Rotary Club of Great Lakes Inc. 2014-15 Report

JULY 2015 Our club has donated $500 to Prostate cancer research and also raised another $200 at the football fields on the

weekend.

Clara Nami gave us her last talk before leaving for home in France. She has been a wonderful ambassador for her family, her club and her country. We will all miss you. Thanks you so much for all your friendship and your smiles. Our club donated an Australian beach towel for her to remember us by.

John Morris and Clara

Brian Bruton presenting cheque for $500.00 to Don Rosenfedlt from the Rotary Club of Dee Why

Warringah. He is a prostate cancer survivor. He is riding his motor bike to raise awareness to

prostate cancer and raise money for schools in Cambodia. He is riding from Sydney to Darwin

then through Asia to Cambodia.

JUNE 2015

Rotary Board 2015/16

Lyn Martyn in Poland on a Rotary Friendship Exchange.

MARCH 2015

District conference Inverell: Lyn, Noel and Margaret attended this conference; Michael McQueen was a speaker. He is a vibrant speaker who spoke on keeping Rotary Relevant.

Mike and Jo Hannan are a couple who got on a motor bike and came back a year later than do it all over again. (Like took their bike to Europe and rode to Russia then over to US and down through Mexico)They have written 2 books, High Road rider and An Elephants Tale. For some unknown reason I felt an affiliation to this couple.

Gemma Sisia spoke and showed a video on her School of St Jude’s in Tanzania. A Masai told his story and sang and danced. Major Peter Ridley from the Salvation Army now live in a caravan and travel around outback

NSW “Bringing hope to the bush “

January 2015 On 12th January it was the annual cook-off which was held at John and Afra Van

Boxtel’s home. Brian cooked his marinated Chicken breasts and Noel Gogerly cooked

marinated mullet fillets and the biggest prawns we have ever eaten.

AUSTRALIA DAY 2015 Mixed weather with some showers but the community did turn up to enjoy the

music, the food and the wood chopping.

December 2014

Christmas Party 2014 Held at the Forster surf club overlooking the beautiful Forster Main Beach

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Two of our recently retired members became honorary members Keith Bastian and Harold Rowe. Photos of our President Mark

presenting them with their honorary membership.

Induction of New Member: Debra Verdict was inducted. She was nominated by Brian Bruton and is a travel

consultant. We all welcome Debra to our Club.

Peter Albury gave an informative talk and slide show on his previous visits to New Guinea as a member of FAIM trips. FAIM stands for Fourth Avenue in Motion. It is volunteering overseas for Rotary as part of Rotary Australia World Community Service

http://www.rawcs.com.au/ProjectSearch.php. His groups helped to build and renovate medical aid posts in remote parts of New

Guinea. Also they repaired the grave of a fuzzy wuzzy angel. The often had to travel by

boat to get to a village and enlisted the aid of the army to get equipment in by chinook

helicopter.

NOVEMBER 2014 Ewa Wierzchowska - RC W-wa Jozefow, Zbigniew Szymanowski - Re-C Poland, Michael Jarosław Sobczak - RC Łodz, Agnieszka Sobczak & Edmund Mzyk - RC Czestochowa

Arrived on 12th November to enjoy the scenery and fellowship that our club and our region can offer. They visited Graham Barclay oysters and were so impressed I had to take them back there to buy fresh oysters the next morning, which they ate on McBride’s Beach. Everyone enjoyed

walking along the foreshore, seeing the pelicans, the view from Pilot Hill and lunch at Beach Bums on the beach in Forster. After this the group split up and my visitors Agnes and Michael only wished to drink wine sitting on a beach and even though the weather that afternoon was not that good we had wine and cheese and crackers on Tuncurry Beach. Then another walk and as I promised they

saw dolphins. Michael and Agnes were delighted with the sunsets over the lake. On Thursday Janusz Hascheck led our guests on a hike to the top of Cape Hawke and back down to Mc Brides Beach, where the guys went for a swim and then along through the bush to Burgess Beach. Janusz was invaluable as

a guide and polish interpreter. After a picnic lunch at Boomerang Beach we all visited Seal Rocks lighthouse and that night enjoyed a meal at Ronnie and Mark DePlater’s home. They all wanted to see nature. So we showed them pelicans, fish, oysters, jellyfish, dolphins, brush turkeys, seagulls, and even a kookaburra in a gum tree!

