Karin Eurell & Kim Wilkins (Reserves: Eleanor Chevor & Bob Edwards)
Set up & pack up:
Brian Robson & Helen Gulson (Reserves: David Robertson & John Bolton)
Speakers & topic:
Dr Lindsay McBride - Interplast
Rotary Club Meeting 23 July 2019
Welcome
President Peter welcomed all members and introduced our guest speaker, Don Wilson and his wife Marianne.
Toast
David Robertson gave a toast to the RC of Lautoka, Fiji. Part of District 9920, the club meets weekly and its president is Theresa Ali. The club has a strong Library Literacy Program which is run on a regular basis to improve the literacy skills of the community. It also provides home water filters to ensure clean drinking water from wells.
Announcements
Helen Gulson reminded Rotarians about the next Grolman Challenge Day – Saturday, Aug 3 at the Chatswood Blood Bank at 1 pm. She encouraged all those people who are able, to come along and donate blood. Contact David Hyde - David.Hyde@mc2wealth.com.au – and he will book you in. It will only cost you 1-2 hours of your time to make a real difference to a lot of sick people.
Jon Gidney advised that a visit to the ABC Studios at Ultimo to be part of the live Q & A audience has been arranged for Monday, 19 August. A bus has been booked to take those interested in attending, leaving from the golf club car park. If you are interested in attending, let Jon Gidney know at jonbgidney@gmail.com .
Jon also welcomed Honorary Rotarian Ross Pickard who, prior to Luke Keighery taking it over, ran the Footy Tipping Competition for nearly 20 years. Malcolm Lye was the winner of the competition this year, with runners up being John Garrett and Ross himself. Jon encouraged more Rotarians to take part in the competition next year which has an entry fee of $50 with winnings being 50% of the pool to the top tipper and the other 50% going to the Rotary Charities fund.
Eleanor Chevor advised an upcoming performance of “A Cappella Northside” on 10 August, 2019, the proceeds from which will go to support StreetWork. The time is 7.30 pm at Willoughby Uniting Church Auditorium, 10 Clanwilliam Street, Willoughby. For details check out https://www.streetwork.org.au/upcoming-events-1/2019/8/10/acappella-northside-concert . Hear the amazing sounds of two choirs - Timbre Flaws and Urban Voices - who will be performing a sensational evening of A Cappella music.
Club members are reminded that the meeting on Tuesday, 30 July will be a particularly special night. The guests are Louise Johnston and Janet Dimitroff from Roseville Music Society, harpist and flutist respectively, who, as well as speaking to us on the topic of conductors, will be performing for us. This will be a Partners’ Night, so mark it in your diaries. It will also be a good opportunity to invite friends and perhaps someone who might be a prospective Rotarian!
Sergeant's Session
Sergeant Peter Russell again managed to extract funds for the club's charities coffers.
Guest Speaker - Don Wilson - Get Fitter with Litter
Malcolm Lye introduced guest speaker Don Wilson. Don had a varied career in business and in the 1960s & 1970s owned a hire business. Following on from starting Bushcare’s Major Day Out which now runs nationally, Don is passionate about making a difference in the area of waste recycling.
Don talked about the depression years when everything was recycled and absolutely nothing was wasted, but for the past 60 years society has been pushed into consumerism and a throwaway society. Waste is at crisis point in Victoria followed closely by NSW and something must be done to protect our children and grandchildren from overwhelming waste. In 2018 Australian governments collected $1.5billion in tip fees from dumped rubbish.
Plastic was first recognized at the 1862 London Exhibition. This earliest form of plastic was invented by Alexander Parkes and was called Parkesine. It was formed from cellulose, and led to the manufacture of various products including knife handles, combs & buttons. This was followed by the Hyatt brothers who simplified the process creating celluloid. During WW2 plastic became invaluable. In 1946 chemical and petroleum giants consolidated to become the giants of plastic companies.
Since that time production of plastic products has increased exponentially. In the 1970s Coke & Pepsi replaced their glass bottles with plastic. Plastic is cheap and can be made into nearly anything, but now we are suffering the consequences of a product that takes centuries to degrade and never completely does.
Unless something is done about the amount of plastic waste, there will be no future for the earth within 4 generations due to the amount of rubbish created. There could be plastics and microplastics the size of islands in the oceans.
Don spoke about the Pratt recycling empire which has recycled paper over many years and now has a turnover of over $150 billion/year. He believes the secret is to make recycling profitable.
Recycled plastic can be used for many things. India has over 10,000 roads built from “plasphalt”, a product which is much longer lasting that asphalt.
Don said that every single person can contribute towards the war on waste, by refusing to buy plastic, to buying recycled products, and re-using plastics.
Don has also started an initiative called “Get Fitter with Litter” – www.getfitterwithlitter.org . It is a very simple way we can all contribute to making a real difference to our own neighbourhoods and beyond. As part of this initiative is “Adopt a Street and Keep it Neat”. Choose a street, the one on which you live is the easiest, and keep it litter-free. Don has started with this in Northbridge and is planning on expanding it to Willoughby and beyond.
Jon Gidney thanked Don for his thought-provoking talk. Jon has known Don and his wife for many years and said they are local legends.
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.
