Firstly, I’m delighted that Rob Coote and his committee have identified two bushfire relief projects on the NSW South Coast. The Board has approved payment of $22,500 to Sapphire Coast Rotary Clubs to help construct a community pavilion in the town of Kiah. Rob and his Committee will also seek Board approval for a further $7000 funds to repair the indigenous community centre in Mogo. Together, the two projects will absorb most of the club’s bushfire relief funds. Well done, Rob and our many members who helped to raise these funds!
Secondly, I urge you to participate in the Zoom meeting on June 16 when two three-Rotarian teams will debate the subject “That COVID-19 will be good for Australia.” The teams have been told that we expect fiery debates with plenty of exaggeration, misinformation and humour. It should be good fun, so don’t miss it.
Lastly, we have sent out the invitations to the Club’s Changeover meeting to be held on June 30. We are currently planning to hold it by Zoom, with a celebratory dinner for the club, probably in July. We will be including reports from this year’s three Presidents; presentation of President’s awards; presentation of Paul Harris Awards; and hand over to President-Elect Kevin Tattrie and his new Board. Mayor Gail will be speaking to the Club and ADG Ward Pollard will be giving the toast to RI. It’s a partners’ night and I suggest some of you might like to invite other members into your home to participate in the evening and enjoy a glass of wine together!
Golf Club update
I spoke to Marko on June 9 about the potential return of our club to weekly dinners at the Golf Club. At that time, the rules had not changed - up to 50 people were allowed in the restaurant area, suitably spaced, but the Golf Club would not accept bookings for groups bigger than 10 people. Marko was very strict on the maximum 10 limit. That meant our Rotary club dinners could not resume until the COVID restrictions change.
Marko guessed that the next announcement from government may eliminate all restrictions. But that may not happen for at least two weeks because he suspects the authorities will wait to see whether there is any spike from the big BLM demonstrations on June 8. It seems likely that our weekly dinner meetings will not re-commence until sometime in July.
Keep well!
Malcolm
Notes from Zoom Meeting of 2 June 2020
Luke Keighery said he didn’t have much to report. Nepal has increased cases of COVID. A shipment of medical supplies is ready to go to Fiji.
Sally O’Neill spoke about a new fundraising idea – Dine in for a Cause whereby small dinner parties of 4-6 people can be hosted by Rotarians at a cost of $35/head with a Zoom session to be held during the evening. She will be sending out all details shortly.
Kim Wilkins spoke about the book club. Next week the book to be discussed is Ruth Ratner's recent novel, Dance me to the End of Love.
GUEST SPEAKER - Noel Phelan - The Sinking & Salvage of the Costa Concordia
Barry Anderson introduced guest speaker Noel Phelan. Noel of course is a seasoned speaker on all things maritime and his topic was the Sinking & Salvage of the Costa Concordia. Noel has been busy ‘Zooming’, and has given 87 presentations including to Probus & U3A.
Noel commenced his talk by speaking about the explosion in recent years of the cruise industry generally and the difficulty in getting experienced crews for all the ships. He then detailed the chain of events leading to the sinking of the Costa Concordia.
Costa Cordia was a ship of the Carnival Line. Its Captain, Francesco Schettino, was an arrogant, exuberant braggart and an ineffectual captain. In January 2012 the ship ran aground and overturned off Isola del Giglio, Tuscany after striking an underwater rock. It transpired that the Captain deviated from the planned route to sail closer to the island to impress his predecessor who lived on the island, not to mention that he had a female companion on the bridge at the time. The crew of the ship consisted of some 40 nationalities which made proper communication impossible once the ship hit the rock. The rescue of 300 passengers took 6 hours and 32 passengers died. The captain left the ship in the lifeboat and went home before all the passengers had been rescued. He was subsequently convicted of abandoning 300 passengers and manslaughter and sentenced to 16 years in jail.
The ship took a long time to salvage and was finally scrapped in May 2015, and Noel gave us a good description of the salvage process. The ship was eventually towed to a dock for dismantling. However, once it was dismantled down to the hull, the hull “disappeared” one night and it is believed it was towed out and sunk. The cost of the salvage operation was many times more than the cost of the building of the ship.
