President Ranald welcomed all members and introduced guest speaker Jeremy Scott.
Toast
Sally O'Neill proposed a toast to the Rotary Club of South West Rocks where she recently visited. The club was founded in 1990 and supports all the usual Rotary projects, as well as having held an Art Exhibition in 2018. They also purchased a special floating wheelchair to allow those with mobility issues to enjoy the water.
Announcements
President Ranald advised Doug Herridge is still in hospital but is in better spirits and improving. Please keep in contact with him.
Sally O’Neill has advised that the Bridge Day will be held on 23 August at Northbridge Golf Club.
Kim Wilkins advised the next Rotary Bookstall will be on Sunday, 23 June. He has enough volunteers already without having to call for any, but please come along and buy some books and spread the word that the bookstall is on.
John Weingarth is going away to Sweden for 2 months, where he will be attending meetings at the Rotary Club of Stockholm. He said he has enjoyed the stewardship of President Ranald these past 12 months, and having attended many different Rotary clubs over the years he said we can be proud of our club’s achievements.
John Turner asked all members who are able to become involved in the Grolman Challenge through the NSW Blood Bank.
Peter Fehon and honorary Northbridge Rotarian Ross Alexander are competing in the PRCA car rally - https://charitycarevents.com.au/pcfarally/ - in support of prostate cancer research. Check out the website and support Peter & Ross in their endeavours to raise funds for this worthwhile cause.
Sergeant's Session
Sergeant Eleanor Chevor again displayed her abilities for extracting fines from all those present.
Guest Speaker - Jeremy Scott - 52,000 Bike Ride
Jon Gidney introduced the guest speaker, Jeremy Scott. In 2011, Jeremy began a 2 ½ year, 52000 km solo bicycle ride from London to New Zealand. As he pedalled his way around the planet, Jeremy covered more than enough distance to circumnavigate the earth. This phenomenal journey was made possible thanks to the open-heart surgery as a child which saved his life. Jeremy is a recipient of the Australian Heart Foundation ‘Heart Hero Award’ and is an Ambassador for the Waterline Challenge.
Jeremy started by telling us he was born with a massive hole in his heart which restricted his activities as a baby and toddler, and it was not until the age of 4 that lifesaving open-heart surgery changed his life enabling him to grow and develop like any other child.
It was when he was in his 30s and living in London that Jeremy decided he wanted to do something to take himself out of his comfort zone and a bike ride from London to Auckland seemed a good idea. Although inexperienced, unfit and unprepared, he started a journey which took him through Europe to Turkey, then on to Azerbaijan, Iran and Iraq, through Central Asia and across China. He quickly achieved fitness, and spoke of the problems he encountered and the people he met, and throughout his presentation he showed the many amazing photographs he took during his journey. From China he cycled to Korea, Japan, Indo China and Indonesia before landing in Darwin, across to Queensland and down the east coast to Melbourne. The final part of his journey was cycling around New Zealand before finishing his ride at the Auckland hospital where he’d had his life saving open-heart surgery three decades before.
It was in Vietnam where he met Warren Bowers who made him realise how fortunate his life had been. In an amazing coincidence, Warren’s younger brother had had heart surgery a few years prior to Jeremy’s own surgery and by the same surgeon – Sir Bryan Barratt-Boyes. Unfortunately, his brother did not survive, but Jeremy came to realise in talking to Warren that the lessons learnt from that surgery probably resulted in the success of his own surgery by the time he was operated on. It was after this meeting with Warren that Jeremy decided to actively raise funds for the NZ and Australian Heart Foundations and since then, he has raised over $80k, partly during his journey but mainly afterwards through his talks and the book he has produced.
Jeremy said that his journey has shown him aspects of what was important to him. The toughest aspect was the courage to give it a go. It was the hardest thing he has ever done but once he started cycling he realised he could make it happen by just persevering and riding his bike from one day to the next. The most rewarding aspect has been the people that he has met which has made his journey so special. The kindness and incredible hospitality he encountered more often than he can recall overwhelmed him, especially from people who had the least. You can find out more about Jeremy and his journey on his website - https://www.jeremyscott.com.au/ , and through the book he has written which includes some wonderful photographs.
Alan Hession thanked Jeremy for his talk and said he was one of the most inspirational and entertaining speakers we have had. The way he tackled the journey by setting short term goals that took him from one day to the next, and the way he dealt with the situations he encountered were truly amazing.