OCTOBER 2014 We held our meeting at the Rural Fire service headquarters in Tuncurry. After a great BBQ provided by Martin Ford and the crew we were shown over the communications room by Jim Blackmore the district manager. Fantastic how the internet and computers has made mapping and communication with all the fire stations in the area so much easier and more accurate. The have huge touch screens linked up to the computers. The whole centre can also be used for major incidents where the police would be in charge. Our club made a donation to towards further upgrades to the communications of the rural fire service.

LOCAL ORGANISATIONS BENEFIT FROM ROTARY FUND RAISING Fourteen local organisations, charitable causes & youth development programs have received donations arising from the fund raising & community endeavours of the Rotary Club of Great Lakes throughout the 2013-14 year. President for that year, Jim Morwitch, made presentations to five organisations at a recent meeting of the club. "These donations are further to several already made throughout the year plus a few to come to organisations not able to attend this meeting" Jim Morwitch said. “Distribution of funds raised is a satisfying conclusion to a very Successful Rotary year" he remarked & added "Rotary, though, is not only about fund raising. Great Lakes Rotarians are also involved in many local community support activities. The great outcomes for the year reflect the camaraderie & team spirit of the 27 men & women members of the Rotary Club of Great Lakes". PHOTO---left to right: Larry Thompson (SES) Peter Cole (Power Boat Club) Lyn Iverson (Camp Quality) Margaret Lewis (Camp Quality) Jim Morwitch Kathy Bestwick (Green Point FC) Jessica Bestwick (Green Point FC) Tonia Hopley (Great Lakes College Chill Out Breakfast) Stan Woodrowe (Forster Scouts)

Mamma Mia night with Brian Bruton was fantastic and was enjoyed by Lyn Martyn. Peter and Leonne Albury, Mark and Ronnie de Plater, Sarah Faith, Jim and Eileen Morwitch and Judy Hall.

Club members painting the BBQ shelter at Lone Pine Park, Tuncurry, NSW.

AUGUST 2014 Clara Nami our latest exchange student is due here on 14th Aug. Amelie has arrived safely back home. This was her parting message on Facebook:

“It is time to say see you later Australia. I cannot thank everyone enough for what they did for me. There is so much I want to say but I cannot put it into words. I am just so happy that I had the most incredible year all the amazing memories all the people I met. It is my second home and I will never forget anyone or anything. I love you all and I will be back very shortly. Thank you for every-thing! I’m going to miss you.”

John Van Boxtel shared this email with me. We should be aware of the needs of others, even when it has not be publicised well in the media. Dear Friends in Rotary, Rotaract, RCC and non-Rotarian friends Please find the situation report of Sunkoshi massive landslide disaster more than 200 houses are buried and 157 dead and many families are displaced. Landslide has blocked the Sunkoshi river way to China boarder last year we did Eye Camp with the help of Australian Rotary friends. Rotary Dhulikhel has supplied immediate food relief for 7 days for 150 families. Many children are disappeared and one school building was buried in landslide. 2000 school children are in vulnerable condition as the school nearby river bank is in danger situation. River was blocked by big landslide. Nepal Army has blast the landslide and make release of water from the nature made dam. Once Nepal Government make a relocation plan we may think to do long term rehabilitation plan. On Saturday tomorrow I am again going with some Aqua box and baby food for children, lactating mothers and pregnant women with our Rotary team. Ashok Shrestha Assistant Governor, Rotary International District 3292 Nepal Bhutan

AUGUST 2014

FORSTER POWER BOATS RACE WEEKEND AT FORSTER KEYS Good fellowship whilst working as a TEAM, serving a lot of food and drinks over the weekend. Thanks to Brian B for bringing all his friends

along, from the Dragon boats.

JULY 2014

Board 2014/15

JUNE 2014

Rotary International Conference. Lyn Martyn attended this conference which was held at Olympic park in Sydney. More than 19,000 people attended. The opening ceremony was excellent with speeches from Mike Baird the Premier of NSW, Tony Abbott the Prime Minister of Australia , ( who has promised $100 million for the eradication of polio) the welcome address from Ron Burton, the RI president and presentation of the flags of the

countries by local lifesavers. The highlight was an incredible performance by Human Nature. A totally surprising meeting with Paul and Stella Roy whom I stayed with whilst on the friendship exchange in Halifax.