Kim Wilkins thanked Noel for his very interesting and informative talk.
DID YOU KNOW
Did you know that the Club hosted our first incoming Exchange Student in 1985-1986? She was Colleen Bailey from the U.S.A. P.P. Barry Anderson was her counsellor and Peter and Audrey Hodgson were one of the 4 families who hosted Colleen. Throughout the history of the Club, a total of 15 Exchange Students have been hosted by the Club.
During the week I came across a lovely old Scottish word that could be appropriately applied to the self professed "leader of the free world":
Cockwomble (noun) – A person, usually male, prone to making outrageously stupid statements and/or inappropriate behavior while generally having a very high opinion of his own wisdom and importance.
If anyone has any jokes or funny stories, feel free to send them to me for the humour section of the Bulletin! We certainly need a little humour in our lives at the moment!!! Email them to helen.gulson@ozemail.com.au
COVID 19 has severely impacted the ability of Northbridge Rotary Club to raise monies to support our various Charities, so one of our talented Rotarians has found a way to
combat cabin fever & put self-isolation to a good cause.
She has been busy knitting various children’s items from headbands, baby comforters, owl mobiles, snail cushions, toy animals & scarves. These would make ideal gifts for children, grandchildren or those of friends & relatives and you would be helping our Rotary Club with much needed funds.
Another option if you don’t have anyone to gift to, then choose an item and we’ll donate it to a child in our country areas which has been devastated by the droughts, bushfires and now the virus! Many of these families would not have the spare cash nor the ability to purchase their children a gift for that special occasion. Every item will come with a gift tag stating that the knit has been hand-made by a Rotarian from the Rotary Club of Northbridge.
As these gifts are knitted to order you have the option of choosing your own colours. Looking forward to your support.
The cost of these knitted items have been generously donated and prices range from $10 to $40.
Photos and costs of these knits are below (or on the next page)
You can make your payment directly to Northbridge Rotary’s Charity Account - BSB 032 199, Account 901063 and then email your order to Eleanor - erchevor@yahoo.com
Children from the Wellington district enjoying their day out at the Dubbo Zoo with BBQ lunch.
Rotarians in Action:
Members of Northbridge and Wellington NSW at the Dubbo Zoo
Photo: Cheetah, Dubbo Zoo
The Rotary Clubs of Northbridge (Sydney) and Wellington (NSW) have embarked on a joint project to support the families of drought-affected communities in Western NSW. There are 744 primary school kids from the Wellington District and they are all being treated to a day at the Taronga Western Plains Zoo in Dubbo including a BBQ lunch.
The project is being run over a 7-week period. Rotarians from Northbridge are driving there to connect with their fellow Rotarians in Wellington and to jointly run the BBQ. Northbridge President, Peter Antaw, said that of the families: “The children are suffering as well, most of them don’t understand the financial and extreme pressures that their parents are going through.” The families are anxious about their future but there is also much determination to keep their communities alive.
Australia is experiencing one of its most severe droughts on record, with areas in NSW facing the prospect of running out of water by mid-2020.
The Burrendong dam is now at 4.5% capacity and dwindling rapidly.
The crisis is severely impacting the Wellington area and so special treats like a visit to the zoo is just not possible for many locals and their families.
3000 muesli bars, supplied free by Nestles, as well as 744 sausage sandwiches and a cold drink will be given to the children of the district which includes regional small towns such as Geurie, Mumbil, Stuart Town and Euchareena.
The joint project was launched on 11th September and Channel 7 Prime TV attended the Zoo to film the event. ABC Morning Radio interviewed the Presidents. The kids thoroughly enjoyed their day with most of them citing the Cheetahs and Meer Cats as their favorites.
Ben Shields (Mayor of Dubbo Regional) and Daryl Thompson (Headmaster of Wellington Primary) also attended the launch. They both congratulated the Rotary Clubs for identifying children as the hidden victims of the drought. President Greg Hart of Wellington Rotary also thanked Northbridge Rotary and the Rotary Australia Benevolent Society for their very generous contributions to the project, and for driving up from Sydney to help at the BBQ’s. Without Northbridge, Wellington would not have taken on this project.
