all segments which in the olden days made individual directorships: Community, Vocational and International. Mario Fairlie will be in charge of the International segment. Originally, Alex Batcu was appointed to the Community Service segment, however, Alex was granted a year of Leave of Absence to return to Romania to visit his family.
Daryl Sanderson, together with Des La Rance and Bob Harrison, will continue to run Wheelchairs. President Paul Seymour emphasized that our Wheelchair Trust really did not receive sufficient recognition of the very heavy lifting they do. [hear, hear!!]
Doug Lipp, in charge of Fundraising (together with Tania Laird and Fred Hamblen) will start off with organizing a 'Crazy Whist' card game, which Doug had experience with numerous times: $20.00 entry fee, includes beer or wine and a supper. Then there is the Race Day (held in conjunction with Surfers Paradise), Terry O'Shea and Barry Lea will get the "Back to Basic" luncheon organized (see bulletin of 10th June 2015) at the Burleigh Bears club, whilst we will keep an eye open for a Bunnings or Masters Sausage Sizzle.
Terry O'Shea and Graeme Isaacson will be in charge of Social Events. Another 'Invite a Friend' day will be coming up shortly.
Gerald East reminded us that we'll be involved in selling Raffle Tickets for the Suns' Horizon program at the upcoming game on Saturday when the Suns will meet Richmond. Gerald claimed that he was at the Vatican recently [his prayers must have been answered: the Tigers beat the Swans comfortably at last Friday night's game...]
(Then DGEN, now DGE) Darrell Brown opened a discussion relating to home hosting at the Commonwealth Games in April 2018. Darrell will be District Governor at the time. In a recent discussion with Councillor and fellow Rotarian Margaret Grummitt, she pointed out that at the recent games in Glasgow there was a scarcity of affordable accommodation for the families of athletes. Rotary members could provide Home Stay accommodation. There is no question that the issue is of quite high import. Many members provided input - there wasn't even enough time for Sergeant Andy Bell to have a few of us fined... Watch this spot!
"Believe me darling! We had a big brainstorming session at Rotary this morning and it was so vigorous and exciting that I kept thinking about it all day and promptly forgot your birthday!"
Last Wednesday, President Elect Nominee Simon Brook led a brainstorming session on Fundraising with the aim of getting that look of deep concern off our beleaguered Treasurer's face... There were several good ideas and some very good ideas presented. In view of this being "Intellectual Property" of the club, your bulletin editor has decided not to print the results for publication.
Thanks go to Terry O'Shea, Doug Lipp, Adrian Crowe, Gerald East, Franz Huber, Chris Thurtell, Ian Mayberry and Tania Laird for their contribution. (there may have been others, at times I couldn't keep up with my notes.)
Now, onto stage 2: convert these ideas into action...
Read all about Felicity's latest exploits in Finland, including putting on cross country skis, eying off with a Polar Bear... It's in the Download section on the right side.
Our Youth Services Director Chris Thurtell is looking for nominations for RYPEN, the Rotary Youth Program of Enrichment.
What is RYPEN? Held from Friday, 22nd May to 1 pm Sunday 24th May at Bornhoffen PCYC, Rotary Youth Program of Enrichment (RYPEN) is a weekend residential experience for youth aged 14-16 years. It is designed to develop skills that will assist them in the transition to adulthood. Participants are involved in a variety of workshops and activities, which provide an opportunity for them to personally develop, gain self confidence, communication skills, challenge themselves, build friendships, and develop life skills. More details on the District 9640 website - click on this link: http://rotary9640.org/SitePage/rypen. Nominations close Friday 24th April 2015.
Gerald East: "Very poor standing" chairman... [since Gerald was a stand-in for Peter Morgan, it can be safely assumed that our Deputy Sergeant did not stay up all night to think this up... ;-) Ed.]Simon Brook is responsible for last week's attendance sheet being all mucked up because he put the carbon paper into the wrong place... Terry O'Shea, you are regrettably too old to go to RYPEN (but he has the correct height, one of the wags commented...!) Graeme Isaacson has been hounding Ian for the past three weeks... Daryl Sanderson, is that a new shirt? And, whilst up to 1996, Des La Rance got the cramps and stutters every time he was to give a public speech, these days one cannot shut him up anymore... George Keily, simply because I can, and ditto Mitch Brown - just too good to fine a lawyer... Angus Miller, there simply isn't any excuse for being late when you are on the Roster... John Franich, the fine really ought to be about $40.00, but I'll settle for $2.00.
Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will spend its entire life believing that it is stupid. Albert Einstein.
“Anything you dream [can] be yours simply because you've focused on the steps you could take instead of the distance to get there.” ― A.J. Darkholme, Rise of the Morningstar
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Good things come to those who volunteer.
It must have been quite painful for our dear Sergeant Andy last Wednesday when it evolved that time simply had run out to have a Sergeant's session. All that preparation. Can't help the feeling that this week Andy will have a few doubles up his sleeve...
Read all about Felicity's latest exploits in Finland, including putting on cross country skis, eying off with a Polar Bear... It's in the Download section on the right side.
Put your name down for Saturday afternoon of 2nd May, where there is a good chance that they will in the game against the Brisbane Lions in 