Funds raised by Northbridge Rotary via a bucket appeal at Northbridge Plaza have been put to good use as reported below.
During Tropical Cyclone Debbie in 2017, the Sarina Range in Queensland experienced a massive landslide that effectively cut off 16 families (30 students) from the school campus. Education Queensland quickly established accommodation for the isolated students. However, suddenly and rather traumatically, the 30 students and their families had to adjust to changed life circumstances, grief and loss, separation from their previous school community and increased cost of living to travel extended distances to access shops, doctors, workplaces and other social supports such as scouts, sporting activities and dance.
This project, funded by the Northbridge Rotary Club totalling $3255, provided support for children’s skill development (swimming classes) and social interaction with peers at Inter school athletic activities. These monies paid for bus services to transport children between schools, then on to the swim classes and their athletics carnival. Without this grant the school, P&C and students would have been financially disadvantaged and unable to provide the access and learning opportunities that were offered to the students at the temporary accommodation.
The Rotary Club of Sarina and the Swayneville State School students, parents, teachers and community are thankful to the Northbridge Rotary Club and Townsville District 9550 Disaster Management grants that facilitated the social, and emotional well-being of these school children, alleviated a potentially onerous financial burden on the P&C and parents who were already financially disadvantaged. Your financial and club support has provided joy, growth, opportunities, personal development, pride, skill and water safety in all the children of the Swayneville State School Campus. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts.
Dianne Barnett
Secretary, Rotary Club Sarina, Qld
Outcome measure evaluation: The project success was measured through the implementation of the project plan within the time frame below.
May 2018: 24 children and 8 parents affected attended that inter-school athletics event at Sarina State School. The children participated in all events and several children were successful in securing places in the district events.
December 2018: 30 students from the Range campus attended all school swim classes held at the Sarina Swimming Pool over a seven- week period. These children were transported by bus and participated in classes with other students as well as attending their swim classes through the day. All students passed the required water safety standard requirement for their age.
Full acquittal of funds occurred in January 2019 for the bus services that took students between their accommodation, school and swimming.
The Rotary Club of Northbridge is building on their long-standing support of youth with expanding support across 6 different youth specific, leadership and experience focus programs. The outcomes of these programs continue to motivate the club to build on these programs with increased support.
Among these programs are high school leadership, science, engineering and experience programs. One of these programs is RYPEN (Rotary Youth Program of Enrichment) aimed at year 9 & 10 who want to build their confidence and self-esteem. RYPEN provides young people the opportunity to build leadership potential, encourages them to explore their ideas in problem solving, team activities, and experiences that will assist them in forming their own values. RYPEN is about building confidence and developing skills to cope in a range of situations. The Rotary club of Northbridge has doubled it’s support of this amazing program from sponsoring 4 awardees each of the last 2 years to 8 awardees this 18/19 year. Follow this link https://rotarydistrict9685.org.au/page/rypen for more information about RYPEN.
Another program worthy of mention is the Rotary Youth Leadership Awards (RYLA). RYLA is a transformational leadership program designed for young adults aged 18-27. This intensive program over 7 days, enabling leadership to grow and develop to its full potential. RYLA combines amazing Australian speakers with activities and challenges in a supportive environment. Unlike other programs, RYLA has a focus on practical hands-on opportunities testing leadership in a controlled environment. The RYLA program is unique in linking outcomes to self-improvement with considered reflection; building a better leader with the necessary skills for improving their leadership as they move forward in life. RYLA is run annually, with close to 90 candidates in Elanora Heights, on Sydney's Northern beaches; the Rotary Club of Northbridge has sponsored 9 RYLA awardees over the last 3 years. Follow this link http://d9685ryla.org.au/ for more information about RYPEN.
The Rotary Club of Northbridge is also supporting the initiation of the North Sydney Rotaract Club; a new Rotaract Club which is a driven community of young professionals aged 20-30 who are committed to creating social change in their community whilst developing as leaders. The inaugural meeting is scheduled for February 20th and the following links are available for further information.
The life changing effects of these sponsored Youth programs continues to motivate our club and members support; the Rotary Club of Northbridge will continue a focus on our local Youth and our leaders of tomorrow as one of the most rewarding areas where we support our community.
